Word: reagan
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Breakfast Reading. In the late '40s, Reagan was plagued with problems beyond his political and professional environment. His wife of eight years, Actress Jane Wyman, whom he had met while filming Brother Rat, decided to divorce him in 1948. Neither she nor Ronnie has ever discussed their breakup in public, but a close mutual friend recalls that Reagan had long been in the habit of delivering animated readings from the newspaper over breakfast and then insisting on an analytical discussion of current events. Jane, the story goes, finally revolted against eggs-and-cerebration and fled with their two children...
...Reagan married Actress Nancy Davis, now 43, the daughter of Chicago Neurosurgeon Loyal Davis. Reagan first met her when she complained to the Screen Actors Guild that she was receiving unwanted Communist literature in the mail. They have two children, Patricia, 13, and Ronald Prescott, 8. The Reagans have a 305-acre ranch at Lake Malibu, where they raise Thoroughbreds, and a house in Pacific Palisades, with a pool, a view of Los Angeles, and a monumental assemblage of electric gadgets and appliances-a reward for Reagan's duties on "the mashed-potato circuit" as a lecturer for General...
...relationship began in 1954 when he signed on for his first regular TV appearance as host and master of ceremonies for the weekly General Electric Theater. He stayed on for eight years. His duties involved frequent trips to G.E. plants around the country, making an interminable series of addresses (Reagan figures he spent 4,000 hours at G.E.-plant microphones) that went far toward honing his present-day skill with an audience...
...Reagan and General Electric Theater went off the air, and Ronnie signed up with Borax as the permanent host on television's Death Valley Days. He also decided to switch his own sponsorship and register as a Republican. "It did not happen easily," he says. "Changing registration is almost like changing religion...
Never Such an Alarm. Once he became a full-fledged convert to the G.O.P., Reagan was eaeerly embraced by the party's conservative wing. They suggested that he launch a primary campaign to knock off Republican Moderate Tom Kuchel in 1962. Reagan said no but then backed Right-Winger Wright. He also turned down a suggestion that he take on Pat Brown for Governor that year. "I said that I would do everything short of running, that I would be a Paul Revere for other people." Never did Reagan sound the alarm so loudly...