Ronald Reagan on the Road By Bob Sanders

That anguished hand-wringing by the conservative media over John McCain’s decision to rebrand himself by adopting Theodore Roosevelt’s spirit of reform was somewhat stunning. The suggestion that a Republican running for the White House without either Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan as a role model was enough to be met by chilling reaction including that of  Joshua Hawley of National Review Online.

Proffering that conservatives believe TR was a big government “closet socialist,” Hawley cranked things up a bit by suggesting that the Rough Rider was no Reagan. Indeed, he’s not.

I met Reagan in the fall of 1961 in Kansas City while employed by TV Guide. My office was located at the corner of 10^th & Grand, close to the Hotel Muehlebach, scene of so many large luncheons and dinners. Few K.C. hotels were capable of handling such events then and the Muehlebach won business pretty much by default. During his Presidency and afterwards, Harry Truman maintained an office there. Reagan would return to the hotel 15 years later to pitch for delegates at the Republication National Convention at which Gerald Ford was nominated.

The year I met Reagan had been one of triumph and change for him. President of the Screen Actors Guild, the actor had worked out a strike settlement in the face of charges that his connection with the General Electric Theatre (he both hosted the Sunday night show and was 25 percent owner of it) put him more on the side of management. In spite of the charges, he received a standing ovation at a mass meeting that produced a landslide approval. That November, just after I met him, he was re-elected to his sixth term as SAG president. A liberal from the time he became old enough to vote, Reagan was turning toward conservatism largely because he reviled Communism. His marriage to actress Nancy Davis eight years before also was a factor.

Earlier that year, my magazine had run a cover of Reagan and we received a number of 18”x12” blowups for distribution to stations carrying the General Electric Theatre. The photos usually wound up on lobby and corridor walls. I kept one for myself knowing that my mother-in-law, Allie Weiler, was an ardent Reagan fan. Armed with the blow-up, I approached the dais where Reagan had spoken impressively at a meeting of the Kansas City Advertising Club.

“What’s your mother-in-law’s name?” he asked. “Allie,” I replied. “How do you spell that?” I told him. He then wrote a glowing paragraph to Allie—something like 50 or 60 words—making reference to what a “wonderful” son-in-law she had acquired. It was charmingly effusive and his words and photo quickly became a prized possession of my wife’s mother who provided a place of honor in the vestibule of her Bristol, Virginia home. “Are you expected somewhere right now?” asked the future U.S. President. I told him I didn’t have to be back in the office for a while and he invited me to his room for a drink.

When we got there, he ordered a couple of scotch and waters (I learned later a screwdriver was his favorite drink) from room service and we began talking. Based in the Quad Cities for 18 months during the recent past, I commented about WOC, a Davenport radio station where I knew Reagan had worked early in his career. I had pushed the right button.

WOC was an unusual station and may still be. With call letters standing for Wonders of Chiropractic, WOC was founded by Bartlett Joshua Palmer, the son of Daniel David Palmer. The senior Palmer, a Canadian, had originated Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport spreading the gospel through teaching and practice. His work was carried on and extended by his son, usually referred to as B.J. I recalled that a huge picture of Palmer graced a wall of the station’s lobby and that the picture looked not unlike Andy Gump, a chinless bombastic blowhard comic strip character (1917-1959). Reagan laughed heartily and suggested I had a pretty good eye.

As we continued our talk, he commented about Walter Annenberg, the owner of TV Guide and a major philanthropist-to-be. “Apparently Walter has spent much of his life hounded by the thought of his father’s time in prison. I think it’s a shame. I think his dad got a bum rap,” said Reagan. Triangle Publications Publisher Moses L. Annenberg, who founded most of what his son inherited with the exception of TV Guide, spent 18 months in Lewisburg Prison for tax evasion and was released a few weeks before his death in 1942

