It happened well before Reagan. Theodore Roosevelt was the last progressive Republican president. When his term was up, he personally chose William Howard Taft as his successor, and Taft got elected. To Roosevelt's surprise, horror, and disgust, he saw Taft turn the Republican Party conservative—into the party of business and privilege. This was when an angry Roosevelt formed the Progressive Party (the "Bull Moose Party"), to run against, and hopefully depose, the Republican Party. But Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic Party candidate, won.

The Republican Party has been the party of corporations, wealth, and privilege ever since. Three Republican presidents (Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover) followed Wilson. Hello, Great Depression!

Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" put curbs on predatory corporations and controls on stock market hanky-panky, and pushed through other measures that did a great deal to make sure that the small businessman and the working stiff got a bit more of an even break.

The Republicans have been trying to undo what FDR accomplished ever since. Reagan was just a bit more successful at this than most of the other Republican presidents.

Don Firth