By Ed Salo

Major Ben Griffin, Chief of the Military History Division at the USMA, joins the program to discuss his new book, Reagan’s War Stories: A Cold War Presidency. Dr. Griffin examines the popular fiction that Reagan consumed during his life, and how that influenced his worldview. Griffin argues that the novels of Tom Clancy, Louis L’Amour, and science fiction influenced Reagan’s views of 1980s geopolitics. Dr. Griffin also contends that Reagan used stories as a way to present his political viewpoints to the American public and the world.

Download Sea Control 389 – Reagan’s War Stories with Benjamin Griffin

Links

1. “Reagan’s War Stories – A Cold War Presidency,” by Benjamin Griffin, USNI Press, September 15, 2022.
2. “Red Storm Rising’: Tom Clancy Novels and the Cult of National Security,” by Walter L. Hixson, Diplomatic History 17, no. 4 (1993): 599–613.
3. “Tom Clancy And Ronald Reagan – Two Of America’s Greatest Defenders,” by James Jay Carafano, The Heritage Foundation, October 3, 2013.
4. “Reagan, Reykjavik, and Strategic Imagination,” by Thomas Ricks, Foreign Policy, November 2, 2017
5. “Sea Control 169 – Larry Bond & Dr. Sebastian Bruns on Harpoon, Red Storm Rising and Tom Clancy,” by Jared Samuelson, CIMSEC, April 15, 2020.

Ed Salo is Co-Host and a producer of the Sea Control podcast. Contact the podcast team at Seacontrol@cimsec.org.

This episode was edited and produced by Jared Samuelson.