Getting Political with "The Regans"

During his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980, a reporter asked former California governor and presidential hopeful Ronald Regan what he'd liked to be remembered for if he was elected President of the United States. After a few moments of thought, the former actor responded: "what I'd really like to do is go down in history as the President who made Americans believe in themselves again." Such is the sentiment portrayed in the historical mini-series The Reagans, which was released with much controversial fanfare in 2003. Directed and produced by veteran TV movie director Robert Allan Ackerman (Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone), the film chronicles the meeting and marriage of Ronald and Nancy Reagan and Ronald's eventual rise through the political ranks to the Presidency. Intermixed are issues of family, politics, and power, topics that evoked strong emotions from those who knew the President, those who worked for him, and those who continue to support his policies and legacy. The film was designed to air in two parts and was originally commissioned by CBS for a run during the fall 2003 "sweeps". However, due to continuing controversy over the script and the portray of the Reagan family, CBS dropped their support for the mini-series in post production and it eventually aired in November of 2003 on the cable channel Showtime. It was this controversy between the historical fact and the movie myth that drew me to The Reagans and convinced me to take a peek at what the mini-series had to offer.

The film stares well-known American actor James Brolin (The Amityville Horror and The West Wing) as the nation's 40th President and Ackerman alum Judy Davis ( Husbands and Wives, Barton Fink, and A Passage to India) as Nancy Regan. While the film has its share of controversy, it was nominated for a number of industry awards most notable Best Actor at the Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for Brolin's portrayal of the late president.

The History

Ronald Reagan and Nancy
Reagan in1964.

Ronald Reagen first met actress Nancy Davis in 1949 after she contacted him in his capacity as president of the Screen Actors Guild to help her with issues regarding her name appearing on a Communist blacklist in Hollywood. America was in the midst of a "Red Scare" and Hollywood was seen as a hotbed of pro-Communist support. Reagen agreed to help her, eventually finding out that her name had been confused for a different Nancy Davis, and a romance began to develop. Reagen had be married once prior to his relationship to Nancy in 1940 when he married his co-star Jane Wyman. Wyman is credited with turning Reagan from a Roosevelt Democrat to a Goldwater Republican and sparking Reagan's interest in politics. Following arguments about Reagan's political ambitions, Wyman filed for divorce in 1948 citing a distraction due to her husband's Screen Actors Guild union duties. Reagen remains the only US president ever to have been divorced. Ronald and Nancy eventually married in 1952 and their marriage produced two children, Patti and Ronald Jr.

In the 1950's, General Electric tapped Reagan to host the General Electric Theater, a weekly TV drama series, and it was through this partnership that Reagan's interest in conservative politics bloomed. In 1964, he took an active campaigning role in the presidential run of Arizona senator Barry Goldwater and in 1967, announced his bid for governor of California. After winning the governor's mansion, Reagen tested the waters for a 1968 presidential run, but opted in the end to stay in Sacramento. His conservative policies provoke protest on college campuses and in the state legislature, but Reagan rode out the storm, winning a second term for governor before opting not to run for a third term in 1974 to focus all his attention on a run for the White House. He narrowly lost the Republican nomination in 1976 to Gerald Ford before winning the nomination and the election outright in 1980, becoming the oldest man ever to occupy the Oval Office. He would run again and win a second term in 1984.

