Given that he didn't run in until 1976, it's pretty obvious even Reagan himself didn't think he was ready to president in 1957.
This whole “ready to be president” bullshit is a wholly NEW construct fabricated
Not at all. The same issue has been brought in many elections where an inexperienced candidate was running. Just off the top of my head, Hillary brought it up with Obama, and moderators pressed him about it during the debates. IMHO, they were right. Obama was most ephatically NOT ready to be president in 2008 (and he's still not).
Michael Dukakis had to deal with the issue, too, despite having served three terms as governor (there it was his inexperience in foreign policy).
One reason you don't remember it being as common in the past is because few candidates as inexperienced and unprepared as Palin have ever gotten very far. Regretfully, Obama is one of the few exceptions.
That is no historically proven of objective metric. There are many reasons why Reagan didn’t run until 1976. Your “he didn’t think he was ready” projection, is just trying to shoehorn it into your construct.
Isolated citations of past lukewarm, half-hearted applications of the politically-driven and of course largely undefined “ready” question prove how asymmetrically and stridently this is being applied to Governor Palin.
Reagan was a great President not because of his executive experience or any past foreign policy exposure, he was great because he had the courage to boldy act upon his convictions, and seek out expert counsel in areas in which he was not knowledgeable.
Sarah Palin has already demonstrated ability in both of those areas.
Your command of facts is always underwhelming.