Book Review - Reagan - His Life and Legend

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 March 30, 1981. I was at school, J.A. Craig High School, in Janesville, Wisconsin. I believe we were in math class when the news came over the loudspeaker that the President had been shot.

 I remember the news coverage on TV, and it felt like my class,  and probably every class in session at that time, were watching silently to learn what happened to President Reagan.

 When our family visited my grandparents we usually drove through Dixon, Illinois, which is one of the communities where the future President grew up.

 The last job I had during college was working overnight at WHO-AM radio in Des Moines. That's the same station where Ronald Reagan worked from 1933 to 1937, 50 years before I sat behind the board of the 50,000 watt AM radio station.

 Max Boot, a writer for Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times newspapers, published the biography of Ronald Reagan in 2024. I placed a hold on the e-book at my library last January and received it earlier this month.

Reagan was the youngest of two children born to Jack and Nelle Reagan. His father was an alcoholic who had a tough time keeping a job. His mom encouraged "Dutch" to always look on the sunny-side of life in spite of the hardships poverty the family.

Growing up in Dixon, Reagan worked as a lifeguard and was credited with saving 77 lives.  After finishing school at Eureka College, he found a job doing radio in Davenport, Iowa and rose to the occasion when offered a chance to audition to be the play-by-play voice covering the local football team.

Reagan played football at Eureka and the acting he picked up in high school and performed in college developed his ability to describe the action. That job led to Des Moines, which ultimately got him to Hollywood and a weekly contract with a movie studio.

This book was extensively researched with more than 200 pages of footnotes. It's presented fairly, citing accomplishments and short-comings and reveals some of the lies and Reagan's version of the truth. 

After his career in movies and television, he got into politics as the president of the actor's union, which led to a successful run for governor. From there he returned to the radio with a daily commentary. I remember hearing it five days a week on the local radio station. The time as governor and his time hosting a popular TV show, led to his eventual presidential run. 

Reagan was running for re-election as President when I voted the first-time in 1984. He won in a land-slide.

Ronald Reagan was a success on the big screen in theaters and the small ones on televisions across America. His easy-going Midwest demeanor and self-deprecating humor was endearing. While he was empathetic to others in many ways, race relations were a blind-spot as were the difficulties experienced by the poor (which he experienced first hand) which reinforced decisions to reduce taxes of the wealthy in order to help people who had much less.

For me the chapter recounting March 30 and the days that followed were the most compelling as was the chapter of life after the presidency through his announcement of contracting Alzheimer's disease.

It's a revealing and interesting true story of an American President. It may also prompt reflection on the similarities between #40 and #45/47.