REAGAN AT 100

A visit with a man called Dutch
By Kelvin Wade
February 03, 2011

This Sunday would be Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday. Fittingly, I just finished his son Ron Reagan's new book, 'My Father at 100.' At 228 pages, it's a brisk read and a pleasant walk down memory lane.

Truth be told, I was never a fan of President Reagan. I was first eligible to vote in 1984 and I, along with the state of Minnesota, voted for Walter Mondale. While I give him credit for reviving America's spirit and his role in helping end the Cold War, I hold him accountable for infecting the Republican Party with a voodoo economics theory of tax cuts and spending that has metastasized under a Republican Party that has moved much further to the right than he ever was.

But 'My Father at 100' isn't a book about politics. The book is a memoir of the man. It starts in Ireland with the president's ancestor, Thomas O'Regan, and takes us to England and then to America in the 19th century. Through lavish detail, Ron Reagan takes us back in time to his father's humble upbringing in Illinois.

One thing Ron Reagan does very well is capture the feel of small town early 20th century America. Along with his dad's story, he gives us the history, the sights, the sounds and the pace of a bygone era.

Ron retraces his father's footsteps, visiting Tampico and Dixon, Ill. He spends time along the river where his father, known to everyone as 'Dutch' in his youth, worked summers as a lifeguard. Dutch saved 77 people. Ron comes back to the lifeguard theme throughout the book, illustrating how saving lives motivated Reagan throughout his life.

He describes his father's desire to be a hero whether it was as a lifeguard, playing football, acting in movies or as governor of California. This lifesaving drive drove him to try to eliminate nuclear weapons as president because he remembered a time when there was no such threat.

The best parts are when Ron gives us a glimpse into the Ronald Reagan we never knew: the Reagans at the dinner table or horsing around with the kids. Ronald Reagan liked arguing issues with his liberal, atheist son in the Oval Office. He said it kept his mind sharp.

'My Father at 100' paints Reagan as a good man, a man of integrity. But it also reveals him to be a paradoxical figure, a man who loved acclaim but was intensely private. He could be graceful and sentimental with friends and acquaintances but had trouble extending those sympathies to abstract classes of people.

When Ron pulls back the curtain a bit and describes his disoriented father, wracked with Alzheimer's, getting off the couch in his house and telling Nancy he needs to suit up for an upcoming big football game, it's heartbreaking. I almost felt like I was eavesdropping on a sad chapter in a family's life that I had no busy witnessing.

Did I come away from the book with a changed mind on Ronald Reagan's policies? No. From blaming government, deregulation, the environment, and tax cuts and spending I think his misguided policies laid the groundwork for the excesses of the Republican Party we see today. But I do feel that I understand the man better and I have greater respect for him. One can't help but like him. And we can disagree without demonizing.

But this isn't a book about the 40th president of the United States and his policies. It's a book about family. It's a work about fathers and sons. And through his son, I enjoyed my brief visit with the man friends called Dutch. Peace.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES: I don't feel antipathy to Reagan. How can you not like him? He gave a great speech. He was lively and optimistic, with that twinkle in his eye. And he LOOKED the part. Reagan and his people knew the power of staging as President. (It's something that Obama's team can learn a lot from. President Obama doesn't like the photo ops, the ceremonial stuff...but it's those things that cements your role as president in the public's mind. Sometimes you have to be mourner in chief like Reagan was during the Challenger disaster, or Clinton was during Oklahoma City, or Bush was during 9/11. It's why Obama's speech in Tucson was so well received. Presidents have to do that. But I digress...) Of course, I disagreed with his policies. But this book was about the man. Of course there's talk of his presidency but it's really not a political tome.

It's amazing how conservative Ronald Reagan seemed at the time but he wasn't as conservative as Republicans today. One major difference? Ronald Reagan instituted hefty tax increases.

Reading this book one can't help but think about one's own father. Reading about a young Ronald Reagan in Dixon, Illinois made me think of a young Orvis Wade in San Augustine, Texas. My dad told stories now and then of his youth but in hindsight, I wish I would've asked him more about his life. There's so much history that we miss out on by not having these conversations with our parents and grandparents. Once they're gone, it goes with them.