It’s September 14th. This day in 1986, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan gave a prime-time television address about drugs, drug policy, and crack cocaine. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by journalist Donovan X Ramsey to talk about why both Reagans took part in the address, the media-savvy narratives that emerged in the “Just Say No” era, and the real victims of drug abuse who were left behind. Donovan’s new book is When Crack Was King — buy it now, or check out the audio book! Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week. Find out more at thisdaypod.com This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices