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Former President/Actor Ronald Reagan Dies at 93 Dateline June 5 2004: The cheerful crusader who devoted his presidency to winning the Cold War, trying to scale back government and making people believe it was "morning again in America," died Saturday after a long twilight struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Reagan's first film appearance was in 1937. His best known pictures include: Brother Rat (1938), Dark Victory (1939), The Angels Wash Their Faces (1939), Hell's Kitchen (1939), as George 'The Gipper' Gipp in Knute Rockne All American (1940), as George Armstrong Custer in Santa Fe Trail (1940) with pal Errol Flynn, having his legs amputated by an evil doctor in Kings Row (1942), famous turkey That Hagen Girl (1947), The Voice of the Turtle (1947), Louisa (1950), Storm Warning (1951). After Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), Reagan's major projects were leads in B-Westerns including The Last Outpost (1951), Law and Order (1953), Tropic Zone (1953), Tennessee's Partner (1955). Reagan's one film with Nancy Reagan (Davis) was 1957's Hellcats of the Navy.
He later regretted taking the part, I think because he was playing a bad guy, and planning to run for Cal Gov soon thereafter. In 1973, Reagan was the subject of an episode of "The Dean Martin Show" on the episode: "Celebrity Roast: Ronald Reagan." Reagan turned 93 last February 6. He was married to actress Jane Wyman from 1940 - 1948; they had 2 children and later divorced. In 1952 Reagan married Nancy Davis (William Holden was best man); they had two children. Reagan was President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and from 1959-1960. He was governor of California from 1966 to 1974. Reagan was the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. As governor of California, Reagan expunged the criminal record of Merle Haggard, granting him a full pardon, in 1972. Reagan lived longer than any U.S. president, spending his last decade in the shrouded seclusion wrought by his disease, tended by his wife, Nancy, whom he called Mommy, and the select few closest to him. Now, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton are the surviving ex-presidents. "My family and I would like the world to know that President Ronald Reagan has passed away after 10 years of Alzheimer's disease at 93 years of age. We appreciate everyone's prayers," Nancy Reagan said in a statement. Reagan's oldest daughter, Maureen, from his first marriage, died in August 2001 at age 60 from cancer. Three other children survive: Michael, from his first marriage, and Patti Davis and Ron from his second.
At 69, Reagan was the oldest man ever elected president when he was chosen on Nov. 4, 1980, by an unexpectedly large margin over incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter. Near-tragedy struck on his 70th day as president. On March 30, 1981, Reagan was leaving a Washington hotel after addressing labor leaders when a young drifter, John Hinckley, fired six shots at him. A bullet lodged an inch from Reagan's heart, but he recovered. Four years later he was re-elected by an even greater margin, carrying 49 of the 50 states in defeating Democrat Walter F. Mondale, Carter's vice president. Meanwhile, US senators urged President George W. Bush to relax his insanely backward stem-cell restrictions. On June 8, 2004, fifty-eight senators asked Bush to relax federal restrictions on stem cell research, and several said Monday that the late former President Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's disease underscored a need to expand the research using human embryos. The senators' letter to Bush was sent Friday, before Reagan died after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said: "This issue is especially poignant given President Reagan's passing. Embryonic stem cell research might hold the key to a cure for Alzheimer's and other terrible diseases." Last month, Nancy Reagan appeared at a fund-raising dinner in Los Angeles to promote stem cell research. "We would very much like to work with you to modify the current embryonic stem cell policy so that it provides this area of research the greatest opportunity to lead to the treatments and cures for which we are all hoping," the senators wrote Bush. The letter was signed by 43 Democrats, the Senate's one independent and 14 Republicans, among them conservatives who oppose abortion. In April, 206 House members sent a similar letter to Bush. Stem cells typically are taken from days-old human embryos and then grown in a laboratory into lines or colonies. Because the embryos are destroyed when the cells are extracted, the process is opposed by some conservatives who link it to abortion. Bush signed an executive order in August 2001 limiting federal research funding for stem cell research to 78 embryonic stem cell lines then in existence. But the letter complains that only 19 of those lines are now available to researchers and those available are contaminated with mouse feeder cells which makes their use for humans uncertain. Signers include Democratic Sens. John Kerry and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Tom Harkin of Iowa, and Republicans Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. "Maybe one of the small blessings that will come from (Reagan's) passing will be a greater opportunity for Nancy to work on this issue, which of course means so much to her," Hatch said. "I believe that it's going to be pretty tough for anybody not to have empathy for her feelings on this issue."
White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said Bush stood by his stem cell policy: "The president remains committed to exploring the promise of stem cell research but at the same time continues to believe strongly that we should not cross a fundamental moral line by funding or encouraging the destruction of human embryos." So, in other words: "The president DOES NOT remain committed to exploring the promise of stem cell research, and in fact, has never been committed to exploring this promise." Lisaius continued: "The president does not believe that life should be created for the sole purpose of destroying it." Smart-ass. "He does believe we can explore the promise and potential of stem cell research using the existing lines of stem cells." Bullshit. Because stem cells develop into the various types of cells that make up the human body, scientists believe they could be grown into replacement organs and tissues to treat a wide range of diseases, including Parkinson's, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's. On the Net: Reagan Library official Web site: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu
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