Last night I went to the movies — probably haven’t been three times since the beginning of the Pandemic — and watched Reagan, the movie about . . . wait for it . . . Ronald Reagan our 40th President.
I was in my thirties and out of the Vietnam Era Army in the 1980s when he was President so I was intimately familiar with his presidency, but not his entire life. I learned a few things.
Before I tell you why I liked the movie and why you should go, I want to tell you of Ronald Reagan’s connection to Virginia Military Institute, my alma mater.
Reagan was an actor in the famous pre-World War II 1938 movie Brother Rat, a story about hi-jinks at VMI back in the day. Hell, your parents weren’t even born in 1938.
Reagan, like all VMI men, was a stud, so he was cast to type.
The movie was the story of Reagan’s life which was an All American life. He had an alcoholic father, an all suffering mother (his greatest inspiration and supporter), and lived the American Dream. He dealt with success and failure and treated those imposters just the same (sorry Rudyard), but he never gave up.
He married and divorced Jane Wyman, a sex symbol in Hollywood who voted twice for him. How many X’s vote for their “wasbands?”
Then, he met and married Nancy Davis who became his partner in his many successes: actor, President of the Screen Actors Guild, leader who kept the Communists from taking over all the Hollywood unions, twice Governor of California, and twice President of the United States.
He was a fiercely pragmatic man — a common sense, down to earth, no nonsense mid-westerner — who lived a life based on values and earned character. He had a charming, good-natured, optimistic approach to life and a winning good humor.
Not like the phonies who are in charge of America today who who “manufacture” a bloody “brand” to pickpocket the votes of low information voters.
The actor who played Reagan, Dennis Quaid, did a good — but not perfect — job of catching Reagan’s winning personality — in part charming, kind, tough, and a man’s man. The image of Reagan on a horse or building a fence from telephone poles at his beloved ranch, Rancho de Sielo, is an incredible insight into the genuineness of the man.
Queen Elizabeth and President Reagan on horseback in England.
One is struck with the seriousness and purpose of the man and his ability to stay on message and over the target. It was on his watch that the cracks in the foundation of the USSR began to widen ultimately resulting in the fall of the Soviet Union.
He and the Russian Premier Gorbachev came very close to eliminating the nuclear ballistic missiles of both countries at a meeting in Iceland, but the Russians balked. When Reagan died at 93, Gorbachev attended his funeral.
Reagan broke the law and provided direct support to the Nicaurugan rebels against the Communist Sandistas in violation of the specific legislation of Congress and got caught. He held a press conference, admitted he’d broken the law, and promised not to do it again. Such was his goodwill he was not impeached. He was not unwilling to take a personal or professional risk to achieve his objectives.
One of my favorite anecdotes about Reagan involved the then Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill (Dem-Massachusetts). They were fierce political opponents on policy and legislation, but at 6:00 PM, they became two Irishmen enjoying a drink or a beer and Tip was often at the White House to see a movie and wet a glass with his fellow Irishman. They had a civil and friendly relationship whilst pursuing wildly different political agendae.
We have lost completely that civility in Washington. It is sad.
OK, dear reader, you do need a paint job on those toes been meaning to mention it to you, here it is:
1. This country was once led by principled adults, men and women, who were neither unworthy nor self-aggrandizing.
2. America did great, honorable things and we had a sense of humor and tolerance.
3. Today, we are led by venal, small, egotistic shits who do not inspire or motivate us. They are unworthy of the positions they hold.
Go see the damn movie. If you are too young to have experienced those times — and I hope you are — I can vouch for the accuracy of the movie.
We desperately need a Reagan to lead us. God bless us all and thank you Nancy and Ronald Reagan.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.
