By Mary Mostert
June 12, 2004
Michael Reagan, the only surviving child of Ronald Reagan’s first marriage to Jane Wyman, said in a tribute to his father last Thursday to former Reagan staff members that the greatest gift his father had given him was faith. For seven years I edited Mike Reagan’s Information Interchange. In my opinion, perhaps the greatest untold success story about Ronald Reagan is Michael Reagan, the only adopted Reagan child and the only one who produced grandchildren for Ronald Reagan.
As I was told the story, Michael was adopted because his older sister, Maureen, at about age 4 wanted a baby brother. Michael was adopted shortly after his birth in 1945 into a home that consisted of two actors, the most successful of the two being his mother. By 1948, the year Jane Wyman received her first Oscar for her role in Johnny Belinda, Michael’s parents had separated. They were divorced when he was 4 years old. Michael stayed with his mother, a highly successful and busy actress who married three more times. Jane Wyman was nominated for two more Oscars in The Blue Veil (1951) and Magnificent Obsession (1954), won five Golden Globe awards and appeared on the television drama Falcon Crest during Michael early childhood.
So what was the home life of Michael and his sister while all that was going on? There didn’t appear to be much home life. Michael and Maureen, who died of cancer in 2001, basically grew up in separate boarding schools. To say that Michael grew up in a dysfunctional family situation would probably be putting it mildly.
Much has been written about the conflicts the surviving “Reagan children” had with their father. Patti Davis diverged so from her father’s views that she legally abandoned the Reagan name and adopted her mother’s maiden name. Ron has expressed the hope of anchoring a “liberal” talk show.
What is not well known, however, is the stand once taken by Michael Reagan who was offered a large sum of money to write a negative book about his father. Mike did write a book called Michael Reagan: On the Outside Looking in, but it was not a negative book about his father and he consequently was not paid the large sum of money. It was a book about a childhood that included being ridiculed for being adopted, being brutally molested by a camp counselor, having his parents divorce, and being constantly switched to different boarding schools. Michael grew up feeling unloved and unlovable with limited access to his father.
With the help of his wife, Colleen, and inspiration from his father Ronald Reagan, Mike has helped preserve his father’s conservative legacy through his radio talk show. Realizing that his father came from a generation where the expectation of men being strong also often made them aloof, Mike some years ago decided to initiate a different approach. He greeted his father with a hug. This came as a bit of a surprise and even a shock to Ronald Reagan, but as the years went on and Alzheimer’s began to take its toll, those hugs became more and more important to the former president.
Mike said in his talk before the funeral,
“When he could no longer recognize me, I began a process of hugging him whenever I would see him. I would hug him hello and hug him goodbye," One time, he said, he forgot to hug his father goodbye. The former president followed him out the front door and stood with his arms open. "I ran back and gave him a hug," Mike said. "I know where he is. I know he's in heaven. Someday I want to be there with him, and I know I will be. My father and I, and all of us, will be dancing before the great Father in heaven, Alzheimer's-free."
There’s a message in this story that I think has been almost completely missed. Fathers, even when the worst happens and they are not able to be close to their young children, can have a life-changing impact on them. Somewhere along the line in spite of the trauma of his childhood, Mike Reagan was inspired by his father’s faith. Ronald Reagan, in spite of his own troubled childhood, somehow survived with faith in God, faith in his fellow man and faith in the founding principles of the United States of America.
As the hearse left the Washington Cathedral following the funeral service, it was Mike Reagan who was caught on camera for a moment shedding tears. Usually the cameras were focused on the sad but undemonstrative faces of the other Reagans.
The day his father died Mike had released a statement that was posted on NewsMax: which said:
“And as I look back over Dad’s 93 years, what puts me truly at peace is knowing that my father was fully aware of who his God is. Not only did he offer up his presidency but he offered up his life a long time ago to serve his God.“And so now the peace I feel is knowing that my father has gone home to be with his God and his Lord, and that is the greatest gift that he ever gave me.”
Watching that hearse leave the Cathedral I could sense Mike feeling lonely as he was so often as a child. If I could have been there, I would have given Mike a hug and said, “Mike, you are not alone. Keep that faith in God, your fellow man and this country and keep sharing it with others. Your country’s greatest need today in your and your Dad’s faith.”
To Comment: Mary Mostert