Michael Reagans speech...did anyone else notice....

[mum4jenn]

Did anyone else notice the little "dig" Michael made to Ron and Patty in his speech? He referred twice to the fact that he was proud to have the Reagan name and to have kept it and was not ashamed to have it. I think he was making just a little dig at his half siblings since they both changed their last names from Reagan to Davis for Patty and Prescott for Ron. Anyone wonder if they will change their last names back to Reagan now?

 

[dumboiu]

Reagan's children tried to escape father's shadow

By CORKY SIEMASZKO
New York Daily News

Ronald Reagan's children grew up in his shadow and spent most of their lives trying to escape it.

Maureen, Michael and Patti wrote tell-all books in which they described their father, the man who made the term ''family values'' part of the political currency, as a loving but often distant parent.

While all three faced unique difficulties as the adult children of a sitting American president, all reconciled with their father.

Maureen Reagan

Maureen was the president's first-born, his daughter by actress Jane Wyman. Born into celebrity, she was traumatized by her parents' 1948 divorce and felt frozen out when Nancy Davis married her dad in 1952.

Maureen leaned on her adopted younger brother, Michael, and both endured lonely childhoods in a succession of boarding schools — an ordeal she chronicled in her book First Father, First Daughter.

Her attempts to launch an acting and singing career failed, though she enjoyed some success as a TV talk show host. She abandoned showbiz in the 1970s. In 1982, Maureen made an unsuccessful bid for the Senate from California, and later failed to win a congressional seat.

She died of skin cancer in August 2001. She was 60.

Michael Reagan

When Michael Reagan was a boy, his father called him ''shmuck.''

The love-starved youth was so proud and happy that his pop had bestowed a nickname on him he insisted everyone call him shmuck. Then he discovered what the word really meant — the Yiddish equivalent of ''jerk.''

But the fact remains that the adopted son of Reagan and Wyman grew up bitter and angry.

In 1989, he stumbled into talk radio and after a few years became a rising right-wing star.

Patti Davis

Patti Davis is Ronald Reagan's rebellious wild child.

When her dad was governor of California and denouncing anti-war protesters, she was out there with the students demanding that the United States pull out of Vietnam.

In 1992, she unloaded on her family in The Way I See It, a memoir in which she described her father as clueless and her mom as a pill-popping shrew.

Reagan's daughter by Nancy Reagan, Patti, 51, began using her mother's maiden name when she launched her acting career.

Eventually they patched things up, and when Ronald Reagan went public with his Alzheimer's, Patti and her siblings raced home to be with their dad.

Ron Reagan

Ronald Prescott Reagan tried to be the good son. He waved and clapped and smiled on cue, even though he violently disagreed with his father's politics.

Ron, 22 when his father took office, was a professional ballet dancer, which sparked rumors about his sexuality. The rumors persisted even after he married.

Realizing his dancing days were almost over, Ron launched a career as a per TV personality.

 

[CEDmom]

I didn't hear his speech but after reading what dumboiu posted it reminds me of something Jackie Kennedy Onasis said. I don't remember her exact words but it was something like if you don't do a good job raising your children nothing else you do really matters much.

 

[LScot]

I heard him say that he was proud of having the name Reagan, I didn't realize he was making a dig though.
I thought Ron's dig at President Bush was very noticable though.

Too bad they had such hard times as a family. I truly wonder if RR was as distant as they claim him to be. These kids are a generation above me but things were different back then. Relationships between father and children have evolved a lot I think. I just wonder if theirs was much different from most.

I am sure that Maureen (& Michael too) did have it rough when RR fell in love with Nancy. After all, theirs was a love story like few others. So, I am sure those children felt left out and in the way.

 

[Rutt and Tuke]

I didn't take it as a dig and prefer not to take it that way. I took it only that he was proud to have been adopted by him.

What dig did Ron take at Pres. Bush?

 

[Robinrs]

Originally posted by LScot
I heard him say that he was proud of having the name Reagan, I didn't realize he was making a dig though.
I thought Ron's dig at President Bush was very noticable though.

Too bad they had such hard times as a family. I truly wonder if RR was as distant as they claim him to be. These kids are a generation above me but things were different back then. Relationships between father and children have evolved a lot I think. I just wonder if theirs was much different from most.

I am sure that Maureen (& Michael too) did have it rough when RR fell in love with Nancy. After all, theirs was a love story like few others. So, I am sure those children felt left out and in the way.

I always saw it as strange, especially since my parents were of a similar generation and their children were about the ages of the Reagans.

My parents were extremely devoted to each other, but not to exclude their children. They adored us and did till their death and in return raised children and grandchildren who will forever cherish them. On the other hand my oldest sister and her husband are very devoted to each other and alienated their children. Each of them have spent most of their lives dealing with the lack of affection in some anti social way that is so reflective of families like that. It seems like a resentment that I'm so glad I never experienced.

This happens so often in families, unfortunately famous families have to deal with it publicly.

LOVE that line CEDmom....

if you don't do a good job raising your children nothing else you do really matters much.

ITA!

