Encore Thursday, June 26, 2025 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2 / Stream now with the PBS app. In 1988, after two terms in office, Ronald Reagan left the White House one of the most popular presidents of the twentieth century, and one of the most controversial. A failed actor, Reagan became a passionate ideologue who preached a simple gospel of lower taxes, less government, and anti-communism.