In Exit Right, Daniel Oppenheimer examines six men whose common denominator was that, when already noted public figures, they publicly moved from left to right.
In his novel Finale, Thomas Mallon depicts a Ronald Reagan who slips in and out of Alzheimer’s-induced dementia, but who is strong and firm with Mikhail Gorbachev.
Was Joan Didion a conservative who turned left? Or, as she claimed, someone whose views hadn’t changed while the political landscape changed around her.
It is widely believed on the left that the anti-Communist films of the 1950s were hysterical and unprofitable. This characterization originated with blacklisted Hollywood Communists.