President Ronald Reagan

National

Trump funding freeze halts decades of U.S. democracy work around the world

8:07am February 16, 2025

by Ayesha Rascoe

Congress created several organizations in 1980s to strengthen democratic institutions worldwide. Human rights activists say the freeze is a gift to authoritarians like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

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J. Robert Oppenheimer (left) and John von Neumann at the October 1952 dedication of the computer built for the Institute for Advanced Study.

Economy

The game theory that led to nuclear standoffs

7:05pm July 03, 2024

Last week, Vladimir Putin vowed to make new nuclear weapons and consider placing them close to NATO countries. Meanwhile, here in the US, the government boosted its nuclear weapon spending by 18% between 2022 and 2023.

The world is closer to nuclear war than it's been in at least forty years.

Today on the show: The game theory of nuclear war. When can mathematical models help us, and when can they lead us astray ... even to the brink of destruction?

Guest Kelly Clancy's book is Playing With Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World.

Related Episodes:
How to get Russia to pay Ukraine
Congressional game theory

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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John Hinckley Jr., pictured in November 2003, arrives at U.S. District Court in Washington. As of Wednesday, President Ronald Reagan's would-be assassin is no longer under court-mandated legal or mental health supervision.

National

John Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate President Reagan, is granted full release

9:14pm June 15, 2022

by Vanessa Romo

Hinckley, who was confined to a mental hospital for decades, has been inching his way toward freedom for years. On Wednesday, an order lifting some remaining restrictions went into effect.

The Berlin Wall went up almost overnight in 1961; in November 1989, it began to crumble.

Opinion: 30 Years After The Berlin Wall

5:08pm November 09, 2019

by Scott Simon

The Berlin Wall was a concrete manifestation of the barrier between democracy and oppression. NPR's Scott Simon marks the 30th anniversary of the day it began to come down.

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Flowers are laid at the base of the statue at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas.

Politics & Government

What We All Forget (If We Ever Knew) About The Political Career of Bush 41

9:20pm December 02, 2018

by Ron Elving

Even with a public figure this durable, many facets of the story fade with time. That's a pity, because the greater meaning of anyone's life is often contained in the things others forget.

George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, speaks at a fundraiser in Dallas in 1991.

Former President George H.W. Bush Dies At 94

7:42am December 01, 2018

The patriarch of a political dynasty, Bush was the last World War II vet to serve in the Oval Office. His son George W. called him "one of the greatest one-term presidents in the nation's history."

President Trump speaks about the recently passed spending bill at the White House on Friday. Trump threatened to veto the bill before later signing it.

Politics & Government

Is This Any Way To Drive An Omnibus? 10 Questions About What Just Happened

3:25pm March 26, 2018

by Ron Elving

President Trump complained about signing the 2,000-plus page spending bill into law, saying it was too bloated. He is not the first president to be confronted with that choice.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed a major immigration law that offered amnesty to people in the country illegally who arrived prior to 1982.

The GOP's Evolution On Immigration

5:00am January 25, 2018

by Don Gonyea

In 1980, Ronald Reagan argued against putting up a fence on the border with Mexico. By 2016, Donald Trump was rallying GOP voters to "build the wall."

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John Hinckley Jr. is escorted by police in Washington, D.C., following his arrest after shooting and seriously wounding president Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981.

John Hinckley, Who Tried To Kill A President, Wins His Freedom

12:54pm July 27, 2016

by Carrie Johnson

A federal judge in Washington will allow John Hinckley to leave a mental institution and to live full-time with his mother. Hinckley shot President Ronald Reagan and three others in 1981.

Nancy Reagan, left, and the Soviet First Lady, Raisa Gorbachev, both smile politely during a tension-filled tea in Geneva in 1985, while their husbands discussed nuclear disarmament.

Cold War, Hot Tea: Nancy Reagan And Raisa Gorbachev's Sipping Summit

4:12pm March 08, 2016

by Nina Martyris

In 1985, while their husbands discussed nuclear disarmament, the two first ladies — both considered influential advisers — held their own tense tea tête-à-têtes in Geneva.