 

[AirForceRocks]

I'm not aware that Ron Reagan has dropped his last name. He works at MSNBC, and he is always introduced as Ron Reagan. I did notice that they referred to him a lot this week as "Ronald Prescott Reagan", but I figured that they did so to signify that they were talking about the son rather than the father.

Rutt & Tuke, I thought that Ron's comments about there being a profound difference between a responsiblity and a mandate (when he was talking about things his father said after he was shot about God letting him live for a reason) was most likely a dig at President Bush, but I could be wrong.

 

[Rutt and Tuke]

Originally posted by AirForceRocks

Rutt & Tuke, I thought that Ron's comments about there being a profound difference between a responsiblity and a mandate (when he was talking about things his father said after he was shot about God letting him live for a reason) was most likely a dig at President Bush, but I could be wrong.

Oh, yes, I remember that now. Thank you.

 

[LScot]

Exactly what I got out of his staement. He concluded with, "There IS a difference."

Robinrs,
You are exactly right. What I was trying to get at was not the devotion of the parents (like Ronald and Nancy--I find them very unique) but just the fact that fathers didn't have the same role that they seem to nowadays. My father is an excellent father and loving dad. However, he worked a lot and let mom do most everything for us. Really, with 3 sisters I didn't get to spend much alone time with him. My DH, on the other hand, spends a tremendous amount of time with DD. But as I remember it, everybody who's dad was active in their lives when I was growing up was similar to mine.

And for some reason, a lot of people who are in that generation blame their parents for their problems. Maybe I just hear a lot of that as a hairdresser (& hearing people's problems).
Oh well. Just a thought. Maybe they were a weird family.

 

[mickey4ver]

Originally posted by Robinrs

My parents were extremely devoted to each other, but not to exclude their children. They adored us and did till their death and in return raised children and grandchildren who will forever cherish them. On the other hand my oldest sister and her husband are very devoted to each other and alienated their children. Each of them have spent most of their lives dealing with the lack of affection in some anti social way that is so reflective of families like that. It seems like a resentment that I'm so glad I never experienced.

ITA! I think that in their utter devotion to each other, the Reagans neglected their children in the worse possible way, by not giving them the devotion and love that all children need. My opinion is that this is really unforgivable, no matter HOW much you love your spouse, your children need that nourishment/devotion of love from both parents. I think with time, you will see the fractures in this family show up again. It is nice that the children were there for their parents when they needed them the most, at a time of illness and passing, but where were these parents in the years those kids needed them? By all 4 of the children writing books, there has to be some semblence of truth as to how this couple treated these children through the years. If just one of them had been bitter and written a book, and the others said "oh no, it wasn't that way", it would seem a little more believeable that they didn't act this way throughout their marriage towards the kids, but all of them have written of feeling "left out" over the years.

Also, while saddened by any death, illness etc., from another thread, where it was noted that Nancy should have had more privacy at the iternment ceremony, I believe she controlled what was going on, and if she really wanted privacy, it would have happened. She and her husband adored the spotlight and IMO thrived on it.

 

[Lanshark]

I thought that Ron's comments about there being a profound difference between a responsiblity and a mandate (when he was talking about things his father said after he was shot about God letting him live for a reason) was most likely a dig at President Bush, but I could be wrong.

I don't think you're wrong. I interpreted it exactly the same way.

 

[crazyforgoofy]

Originally posted by Lanshark
I don't think you're wrong. I interpreted it exactly the same way.

Me too!

 

[N.Bailey]

Originally posted by AirForceRocks

Rutt & Tuke, I thought that Ron's comments about there being a profound difference between a responsiblity and a mandate (when he was talking about things his father said after he was shot about God letting him live for a reason) was most likely a dig at President Bush, but I could be wrong.

I wondered what in the world he meant by that. I kept wondering, what on earth would make him say anything like that? If it is what he meant though, it certainly makes me lose respect for him. To bring all that into his father's funeral? What an inappropriate time. It's certainly no secret though that he did not agree with his father's politics.

 

[EltonJohn]

Originally posted by mum4jenn Did anyone else notice the little "dig" Michael made to Ron and Patty in his speech? He referred twice to the fact that he was proud to have the Reagan name and to have kept it and was not ashamed to have it.

I certainly didn't take it that way. My mother is adopted, so I probably have a different perspective from most of you. I took it as saying that he believes that he was richly blessed, and that he was proud that he was Ronald Reagan's son-not just an adopted child, but a son. Why would a devout Christian man take a dig at his siblings at his father's funeral? It doesn't make sense.

I think he was making just a little dig at his half siblings since they both changed their last names from Reagan to Davis for Patty and Prescott for Ron. Anyone wonder if they will change their last names back to Reagan now?

I think that Patti just uses Davis as a stage name, and as far as I know Ron has always used Reagan as his surname. I'm a little suprised that he was a ballet dancer. Out of the three surviving children he certainly has his father's communication skills.

What dig did Ron take at Pres. Bush?

When he said that while though his father was unabashadly a religious man he didn't wear it on his sleave like some politicians do to gain votes.