Posted on 01/14/2011 10:34:16 AM PST by Arec Barrwin
Reagan Son Claims Dad Had Alzheimer's as President
2011 is a big year for Ronald Reagan fans, being the centennial of his February 6 birth in Tampico, Ill. But youngest son Ron Reagan is spoiling the good cheer with a new book that suggests the Gipper suffered from Alzheimer's disease while in the White House, a claim dismissed by Reagan's doctors and outside experts. "Had the diagnosis been made in, say, 1987, would he have stepped down?" Ron asks, regarding the disease confirmed in 1994. "I believe he would have," he writes in My Father At 100: A Memoir, due in bookstores Tuesday. [Poll: Who do you think was the worst president?]
In addition to challenging the former president's doctors, Ron also reports for the first time that Reagan, right after falling off a horse six months out of the White House, underwent brain surgery, denied by Reagan associates.
Let's start with the Alzheimer's diagnosis. It was announced in 1994. While it prompted some to suggest they knew Reagan had the disease as president, his four White House doctors said they saw no evidence of it. But Ron, who became a liberal and atheist, disappointing his dad, suggests he saw hints of confusion and "an out-of-touch president" during the 1984 campaign and again in 1986, when his father couldn't recall the names of California canyons he was flying over. Arguing his case in the book, Ron adds that doctors today know that the disease can be in evidence before being recognized. "The question, then, of whether my father suffered from the beginning stages of Alzheimer's while in office more or less answers itself," he writes. [See a gallery of caricatures of Reagan and other pols.]
Besides playing amateur doctor, Ron Reagan reveals, if true, brain surgery on his dad never before reported. He accurately reports that Reagan, after leaving the presidency, was bucked from a horse on July 4, 1989, while in Mexico. Ron tells of how his dad, after initially refusing medical help, was transported to a San Diego hospital. "Surgeons opening his skull to relieve pressure on the brain emerged from the operating room with the news that they had detected what they took to be probable signs of Alzheimer's disease." Several Reagan associates, however, say there was no surgery in San Diego.
What's more there is no reporting about any San Diego operation on Reagan. News reports at the time of his fall say Reagan was flown to a hospital in Arizona, where he was treated for scrapes and bruises and released after five hours.
There were no reports of Reagan with a shaved head or skull stitches later that month when he served as a guest TV announcer at the July 11 baseball All-Star Game in Anaheim, Calif., or when he was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City on July 21.
In September, he went to the Mayo Clinic, where a small burr hole was drilled to relieve a fluid buildup due to the fall.
Ron Reagan doesn't mention this, but says that Reagan visited the Mayo Clinic in 1990 for tests that "confirmed the initial suspicion of Alzheimer's." Reagan's post-presidency history, documented in several archives like University of Texas, reveal no such visit. And Dr. John E. Hutton Jr. his doctor from 1984 through Reagan's retirement, told the New York Times that Reagan didn't show the tell-tale symptoms until 1993.
Ron Reagan won't talk about his book until its release, says his publisher Viking. The publisher also didn't provide documents backing up the San Diego operation claim.
Here are key excerpts from Ron Reagan about his dad's situation from My Father At 100, A Memoir.
Early hints that Ronald Reagan's mind was fuzzy:
"Three years into his first term as president, though, I was feeling the first shivers of concern that something beyond mellowing was affecting my father. We had always argued over this issue or that, rarely with anything approaching belligerence, but vigorously all the same. He generally had the advantage of practiced talking points backed up by staff research, but I was an unabashed, occasionally effective advocate for my own positions. 'He told me you make him feel stupid,' my mother once shared, to my alarm. I didn't want my father to feel stupid. If he was going to shoulder massive responsibility, I wanted him to feel on top of his game. If he was going to fulfill his duties as president, he would have to be." Pages 204-205
"Watching the first of his two debates with 1984 Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale, I began to experience the nausea of a bad dream coming true. At 73, Ronald Reagan would be the oldest president ever reelected. Some voters were beginning to imagine grandpa—who can never find his reading glasses—in charge of a bristling nuclear arsenal, and it was making them nervous. Worse, my father now seemed to be giving them legitimate reason for concern. My heart sank as he floundered his way through his responses, fumbling with his notes, uncharacteristically lost for words. He looked tired and bewildered." Page 205.
"My father might himself have suspected that all was not as it should be. As far back as August 1986 he had been alarmed to discover, while flying over the familiar canyons north of Los Angeles, that he could no longer summon their names." Page 218.
