--- title: CPAC 2015: The Special Relationship Between Ronald Reagan and CPAC description: There's a reason the conference loves him so much canonical: https://time.com/3722734/ronald-reagan-cpac-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-25T23:05:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:42:53.646Z article:section: History og:title: Why Ronald Reagan Is Such a Big Deal at CPAC og:description: The special relationship goes back to the conference's beginnings og:url: https://time.com/3722734/ronald-reagan-cpac-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d7162b4a8c64599/69878108f887dce3eee8a4fd/reagan.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Pres Ronald Reagan speaking at CPAC conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Ronald Reagan Is Such a Big Deal at CPAC twitter:description: The special relationship goes back to the conference's beginnings twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d7162b4a8c64599/69878108f887dce3eee8a4fd/reagan.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Ronald Reagan Is Such a Big Deal at CPAC  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 25, 2015 11:05 PM UTC  President Ronald Reagan speaking at CPAC conference in 1986 President Ronald Reagan speaking at CPAC conference in 1986Cynthia Johnson—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 25, 2015 11:05 PM UTC It’s no secret that the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) loves Ronald Reagan. The agenda for this year’s event, which takes place this week, includes a screening of _Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny_, the Ronald Reagan Reception and the Ronald Reagan Dinner. Sure, the late president was conservative and CPAC is a conservative conference, but their connection goes deeper than that: not only did Reagan speak at the first ever CPAC in 1974, he also provided part of the impetus for its creation. The key to the special relationship between the event and the politician is timing. When the first CPAC took place, Reagan’s position among conservatives was not the established spot on a pedestal that he occupies today. Rather, he was the subject of severe regret for many. And the reason for that regret was obvious: Richard Nixon. As TIME [explained](http://time.com/vault/issue/1974-04-01/page/23) later that spring, then-President Nixon had seemed like a safe bet, and proved to be anything but: --- > “” --- In the months that followed, Watergate would prove that distrust of Nixon well-founded, but it was already there when CPAC was held—and, in fact, much of that first conference was devoted to that very point. As the New York _Times_ [noted](http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/01/27/issue.html) in its coverage, the message was “Richard Nixon has done us dirt” and a prominent political consultant added that “a substantial majority \[of attendees\] wishes the President would just go away.” Meanwhile, the decision not to back Reagan seemed more and more of a mistake. He was chosen as a speaker at the very first CPAC, receiving what the _Times_ called a “rousing, placard-waving welcome.” Reagan has been, as long as CPAC has existed, a symbol of the idea that compromising on conservatism is a mistake. After all, choosing the more liberal, electable candidate over him had resulted in the worst presidential disaster in American history. In the years that followed, the relationship between Reagan and CPAC, established even before that very first meeting, grew. Reagan assumed the presidency and CPAC became a major force in conservative politics, each helping the other along. As TIME put it in 1986, “Speakers and delegates alike credited Reagan with having permanently changed the national agenda to make the conservative voice not just relevant but dominant.” **_Read original coverage of CPAC 1986, including Reagan’s speech, here in the TIME Vault_**: [The Tide Is Still Running](http://time.com/vault/issue/1986-02-10/page/54/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3722734/ronald-reagan-cpac-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3722734/ronald-reagan-cpac-history/"},"headline":"Why Ronald Reagan Is Such a Big Deal at CPAC","datePublished":"2015-02-25T23:05:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:42:53.646Z","description":"The special relationship goes back to the conference's beginnings","url":"https://time.com/3722734/ronald-reagan-cpac-history/","keywords":["politics","Conservative","Reagan","CPAC"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d7162b4a8c64599/69878108f887dce3eee8a4fd/reagan.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d7162b4a8c64599/69878108f887dce3eee8a4fd/reagan.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pres Ronald Reagan speaking at CPAC conference","caption":"Pres Ronald Reagan speaking at CPAC conference","creditText":"Cynthia Johnson—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3722734/ronald-reagan-cpac-history/","name":"Why Ronald Reagan Is Such a Big Deal at CPAC"}}]}] ```