The presidential election of 1980 inaugurated the conservative revolution. It also demonstrated the dazzling skill of Ronald Reagan in blending stagecraft with statecraft. Craig Shirley chronicles the 1980 campaign in "Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America." Reagan wasn't alone, however, in understanding the role of stagecraft in politics. Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy also were exemplars - but, in Shirley's view, the latest charismatic occupant o...