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In any Republican presidential debate, Ronald Reagan鈥檚 name is likely to punctuate several applause lines.

During Wednesday night鈥檚 debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., it鈥檚 likely to loom larger than the Air Force One jet in the background.

Everyone from Sen. Rand Paul to Donald聽Trump has quoted 鈥� and misquoted 鈥� the聽nation鈥檚 40th president in an effort to share some of his aura. The temptation is understandable. Mr. Reagan is in many ways the father of the modern Republican Party.

But more than 50 years after he first took office as governor of California, Reagan has become more mythic than real. Candidates carefully choose which bits of the Reagan legacy to cite.

Is he the actor who held the top union job in Hollywood as president of the Screen Actor鈥檚 Guild or who was at the same time testifying to Congress against fellow聽performers suspected of communist affiliations? Is he the banner-carrier for tax-cutting conservatism or the president who raised taxes 11 times?聽Were his policies defined more by his opposition to the top聽civil rights legislation of the 1960s or by his support for amnesty for three million illegal immigrants in the 1980s?

鈥淩eagan is an amazingly interesting personality,鈥� says Steffen Schmidt, a political scientist at Iowa State University in Ames. 鈥淗e is someone that conservatives can easily project their views onto, but, for instance, most conservatives don鈥檛 want to go into Reagan鈥檚 early life鈥�.鈥�

鈥淩epublicans need a hero and in Reagan they have found one,鈥� Professor Schmidt says. 鈥淭hey just don鈥檛 drill down into Reagan raising taxes or giving amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants.鈥�

Despite this complicated 鈥� and often glossed-over 鈥� past, there is no doubt that Reagan had a transformational impact on the Republican Party. Prior to his presidency, the GOP was a clear minority party and losing ground, says Henry Olsen of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington.

鈥淎fter his presidency, it was clearly a competitive party and has gained strength since,鈥� he says.

鈥淩eagan also decisively moved the party to the right.聽Prior to Reagan, Republican presidential candidates rarely asked for tax cuts.聽Now, it鈥檚 impossible for someone to get nominated who doesn鈥檛 offer a tax cut plan,鈥� he adds in an e-mail.

Reagan鈥檚 presidency planted the pole around which American politics revolved for the next quarter century, says Olsen. 鈥淲hether you liked or聽loathed him, your policies were formed in response to and defined by their relation to Reagan鈥檚,鈥� he says.

He suggests in his upcoming book that Reagan is best understood as the conservative who endorsed and modified core aspects of Franklin Roosevelt鈥檚 New Deal, such as Social Security and Medicare.聽That made him 鈥渧ery consequential, though not revolutionary 鈥� by potentially reconciling the GOP to the New Deal, he permitted a conservative interpretation of the New Deal鈥檚 development that moved politics rightward.鈥�

For example, Reagan cut the highest marginal tax rate almost in half, and it has never gone back to pre-Reagan levels. This move 鈥渉as had profound effects on the increasingly unequal distribution of wealth in America,鈥� says Matthew Hale, a political scientist at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.

He also is responsible for drastic reductions in social services for the poor and mentally ill that have never returned to pre-Reagan levels, Professor Hale says.聽

And there is no doubt that his tough posturing 鈥� backed by vast increases in military spending 鈥� went a long way to reasserting America dominance in the world and at least arguably to the collapse of the Soviet Union, he adds.

But 鈥渢he myth about Ronald Reagan is that he did all of this by himself,鈥� says Hale. The compromises he made with House Speaker Thomas 鈥淭ip鈥� O'Neill are often ignored, and today Reagan is held up as an uncompromising conservative who never 鈥渃ut a deal鈥� to get things done.

鈥淭hat is absolutely not true,鈥� Hale says. 聽

Reagan鈥檚 willingness to talk and deal with Democrats could bring him under severe criticism today, perhaps making him unelectable in a Republican primary, Hale says.聽

Republicans鈥� views of Reagan are in some ways emblematic of the challenges the party faces 鈥� pitting lofty visions against more-practical realities

鈥淩eagan鈥檚 team developed a legend of pictures and visions in voters鈥� heads that exceed actual fights and battles in Sacramento and on Capitol Hill,鈥� says David McCuan, a political scientist at Sonoma State University via e-mail.

Whether it was a GOP insurrection in 1976, or raising taxes in California and battling for health care reform in the late 1960s, 鈥渙r getting along with that other Irish pol, Tip O'Neill, the Reagan reality and the Reagan political legend were completely different things.鈥