FDR was what they call transformational in that he got people to believe in the ability of government to make people's lives better. White people came first of course, but then there was REAL trickle down in spite of the fact that blight and poverty remained. As benefits of the Civil Rights Movement progressed, reagan emerged as the conservative counterpoint to that success. As the Democrats became the party of defending civil rights people like reagan relied on white suspicion that anyone successful who wasn't white got there by gaming the system and through government handouts. He solidified the dogma of government being too big and weighed down by waste. For this he was also considered transformational.
But reagan doesn't deserve the credit he's given because in spite of his attempts to turn people against the gubmint, everyone still wanted their social security and medicare (and postal service, and public safety, and clean water and clean air, etc.). Now we have this hybrid where enough people feel obligated to say "government is too big" and "there's too much government waste" but they hate it when the republicans they voted for try to take away what they want government to do. It's like reagan created stupid.
My one wish is that the Democratic Party went into psy-ops to turn around this hypocritical lack of faith in government.
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