Ronald Reagan was the president of the United States of America from 1981 to 1989. He is beloved by conservatives today, and this is no accident. Reagan worked hard to control the legacy he would leave behind after he was no longer president, often working very subtly to do so. One striking example of this is in Reagan’s farewell speech – he repeatedly mentions the word “freedom,” often linking it with other concepts Americans love, such as money. In doing so he subtly links his presidency not only to freedom, but to a lot of other positive concepts as well, even things not directly linked to him or freedom. Reagans popularity shows that Americand have an idea of freedom that doesn’t match the standard- it is so much more than that to Anericans. to the people of 1989 (at least the ones Reagan was focusing upon) freedom was the embodiment of everything good in the world, and relatedly, it was also quintessentially American to them.