How much a non media freak misses. My bad. I never cared much for movies or TV, for some reason.
I don’t either (and I’m too young to remember Reagan from his movie/TV days), but keep in mind that in many ways movies and TV were more popular in the 50s and 60s than they are today.
I do see your point though.
In early 1976, nobody outside of Georgia had heard of Jimmy Carter.
In 1992, people outside of Arkansas either had never heard of Bill Clinton or they remembered his awful speech at the 1988 DNC Convention.
In 2000, few people had any clue of who GWB was other than GHWB’s son and some knew he was governor of Texas.
Obama has been a media darling since 2004, but prior to that NOBODY had heard of him.