Ronald Reagan was known as the great communicator, famous for clear, powerful declarations like, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” But 40 years ago, during a New Jersey campaign stop, he made an infamous blunder.
With a star-studded movie and a massive new biography about America’s 40th president both out now, it’s a good time to revisit the Gipper’s Garden State gaffe.
It all began with a September 1984 speech: “We’ve come to Hammonton, just as we went to Elizabeth and Hoboken…because you’re what America is all about,” Reagan said. “America’s future rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire — New Jersey’s own, Bruce Springsteen.”
His comments echoed conservative columnist George F. Will, who had recently written, “the recitation of closed factories and other problems” in Springsteen’s songs “always seemed punctuated by a grand cheerful affirmation: ‘Born in the U.S.A.!’”
It was off-base, but that didn’t stop Reagan from co-opting Springsteen’s working-class hero image into his “Morning in America” message of national renewal.
What followed was the 1980s version of a viral blowup. The Boss’s Born in the U.S.A. album was on its way to selling 30 million copies. The title track was about a Vietnam vet born “in a dead man’s town / The first kick I took was when I hit the ground.”
Springsteen—and other critics—pointed out that Reagan missed the whole point.
In fact, Springsteen’s previous album, 1982′s stark, severe Nebraska, was received as a nearly nihilistic take on the Reagan years.
But Born in the U.S.A. was ambiguous. While the album was full of songs about characters whose lives are being squeezed by forces beyond their control, they were delivered as raucous ‘80s rock and roll, balancing a dark message with exuberant music that sold millions.
After that, Bruce became more direct in his songwriting, and more political. He supported John Kerry against George W. Bush in 2004 and stumped for Barack Obama in 2008.
In this approach, he was an early adopter; it has become commonplace for musicians to wear their politics on their sleeves.
For more on the Reagan-Springsteen dustup, visit Max Boot’s new 900-page biography of Reagan, Reagan: His Life and Legend.
Dennis Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller in Reagan. Photo: Courtesy of Rawhide Pictures/Rob Batzdorff
The film Reagan, which came out August 30, stars Dennis Quaid as the former president, alongside Jon Voight, Mena Suvari and Penelope Ann Miller.
If you miss them, there is a monument on Hammonton’s Bellevue Avenue (Route 54) marking the spot where Reagan made his 1984 address. It makes no mention of Springsteen.
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