The July 4, 1989 horse bucking and discovery of Alzheimer's:
"In July 1989, barely six months out of office, my father visited friends in Mexico. While out riding he was thrown when his horse shied at something in the trailside scrub. That my father, even at age 78, would be bucked off his mount was, in itself, an ominous sign. It's a wonder he didn't break any bones, but he did hit his head hard enough to cause a sizable contusion. After initially refusing medical attention, he ultimately relented and was transported to a hospital in San Diego. Surgeons opening his skull to relieve pressure on the brain emerged from the operating room with the news that they had detected what they took to be probable signs of Alzheimer's disease. No formal diagnosis was given, as far as I know. I have since learned from a doctor who happened to be interning at the hospital when my father was brought in that surgeons involved in his care, in what my informant characterized as 'shameful' behavior, violated my father's right to medical privacy by subsequently gossiping about his condition." Page 217.
"Doctors recommended to my mother that further tests of cognition be conducted the following year to measure any decline. Those tests, at the Mayo Clinic, confirmed the initial suspicion of Alzheimer's." Page 217.
"I've seen no evidence that my father (or anyone else) was aware of his medical condition while he was in office. Had the diagnosis been made in, say 1987, would he have stepped down? I believe he would have. Far less was known about the disease then, of course, than is known now. Today we are aware that the physiological and neurological changes associated with Alzheimer's can be in evidence years, even decades, before identifiable symptoms arise. The question, then, of whether my father suffered from the beginning stages of Alzheimer's while in office more or less answers itself." Pages 217-218.
Thank you so much. Can’t wait to add Tumeric to my coffee!
I have an auto-immune disease and have tried everything else..gonna give this a go! Thanks!
Hi, you’ve probably posted your link before but I didn’t notice. Where did you get it from? I’d like to use it with my liberal friends.
Thanks.
I took this story as motivation to visit the Reagan Library website. I took the video tour, narrated by Gary Sinise.
What a man, what a life, what an inspiration.
I urge everyone not to get bogged down or distracted by what leftist losers say. Just stay optimistic about your faith, family, country and your ability to shape your own destiny in this still great country. That’s what President Reagan would do.
Thank you for telling me what I’ve suspected all along. Of course he’s a nasty, spiteful poofter.
Good point.
I was originally steered to it by a friend with MS as an anti-inflammatory.
I try to use tuneric and cinnamon on as many foods as possible (Need to save what few brain cells I have left)..
I am taking a lot of heat from the people here on my fuzzy memories. I just remembered that he had two daughters with Jane. One died a day later. I also don’t see how being adopted does not make you a member of the family. As far as I am concerned, he is. Maybe his birth mother should have aborted him to avoid the shame of being adopted and not really being a member of his adoptive family. That is the message I am getting here at FR. Pretty sad.
Dumb way to promote the book. Upon hearing that line, most people will think: “...Reagan with Alzheimer’s is better than what we got now”.
How would that faggot know he was as much as disowned!
He’s never attempted to sully his father’s memory.
That's the little tutu-wearing weasle's only loophole that cannot be proven one way or another. However, it's not the first time the Nancy-boy has slandered his father's legacy. He should change his name to Alec Baldwin Jr.
Yea, right...try again little Ronnie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPu1UIBkBc
Good grief....get over yourself. I only corrected you because I have never heard that a baby died the next day....geesh......and I doubt that ANY freeper would ever encourage abortion.
Well I have had four people post to me just to ding me on Micheal being adopted. It has nothing to do with the original point I made that the kids Jane Wyman raised are far better than the POS kids Nancy raised. Both Patti and ballerina Ron are garbage. You and the others in all your critiques brought up the fact that Micheal was adopted like that disqualified him as a Reagan.
I just find it odd at all the comments directed at me personally. My original point was valid even if my remembrances are off base.
Michael IS their child, but he IS adopted....period.
Oh...and you were RIGHT ON about the two kids of Nancy’s....they are AWFUL!
I think “Honest John” Adams had one or two complete failure sons too, didn’t he? But Nancy and Ron struck out both times. The daughter has also been a long-time critic of “Reaganism,” but one would have thought that she would have adored Sandra Day O’Connor.
Did you get the capsules? Cuz I tried using the spice, and.....YUCK!
Yes, I only take the capsules. You’ll have no taste or indigestion either.
I take about four a day of the 450 mg capsules.
http://www.puritan.com/herb-products-n-to-z-033/turmeric-curcumin-015418?np=1
Fish oil has anti-inflammatory properties also.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.