• barrbaric [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    In Reagan's memoirs, he drew a direct line from the film to the signing.

    I'm pretty sure those were ghostwritten because Reagan would've been way too far down the path of dementia by then, no?

    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
      ·
      2 months ago

      Reagan got a hearing aid in his first term. At that time - I thought nothing of it. I was young (ah) and he was old as fuck. But during his second term I must have watched or read something to make me wonder if it was actually an earpiece. Maybe I saw an SNL skit with that theme or I read some jokey article that mentioned the idea that he was being fed information because he was already losing his marbles. In any case - after he got his "hearing aid" I must have made an effort to watch one or two of his press conferences. That was a super-pain in the ass back in the day. No Youtube. No google. Even the Internet wasn't a thing yet.

      Even though he was skilled at using humor for misdirection and reporters can be dumber than rocks - I was surprised that at times he really did look a bit lost. I had to wonder if the "hearing aid" was actually an earpiece and they were coaching him through the rough patches.