During our two-hour conversation accompanied by more scotch and water, I sensed his longing for those early days in radio when he learned his craft, first at WOC, then at sister station WHO in Des Moines. We know so much about Ronald Reagan and, yet, there is so much we don’t know. Perhaps he was always an incurable romantic who spent the second half of his life reserving everything beyond his beguiling personality for Nancy and Nancy alone. When I mentioned how radio had been a defining part of my youth and how I used to sneak a radio into bed with me to hear such shows as “Inner Sanctum,” and “The Hermit’s Cave” complete with characters my imagination had defined so clearly, Reagan went into high gear. An enthusiastic collector of popular culture trivia with an emphasis upon the entertainment industry—and a baseball nut to boot—I was an excellent audience for him.

Reagan’s memory was remarkable. I got the feeling he could pluck any given day out of the past and provide the nuances of those experiences that had contributed so much to who he was and, in retrospect, where he was going. Politics did not come up in our conversation with a single exception. That was the role Franklin Delano Roosevelt had played in Walter Annenberg’s version of his father’s prison sentence; it centered on retaliation for contributions to the Republican Party. Everything else concentrated on sports and TV with oblique references to the film industry where age had moved Reagan, then 49, from leading man to G.E. television spokesman.

I was particularly curious about Reagan, the sports announcer who used to recreate Chicago Cubs games. Having acquired the name “Dutch” Reagan after moving to WHO, he was assigned to announce Cubs and White Sox games. The home plate umpire’s balls and strikes decisions were sent by wire and Reagan ad-libbed everything else including fan reaction, the weather and game interruptions when the wire service momentarily broke down. In the words of biographer Ed Morris, “he could out-talk Bugs Bunny.”

Sensing he wanted to reminisce about his old announcing days, I questioned him regarding recreations of Cubs games. His eyes twinkled and he began a game description of a contest that had occurred in 1934. It was WHO Sports Director “Dutch” Reagan at his mellifluous best on a 50,000 watt clear channel that reached Mexico and islands in the Pacific. Not until he was President would he command such an audience at one time. It was Cubs coverage that took him to the West Coast the next year to the team’s spring training camp at Catalina Island and discovery by Warner Bros.

My memory of a long ago conversation with the most totally charming person I’ve ever met is vivid. His enthusiasms, his interest in me and his great good humor are the sorts of things one never forgets. I can still hear him doing that Cubs game complete with references to Chuck Klein, Stan Hack and manager Charlie Grimm. As time warps go, it’s hard to beat.

Also, I can’t help but wonder about Ronald Reagan’s death by Alzheimer’s Disease. Is it possible he was done in by all that information he acquired and maintained over his first 83 years? Perhaps a mind can only hold so much until it goes on overload.

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Comments

[John Watts]

Hi Bob,

Just read your piece on Reagan, a good one!

I can add maybe a few more things;
Reagan once belonged to the same Protestant denomination I do, and in which my Grandfather was a minister for 50 years or so.
But, sometime before he became rich and famous he quit and joined a less fundamental church that mainly served as a palliative.
It seems many in my church disagreed with the goal of giving 50% of all gifts to support foreign missions. Don't know if that was a factor, but it seems to also fit his turn toward 'conservatism'.

You might be onto something about the irony of his Alzheimers onset. He filled his mind with so much trivia that he couldn't remember it all? A good memory is necessary in acting, but as President he didn't have a script to follow, except R propaganda!

Reagan gets credit for a lot of things that people like to remember - or disremember, but he did inspire folks because of his affability and winning personality.

Its really too bad he has helped the R's claim so much that isn't true! But that's what actors learn to do!

BTW, my mother was born in the Tennessee side of Bristol.
Wonders never cease.

Regards,
John

[Bob Sanders]

Thanks, John, for the very kind words. My first newspaper job was in Kingsport, TN--25 miles west of Bristol.
Reagan, as you may know, was aided greatly by Walter Annenberg who helped him gain the California governorship. I could have gone into what happened to Reagan but those stories have been told before. I wanted to make clear how kind and funny he was. I hope I succeeded.
Bob