The New York Times medical writer Larry Altman even raised the question with Reagan during an interview in 1980 just before he entered the White House. Their father's mannerisms while in office – including stumbling over his words, his occasional falling asleep in public, his weak memory – led to much speculation about how early on dementia had set in. He has a talkshow on the conservative network Radio America. He works as a political consultant through the Reagan Group he founded and makes regular appearances on rightwing outlets such as Fox News and NewsMax. Michael Reagan is a conservative activist and much more in his father's mould. He went on to become a broadcaster of liberal and progressive views on outlets that tended to be left of centre, such as MSNBC and the now defunct Air America radio network.
Ron Reagan showed an independent spirit from a young age, declaring himself at 12 to be an atheist when his father was governor of California. They have come to occupy opposite corners of the political ring. The tale of the Reagan brothers is like a miniature depiction of the polarisation that has taken hold in the US in the past few decades. "Ron, my brother, was an embarrassment to his father when he was alive and today he became an embarrassment to his mother," read another. "What a way for Ron to say Happy 100th Birthday Dad," read one tweet. He has lashed out at his brother via Twitter. His book The New Reagan Revolution, is an appeal for a return to his father's political principles of low taxes and small government as a way to making America great again. He looked tired and bewildered," Ron Reagan writes.Īgainst that is the word of Michael Reagan, who was adopted by the president and his first wife, Jane Wyman. "My heart sank as he floundered his way through his responses, fumbling with his notes, uncharacteristically lost for words. He recalls the presidential debate with Walter Mondale on 7 October 1984. In it, Ron Reagan describes his growing sense of alarm over his father's mental condition, beginning as early as three years into his first term. The more contentious of the two is My Father at 100, written by Ron, Reagan's natural son with Nancy. His sons have written books on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of their father's birth, that falls on 6 February.
He was formally diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1994, five years after he left office. The spat opens up a subject that has long been a talking point – when did the 40th president begin to become mentally impaired by the disease. The idea of missile defense system would resurface later as the National Missile Defense.Ronald Reagan's sons have locked horns over the former president's political legacy after the younger brother, Ron, said his late father's battle with Alzheimer's began while he was in the White House. Critics pointed to the vast technological uncertainties of the system, in addition to its enormous cost.Īlthough work was begun on the program, the technology proved to be too complex and much of the research was cancelled by later administrations. The Soviets feared that SDI would enable the United States to launch a first-strike against them. This system would tip the nuclear balance toward the United States. The sensors to detect attacks would be based on the ground, in the air, and in space, and would use radar, optical, and infrared threat-detection systems. Air-based missile platforms and ground-based missiles using other non-nuclear killing mechanisms would constitute the rear echelon of defense and would be concentrated around such major targets as U.S. Among the potential components of the defense system were both space- and earth-based laser battle stations, which, by a combination of methods, would direct their killing beams toward moving Soviet targets. For the interception, the SDI would require extremely advanced technological systems, yet to be researched and developed. The SDI was intended to defend the United States from attack from Soviet ICBMs by intercepting the missiles at various phases of their flight. This program was immediately dubbed "Star Wars." An artist's rendering of an X-ray laser hit an incoming missile. On March 23, 1983, President Reagan proposed the creation of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), an ambitious project that would construct a space-based anti-missile system.