For many people who watch movies on presidents many believe that some are shown to be more favorable to others and they seem to fall on party lines. I don’t believe anyone in America will disagree that many in Hollywood have views that might different from yours, and their views are much more known because of paparazzi and candid interviews. When looking at history both parties have contributed to America from; winning World War II, the growth of economic supremacy, welfare programs, defeating the Soviets. I believe that many of the negative views stem from two things the 1960’s and Watergate. Many people in the 1960’s grew to distrust the older generation and Big Business believing these people forgot about the impoverished and lower class people. This is stigmatism that is still around in our culture today and directed at one party more the other.
The second is Watergate a watershed moment in American history the first president ever to resign from office because he was in fact, a crook. He was a Republican and the view of the party suffered and the office itself lost much respect afterward, the presidency has never been able to regain its past glory. The lionization of one certain party over another done by Hollywood is in fact complete stupidity. There have been good and bad presidents in both parties,; few people honestly look at Jimmy Carter and say he was a magnificent president other then Chevy Chase. You can look at Gerald Ford as a bad president in the same light as Jimmy Carter both men did have a few accomplishments but overall very poor examples of presidents. I believe you must also look at how one classifies what a good president is. If you think a president who is animated, full of life, takes the office in new areas then your more inclined to think certain ones were more important. If you think a good president is one who builds confidence, ropes in government, and takes a strong diplomatic stand then your inclined to think the opposite. It would be simple to just say Hollywood is liberal and any Republican president is cast how they see these Republican presidents. I will concede that I have not seen a Clinton movie or heard of one while Bush II had one made before he even left office, that is complete obscurity. I believe in objectivity especially when it comes to matters of the press. I believe it comes down to what you view a good president to be, you can downplay Reagan defeating the Soviets all you want but it happened under him because of his re-engaging the Cold War. You can hate LBJ because of his Great Frontier programs but they are here in America it all depends on what you think.
If any person though watches a presidential movie and thinks that is exactly how it is should perhaps hold his tongue when discussing good presidents. Hollywood never gets a story that is exposed to be based on history right ever, so I see them as entertainment not truth; more a fiction then anything else. A made for television movie about Reagan years is going to be truth, come on it went right to television, or how a discussion between Nixon and the head of CIA really went, they can only guess and they are usually wrong with these guesses. I believe they get these things wrong and Hollywood is just looking to make a buck, greed makes the world go around even in Southern California, if you believe it to be liberal or conservative. It is in control of directors, writers and producers not historians or people who were really there.
Robert Foster II
