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Starry Gordon's avatar

I think Coolidge and Eisenhower lived in a different world, so it is harder to discern their qualities. Nor do I think I know much about Reagan. He was, after all, an actor.

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Rfhirsch's avatar

Yes, the 1920s and the 1950s may have seemed running rapidly at the time, but not very fast compared to today. On the other hand, Eisenhower was the lead U.S. general in World War II, and then head of NATO, and then President of Columbia University, all of which were real executive positions.

Ronald Reagan was at one time an actor, but much more importantly he was head of the Screen Actors Guild. It was one of the smaller unions in number of members, but one of the most in the news and he had hard work dealing with the problems in Hollywood at the time. Then he was Governor of California for two terms, not a trivial state to lead! Then he had a radio program, 3 minute discussions of current events. It was thought at the time that somebody wrote them for him. Then about 25 years ago it was discovered that he had a disobedient secretary. Instead of throwing away his personal handwritten drafts of his talks as he had ordered, she kept them. They were discovered and published in "Reagan in his own Hand". It shows how well informed he was about many key issues.

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Starry Gordon's avatar

I saw a live television interview of Reagan recorded (I believe) after he left office. In contrast to his presentation in the political media as someone barely awake and rather simple-minded, he was knowledgeable and witty. I take it that the previous of the two appearances was assumed because it appealed to voters; but it would be hard, at a distance, to tell exactly what the truth was.

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