That's So Reagan

This made the rounds on the Web yesterday, but John Meroney has unearthed rare footage of Ronald Reagan acting alongside James Dean in a live, 1954 broadcast for General Electric Theater. Meroney posted the video to the Atlantic Culture Channel.

The roles are fitting. Reagan plays a doctor; Dean, a sniveling young punk who shows up at the home of the future president, seeking medical treatment for his shot friend. If Reagan doesn't embody the self-sufficience andpersonal responsibility of the conservative movement here, I don't know what does: