The Enigmatic Reagan

DWill · Mon Feb 07, 2011 9:11 am

I've always found Ron Reagan, Jr. to be interesting, and I admire him. You know how you feel a strong connection to certain public figures you don't even know? That's how I feel about Reagan. He recently wrote My Father at 100 and has been criticized for saying that he suspected his dad was slipping several years before his term ended. Try to figure that out. Here's a brief article on Reagan, Jr. from The Week magazine.

The enigmatic Reagan
Ron Reagan and his father shared a fondness for each other that was colored by mutual incomprehension.
posted on February 3, 2011, at 2:27 PM

Ron Reagan is an ambivalent son, said Manuel Roig-Franzia in The Washington Post. If his older brother, Michael Reagan, is the torchbearer of their father’s conservative politics, and sister Patti Davis (who once bared herself in Playboy) is the black sheep, Ron has had a more complicated role. He and his father shared a fondness for each other that was colored by mutual incomprehension. An avowed liberal and atheist, Ron says his father worried that “I’d find life to be this horrible abyss of despair.”

He hasn’t, although his life hasn’t been simple. A ballet dancer in his early days, he’s been rumored to be gay for as long as he can remember. “To me, it’s like someone claiming I’m Chinese,” Reagan says. “It’s not pejorative. It’s just incorrect.” He’s been married to the same woman, Doria, for 30 years. Lately, he’s caused an uproar for suggesting his father showed signs of Alzheimer’s while in office. “I wasn’t worried that he was going to launch a nuclear attack because he thought he was turning the TV on,” says Reagan. “But the Alzheimer’s might have exacerbated tendencies to trust his aides too much. I’m thinking of Iran-Contra.”

Though they seldom agreed, he believes his father “meant well.” Now 52, he wishes he had his dad’s certitude: “I’m still asking myself what I want to be when I grow up.”

wokattack · Fri Feb 25, 2011 2:00 pm

Personally, I think he sounds like he would make a better president than his dad did.

LanDroid · Sun Feb 27, 2011 12:17 pm

I like RR Jr. too. There was a recent HBO special on Reagan that focused in part on the formal myth-making machine that continues to build his legacy, partly by actually lobbying to get major structures named after him in all 50 states. (Washington National airport is now Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, there's a Ronald Reagan Highway near me, etc.) In that show Ron Reagan Jr. states his father was much smarter and better than the Left believes, but also was not the giant that the Right believes...

In that special several experts agreed that Phil Hartman's portrayal of Reagan's split personality was dead on, he was both of these people:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skQuhoG7fFM

Forum rules

The Enigmatic Reagan Tweet This Topic

Who is online

Chat Room Always Open!