Ronald Reagan was just 69 days into his presidency in when John Hinckley Jr. shot him at a hotel in Washington, D.C. As we know, the President survived and went on to serve two terms in office and earn recognition for his ability to sway voters both conservative and liberal to the Republican ticket. To this day, “Reagan Democrats” are a coveted voting bloc and plenty of left-leaning politicians and voters hold the Great Communicator in high regard.

Not William Kleinknecht.

He’s a journalist and the author of The Man Who Sold the World: Ronald Reagan and the Betrayal of Main Street America. Kleinknecht says that the Reagan administration’s coziness with corporate interests proved harmful to the everyday American town, right down to the Gipper’s boyhood home of Dixon, Illinois.