The National Advisory committee on Civil Disorders (or Kerner Commission) was commissioned by President Johnson in 1967 to investigate the causes of the racial uprisings that rocked the nation’s cities during the 1960s. The conclusions of the report were sobering for a country that professed to uphold the ideals of racial equality.

Kevin Phillips was a leading Republican strategist during the Nixon era, and credited with devising the so-called southern strategy of the party. Here, in a disarmingly blunt interview, he lays out the main ideas of the political strategy, and its racial elements.

Reagan’s “To Restore America” address of 1976. Reagan unsuccessfully attempted to win the Republican Party nomination for president in 1976, on the platform of slashing taxes and the restoring American power around the world. In light of the various political and economic crises of the late-1970s, four years later Reagan’s ideas enjoyed greater popularity. Courtesy of Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library.

Reagan’s remarks on Central America, March 10, 1983. Reagan was adamant that the peasant revolutions in Central America represented Soviet expansion and a direct threat to the security and economic interests of the United States. Several years later, the Reagan White House would be embroiled in the Iran-Contra affair, a far-reaching scandal involving illegal sales of weapons to Iran and transfers of money to anticommunist guerrillas in Nicaragua.

These two nationally televised remarks were highlighted by President Reagan’s ambiguous explanations of his role and knowledge concerning the Iran-Contra scandal.

By the spring of 1987, Reagan was attempting to overcome the fallout from the revelations concerning Iran-Contra, and his address at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was successful in redefining the legacy of his presidency. The speech, in which Reagan demanded that Gorbachev “tear down” the Berlin Wall, is widely regarded as one of the great presidential speeches of the twentieth century.

Reagan’s farewell address to the nation.