"You Are America"

1985 item from Paul Slansky, The Clothes Have No Emperor—

12/1 President Reagan is honored by friends in the entertainment industry at a black tie event at an NBC studio. Among those paying tribute are Burt Reynolds, Dean Martin, Emmanuel Lewis and Charlton Heston, who tells the President, "To the world, you are America." Reagan reveals his "dream Cabinet," which would have included Secretary of State John Wayne, Defense Secretary Clint Eastwood and Treasury Secretary Jack Benny.

What, no nutrition post for a Hollywood fundie pal?

Later that month—

12/15 60 Minutes interviews Berkeley professor Michael Rogin, who posits the theory that the President honestly can't tell the difference between movies and reality. The evolution of a Reagan anecdote* is traced from the point where he credits it as a movie scene to the point where he tells it as if it really happened. Viewer response proves this to be one of the least popular segments in the program's 17-year history.

*Some quotes from the show in this 12/85 LA Times review.

Sandwiched between those two bits of media news—

12/9 [Former Reagan employer] General Electric buys RCA (and with it, NBC) for $6.3 billion.