[Windflier]

Read Ronald Reagan’s autobiography An American Life. You’ll learn that RobbyS is right. Reagan did admire FDR, as hard as that may be to understand.

I never disputed the idea that Reagan may have admired FDR. Most Americans of Reagan's era did. What I found incredible, is that "he was a life-long admirer of FDR."

I also find it hard to believe that he was a New Dealer, as RobbyS claims. He needs to cite a source for that claim, or retract it.

[RobbyS]

A Democrat might have admired Henry Clay , as a man. while rejecting his policy. James Polk certainly did, even though he was a Jackson protege and Jackson hated Clay. FDR was like both Clay and Jackson, a man who drew others to him like a magnet. He had great courage, which is the greatest of all virtues, and great charm. And cunning, of course, and ruthlessness. A lion and a fox, as his biographer MacGregor said about him. I don’t think that Reagan was quite that. What we saw was what we got. He once made a film, the Hasty heart. Never met Reagan, but maybe THAT portrayal was very close to the real man.