Killing Reagan The Violent Assault That Changed The Presidency Essay

“Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency is a book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. The book is a biographical depiction of President Ronald Reagan, including a look at his career as an actor, marriage to Nancy Reagan, an assassination attempt during his presidency, and eventual physical and mental decline.

In 1937, at the age of 26, Ronald Reagan moved to Los Angeles and began acting in movies. He married Jane Wyman in January of 1940. They had two children, daughter Maureen, born in 1941, and adopted son Michael, born in 1945. Wyman also gave birth to daughter Christine in 1947, but the baby died soon after her premature birth. This put an irreversible strain on Reagan and Wyman’s marriage. They divorced in 1948.

Reagan threw himself into his work, but his time in the Hollywood spotlight began to dwindle. Reagan began taking an interest in political activism. After his divorce in 1948, Reagan began drinking too much and having a series of affairs with younger women. He was not very present in the lives of his children. His success as a movie star flat-lined, and he made mediocre movies as a desperate attempt to cling to fame. Reagan also served as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) from 1947 to 1952 and again in 1959. At the same time, he fanned the flames of his passion for politics, especially the global fight against communism. In October of 1947, Reagan appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee to speak about communism. It was his first visit to Capitol Hill, and the experience stayed with him. In 1951, he combined time spent acting and working for SAG with anticommunist speaking engagements around the country. He called this living his double life of acting and

Nancy began putting in place what was needed to begin her husband’s presidential campaign after he announced he would not run for a third term as governor. Reagan ran against Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican primaries. Ford attempted to offer Reagan other jobs, including the potential vice presidency, so he would not run against him, but Reagan refused. On November 20, 1975, after Reagan gave a speech in Miami, a man approached Reagan with what turned out to be a toy gun. The man, Michael Lance Carvin, was later sentenced to ten years in prison, not only for the threat on Reagan, but for phone and mail threats against Ford and his vice president, Nelson Rockefeller. Ford won the Republican National Convention by a slim margin.”

“Ford lost the election to Jimmy Carter. Carter had a rough time as president, however, including a deadly botched hostage situation that signaled the eventual end of his presidency. In 1980, Reagan ran against Carter for the presidency and won by a landslide. He chose his closest Republican rival, George H. W. Bush, as his vice president. Reagan again battled public perceptions from the beginning of his presidency, including assumptions about his age, physical health, intellect, and conservative beliefs. Many also questioned the amount of control Nancy had over