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He was what he appeared to be.

It took me a very long time, probably because of his Hollywood antecedents, to accept this as fact. For an excuse I can only point to the rampant superficiality that is a signal characteristic of so many of the Hollywood set, examples of which abound, and we need look no further than the wretches involved in this miserable production to find them.

But he really was what you saw, and what convinced me was reading some of his letters in Reagan: A Life In Letters and Reagan In His Own Hand, two compendia that no hack in a CBS office had to ghost-write for him (listening, Hillary?). Highly recommended. Actors and politicians are not noted for being particularly genuine people. Reagan was the exception.

That book, and the one filled with his love letters to Nancy, gave me a view of Reagan that was truly in black and white in truly his own words. Once you read those letters, I defy you to not find him to be charming, witty, funny, with a slightly twisted (in a good andclever way) sense of humor and a truly brilliant man. As much as I thought I loved him before those books, I truly adore him even more now. I miss him and wish I had appreciated him more at the time but I was young.