• History

This Is the Ronald Reagan Speech That Just Showed Up on The Americans

3 minute read

Contains a spoiler for the third-season finale of FX’s The Americans

Anyone who knew the title of Wednesday night’s season finale of The Americans might have guessed that a particular Ronald Reagan speech might make an appearance. After all, “March 8, 1983” — the title of the episode — was also named by TIME, in 2003, to a list of the 80 days that changed the world.

That was the day on which President Reagan, speaking before the National Association of Evangelicals, delivered what is known as the evil-empire speech.

It was a time of potential change in the history of the Cold War, as advocates of a nuclear freeze or of nonintervention in countries like El Salvador, where a civil war was under way, were turning away from some of Reagan’s hard-line policies. The President took the opportunity of speaking in front of a religious audience to reiterate his belief in the existence of good and evil in the world, and that the U.S. and the Soviet Union were firmly located on opposite sides of that line. The USSR was the evil empire, and in that context, no hard line was hard enough.

At first the speech seemed to have backfired. That April, TIME noted, “Public-opinion polls showed that confidence in Reagan’s handling of foreign and defense policies had actually fallen during his monthlong hard-sell campaign on behalf of those policies” and that some White House officials called it his “Darth Vader speech.”

But, in the end, Reagan got what he wanted: the end of the empire in question.

In an earlier draft of the speech, noted TIME’s Romesh Ratnesar in explaining the speech’s inclusion on that 2003 list, Reagan had distanced himself from the strong language of good and evil. The version he ended up delivering, however, did anything but hedge — and that made all the difference:

His uncompromising rhetoric unsettled members of the Washington establishment, who warned that it would reheat the arms race and threaten peaceful coexistence with the Soviets. But Reagan managed to touch the hearts and minds of those who mattered: the rebels behind the Iron Curtain who ultimately brought it down. Nathan Sharansky read Reagan’s speech in a cell in Siberia. Knocking on walls and talking through toilets, he spread the word to other prisoners in the Gulag. “The dissidents were ecstatic,” Sharansky wrote. “Finally, the leader of the free world had spoken the truth — a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us.”

Read original March 1983 coverage of the speech, here in the TIME Vault: Hardening the Line

Front Row Seat at the Reagan White House

Ronald Reagan
Cheers "After Walter Cronkite's last interview with the President as the anchor of the CBS Evening News, there was a little celebration in the room off the Oval Office," recounts photographer Diana Walker. "White House staffers, including Vice President Bush, enjoyed a good laugh over a joke that has never become public."Diana Walker for TIME
Ronald Reagan
Tickled Pink The British Queen makes a joke at a 1983 state dinner. "I came without a tripod that evening," recalls Walker. "I remember borrowing a monopod, which I promptly broke. I could only get it halfway up, so I took this picture almost sideways and doubled over — and not from laughter."Diana Walker for TIME
Ronald Reagan
Always the Gentleman "I always felt the President had old-fashioned manners, as in this photo, where he leans over to ask his First Lady to dance at one of the balls held in their honor during the 1985 Inauguration."Diana Walker for TIME
Ronald Reagan
Positive Sign "A pool of photographers stood vigil in the driveway of the hospital for days after President Reagan's cancer surgery in 1985. Suddenly, two windows opened. Using very long telephoto lenses, we were able to shoot this picture of the upbeat President, indicating everything was A-O.K. — a very reassuring image for the front pages of newspapers around the world."Diana Walker for TIME
Ronald Reagan
Ever the Showman "Reagan still had that Hollywood touch, always completely comfortable in front of a crowd. Here, he looks like he's about to break into an old soft-shoe at Rickman High School, where he was made an honorary Kewpie, the school's mascot."Diana Walker for TIME
Ronald Reagan
Pledge of Allegiance "This was such a perfect photo op of the President and First Lady under the guns of the U.S.S. Iowa during a Fourth of July celebration — it looked much like a Busby Berkeley musical! I thought everyone would break into a dance any moment!"Diana Walker for TIME
Ronald Reagan
Hail Fellow "Look at the way Reagan holds Mikhail Gorbachev's hand during the U.S.S.R. leader's first visit to the White House, in 1987. You could tell they were going to be friends."Diana Walker for TIME
Ronald Reagan
Well WIsher "Mrs. Reagan had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had been successfully operated on. There seemed something so poignant to me about this image of the President heading to the helicopter to visit the First Lady, carrying an enormous get-well card from the staff under one arm and a small basket of cookies in the other."Diana Walker for TIME
Crowd Pleaser "Reagan was the only politician I've ever known who dared take a hat, oblivious to its size, cock it to the side and charm everyone. Here, he's seen speaking before the National Law Enforcement Council, where he dons a trooper's hat presented to him by the association."Diana Walker for TIME

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com