I was in high school when Reagan was elected.I was a mushy unfocused liberal.A friend at the time gave me some writings by Reagan and convinced me he was nothing like the left wingers portayed him.My friend was a refugee from Czechoslovakia and an ardent anti communist.He along with Reagan and Thatcher convinced me that the USSR was an evil empire.I also read some of the books that inspired them Road to Serfdom,etc
My friend was a refugee from Czechoslovakia At that time I was the Polish Solar Observers Society's only American sunspot observer, and I wrote back & forth to Vaclaw Szymanski in Dabrowa, Grornicza, Poland. There were no stronger allies of America, and her concept of freedom, than many of those who lived behind the Iron Curtain. Much as you find today with Cuban-Americans- those who lived under the boot really had a love of liberty.