Review 62: The Greatest Communicator: What Ronald Reagan Taught Me About Politics, Leadership, and Life (Dick Wirthlin)

Light and entertaining retelling of RR's rhetorical/political strategy, ie. how he won landslides in 1980, 1984. Wirthlin was the architect of these victories and he perfected scientific politics, even down to calibrating how certain words affected audiences. The reader will be interested to learn that the political strategy continued long after RR won elections. His strategist (Wirthlin) continued to conduct polls/ focus groups, and RR was as much a campaigner in office as he was in the election cycle. The best part of this book: Wirthlin provides his analysis of what made RR a great communicator. Much can be learned here for any budding writer/speaker. So, what did make RR such a great communicator? Values! How did he craft such value rich messges? "Persuade through reason. Motivate through emotion."