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"Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan" (1968), by J. G. Ballard, is a short story written in the style of a scientific report on a series of experiments intended to measure the psychosexual appeal of the Californian politician Ronald Reagan, who then was governor of the state of California, and also a candidate for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination, which he lost to Richard Nixon.
First published as a pamphlet in 1968 by the Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, the short story was later republished in The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), a collection of thematically related short stories. [1] It was later used as part of a prank at the 1980 Republican National Convention, at which Reagan was nominated as president. [1]
In the preface to the 1990 edition of The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), the novelist J.G. Ballard said that he was impressed and inspired by the phenomenon of media politicians who speak for private interests, whilst pretending to speak for the public interest, because:
In his commercials Reagan used the smooth, teleprompter-perfect tones of the TV auto-salesman to project a political message that was absolutely the reverse of bland and reassuring. A complete discontinuity existed between Reagan’s manner and body language, on the one hand, and his scarily simplistic right-wing message on the other [hand]. Above all, it struck me that Reagan was the first politician to exploit the fact that his TV audience would not be listening too closely, if at all, to what he was saying, and indeed might well assume, from his manner and presentation, that he was saying the exact opposite of the words actually emerging from his mouth. [2]
A bookseller who sold the pamphlet-edition of the short story “Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan” was charged with the crime of public obscenity. [3] In 1970, the Doubleday publishing house included the pamphlet edition as an appendix to the first U.S. edition of The Atrocity Exhibition, which is a collection of thematically related short stories and condensed novels. [4]
Moreover, at the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan, as a political prank, ex-Situationists distributed a copy of the short story “Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan”, the cover of which was decorated with the official seal of the Republican Party in order to impress and deceive the delegates of the report's documentary credibility. Ballard said that the political delegates readily accepted the short-story fiction for what it resembled: a scientific report about the psychological dynamics of the subliminal appeal of the media politician Ronald Reagan who was proffering himself as a Republican candidate for the national presidency. [1]
Crash is a novel by British author J. G. Ballard, first published in 1973 with cover designed by Bill Botten. It follows a group of car-crash fetishists who, inspired by the famous crashes of celebrities, become sexually aroused by staging and participating in car accidents.
James Graham Ballard was an English novelist and short-story writer, satirist and essayist known for psychologically provocative works of fiction that explore the relations between human psychology, technology, sex and mass media. Ballard first became associated with New Wave science fiction for post-apocalyptic novels such as The Drowned World (1962). He later courted controversy with the short-story collection The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), which includes the 1968 story "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan", and later the novel Crash (1973), a story about car-crash fetishists.
Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, he became an important figure in the American conservative movement. His presidency is known as the Reagan era.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 1984. Incumbent Republican President Ronald Reagan and his running mate, incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush, were reelected to a second term in a landslide. They defeated the Democratic ticket of former Vice President Walter Mondale and Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro.
Jesse Marvin Unruh, also known as Big Daddy Unruh, was an American politician who served as speaker of the California State Assembly and as the California State Treasurer.
The Atrocity Exhibition is an experimental novel of linked stories or "condensed novels" by British writer J. G. Ballard.
John James Exon was an American businessman and politician who served as the 33rd Governor of Nebraska from 1971 to 1979, and as a U.S. Senator from Nebraska from 1979 to 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Exon never lost an election, and was the only Democrat ever to hold Nebraska's Class 2 U.S. Senate seat. He was elected governor in 1970, re-elected in 1974, elected to the Senate in 1978, and re-elected to that seat in 1984 and 1990.
James Lane Buckley was an American politician and judge who served in the United States Senate as a member of the Conservative Party of New York State in the Republican caucus from 1971 to 1977 and additionally held multiple positions within the Reagan administration. He was also the Republican nominee in the 1980 Connecticut Senate race, but he was defeated by Democrat Chris Dodd.
Vermilion Sands is a collection of science fiction short stories by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1971. All the stories are set in an imaginary vacation resort called Vermilion Sands which suggests, among other places, Palm Springs in southern California. The characters are generally the wealthy and disaffected, or people who make a living off them, as well as parasites of various kinds.
From January 21 to June 3, 1980, voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for president in the 1980 United States presidential election. Retired Hollywood actor and two-term California governor Ronald Reagan was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the Republican National Convention held from July 14 to 17, 1980, in Detroit, Michigan.
Miracles of Life is an autobiography written by British writer J. G. Ballard and published in 2008.
From March 12 to June 11, 1968, voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for president in the 1968 United States presidential election. Former vice president Richard Nixon was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1968 Republican National Convention held from August 5 to August 8, 1968, in Miami Beach, Florida.
This is the electoral history of Ronald Reagan. Reagan, a Republican, served as the 40th president of the United States (1981–1989) and earlier as the 33rd governor of California (1967–1975). At 69 years, 349 days of age at the time of his first inauguration, Reagan was the oldest person to assume the presidency in the nation's history, until Donald Trump was inaugurated in 2017 at the age of 70 years, 220 days. In 1984, Reagan won re-election at the age of 73 years, 274 days, and was the oldest person to win a US presidential election until Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election at the age of 77 years, 349 days.
The Complete Short Stories of J. G. Ballard: Volume 2 is a short story collection by J. G. Ballard, published in 2006.
In the 1980 United States presidential election, Ronald Reagan and his running mate, George H. W. Bush, were elected president and vice president, defeating incumbents Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale of the Democratic Party.
The 1968 presidential campaign of Richard Nixon, the 36th vice president of the United States, began when Nixon, the Republican nominee of 1960, formally announced his candidacy, following a year's preparation and five years' political reorganization after defeats in the 1960 presidential election and the 1962 California gubernatorial election.
Ronald Reagan was the 33rd governor of California for two terms, the first beginning in 1967 and the second in 1971. He left office in 1975, declining to run for a third term. Robert Finch, Edwin Reinecke and John L. Harmer served as lieutenant governors over the course of his governorship.
Frederick Clifton White Sr. was an American political consultant and campaign manager for candidates of the Republican Party, the New York Conservative Party, and some foreign clients. He was a moving force behind the Draft Goldwater Committee from 1961 to 1964, which secured a majority of delegates to nominate U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona as the Republican Party presidential candidate in the 1964 presidential election.