The Reagans during the Inaugural Parade
 in Washington, D.C in 1981

Reagan's first term in office was a daunting one. Starting on a high note with the release of the American embassy hostages in Iran after 444 days in captivity, Reagan's administration soon had to deal with a sluggish economy and unhappiness at home. His controversial "Reaganomics" policies continue to a subject of debate today among historians. Reagan also suffered a close call when he became the target of an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr. outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Despite coming close to death, Reagen became the first US president to survive a direct attempt on his life and the shooting had great influence on Reagan's popularity and myth. Personally, Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he might go on to fulfill a greater purpose. Following his return to office, Reagan began to amp up his rhetoric against the Soviet Union and escalated the "arms race" between the two Cold War-foes. Foreign policy became the focus of his administration after the revelations of the selling of American weapons to Iran in exchange for illicit aide to anti-Communist forces in Nicaragua in the so-called Iran-Contra scandal. Despite great achievements in helping to bring about the end of the Cold War, Iran-Contra was a serious stain on the President's legacy, resulting in fourteen indictments within Reagan's staff for criminal misconduct, and eleven convictions. Despite threats of impeachment, Reagan survived the scandal as there was no conclusive evidence that showed that he authorized the diversion of the money raised by the Iranian arms sales to the Contras. To this day, it is unclear exactly what Reagan knew and to what extent he was involved in the scandal.

In 1989, Reagan retired from public office and returned to a quieter life in California at his private ranch. In 1994, he admitted in a written statement that he was suffering for the early effects of Alzheimer's disease, an incurable neurological disorder which destroys brain cells and ultimately causes death. Though he continued a quiet life until his death in 2004, Reagan is credited with a renaissance in American conservative thought and his image and example has been an inspiration to many Republican leaders who have followed him.

The Movie

Ronald (James Brolin) and Nancy
(Judy Davis) in the 2003 mini-series
The Reagens

In the film, viewers are taken on an almost forty year journey through the life of the Reagens from his first meeting with Nancy in the 1940's until his leaving the White House in the 1980's. Throughout this many of major events of Reagen's life and Presidency are laid out including story lines about his relationship with his children and the behind the scenes support of his wife and of his health. Some of the more interesting scenes include his daughter Patti's drug abuse (from a very early age), his son Ron's ballet / acting career and alluded homosexuality, and his dealings with "forgetfulness" during the Iran-Contra affair (could it be the early onset of Alzheimer's?). Probably the most interesting aspect of the film is his relationship with Nancy and how the film portrays her as the real power behind the scenes of the Reagen White House, doing everything for cultivating the President's public image to running his Cabinet appointments.

Prior to its release in 2003, portions of the unrevised script were leaked about a month before the mini-series was set to air. Conservatives widely criticized the film as an unbalanced and inaccurate depiction of the Reagans and their life, calling it "leftist historical revisionism". CBS reportedly had ordered a love story about Ronald and Nancy with a political backdrop, but instead received what they later claimed was an overtly political film. One of the most intense moments of the original script, and often the only one referred to in media reports, was the depiction of Reagan telling his wife during a conversation about AIDS patients that "they that live in sin shall die in sin." While the writers of the film admit that there is no historical evidence that Reagen uttered those lines, there is historical evidence to support the idea that Reagen, a devoutly religious man, harbored similar sentiments towards homosexuals and the deadly virus. Another factor which has motivated critics to claim bias was that Reagan was played by James Brolin, whose wife Barbra Streisand was an outspoken liberal spokesperson. The film also received heavy criticism from the Reagen family, especially Patti Reagan, who claimed no one from the family was consulted for the film. Supporters of the film claimed that these criticisms were simply partisan bias, and were an attempt to censor a film because it did not always portray the former president in a positive light. Eventually, CBS withdrew the broadcast saying that it did "not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans," causing many to criticise the station for buckling to political pressure. The producers of the movie noted that, before the outcry, CBS had approved both the script for the miniseries and had received daily dispatches as filming had progressed. The film had even been approved by two sets of CBS lawyers prior to the criticism.

Regardless of the criticism, The Reagens offers an interesting (if not one-sided) take on the events surrounding one of our most recognizable presidents. While the idea of Nancy Reagan as the power broker of the Reagen White House seems a bit far fetched and not the most historically accurate, the images of the President's charisma as a speaker comes through load and clear, giving everyone a taste of what drew so many Americans to his man who would become known as "the Great Communicator". Reagen's inability to remember details and names is also an emotional foreshadowing to where his life and history will eventually end up. We will probably never know the full story of what really went on behind closed doors, but like the 2011 mini-series The Kennedys, Americans will never grow tired to stirring up controversy about our most iconic leaders.