General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television.

After an audition show on January 18, 1953, titled The Token, with Dana Andrews, the radio series, a summer replacement for The Bing Crosby Program, debuted on CBS on July 9, 1953, with Ronald Colman in an episode based on Random Harvest.

With such guest stars as Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson, Jane Wyman, William Holden, Alan Young, Dorothy McGuire, John Hodiak, Ann Blyth, James Mason, Joan Fontaine, and Judy Garland the series continued until October 1, 1953.

During that time, he would also speak at other forums such as Rotary clubs and Moose lodges, presenting views on economic progress that in form and content were often similar to what he said in introductions, segues, and closing comments on the show as a spokesman for GE.

Michael claimed that Robert Kennedy told GE officials that the company would receive no federal contracts so long as Reagan was host of the series.

From An American Life, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1990, page 137: “In 1962, there was a change in management at General Electric that brought an end to my satisfying eight-year relationship with the company.

Ralph Cordiner was retiring and the new management asked me, in addition to continuing as host of the GE Theater, to go on the road and become a pitchman for General Electric products – in other words, become a salesman.

From When Character was King, Peggy Noonan, Penguin, New York, 2001, page 84:, New management asked him to stay on....but go on the road and pitch GE products.

Don Herbert, a television personality well known as the host of Watch Mr. Wizard, appeared as the "General Electric Progress Reporter", adding a scientific touch to the institutional advertising pitch.

Following General Electric Theater's cancellation in 1962, the series was replaced in the same time slot by the short-lived GE-sponsored GE True, hosted by Jack Webb.