Reagan Still Strong, Son Says But His Memory Destroyed By Disease

Former President Reagan, his memory ravaged by Alzheimer’s disease, often cannot identify members of his family, but he can still communicate with “that twinkle in his eye and smile,” his son says.

“You can’t really carry on a conversation with him. You can talk to him, but you’re not going to carry on a conversation,” Michael Reagan said. “But he’s alert.”

The younger Reagan, a conservative radio talk-show host, spoke to The Associated Press to open a promotional tour for his latest book, “The City on a Hill: Fulfilling Ronald Reagan’s Vision for America.”

The 264-page book outlines Michael Reagan’s conservative agenda, criticizes the GOP leadership and lambastes President Clinton and former President Bush.

It also offers brief glimpses at the life Ronald Reagan leads as a victim of Alzheimer’s disease.

“These days, because of the Alzheimer’s, he doesn’t always know my name when I come to visit him but he knows who I am. I’m the guy who gives him a hug,” Michael Reagan wrote.

The former president disclosed in a handwritten letter in 1994 that he had Alzheimer’s, an irreversible neurological disorder that destroys the brain’s memory cells and is the fourth-leading cause of death among adults.

In a telephone interview from his Sherman Oaks, Calif., office, Michael Reagan said discussions with his father come in bits and snatches - as he tries to tap into the ex-president’s train of thought.

“I try to talk to him at the level he’s at,” the younger Reagan said. “You can have small conversations with him on whatever level he’s at.”

At lunch last week, Michael Reagan mentioned to his father that he had just visited WHO in Des Moines, Iowa - a radio station that employed the former president long before his political days.

Ronald Reagan chuckled. “Then he looked at me and gave me that twinkle in his eye and smile,” the son said. “He doesn’t jump up and say, ‘Wow! WHO!’ But you can tell he knows. Just by the cock of his head and the twinkle of his eye.”

Michael Reagan, the former president’s adoptive son, said his father was still “like a rock” physically. “He could go cut firewood tomorrow,” he said. Nancy Reagan was “doing all right. It’s tough being the caretaker,” the son said.

After last week’s lunch, the former president grabbed his daughter-in-law, Colleen, and granddaughter, Ashley, and kissed them on the forehead.

“That made me think he knows. He’s aware of who is in this room,” Michael Reagan said. “Not being able to have a conversation … but knowing that on the inside he knows who we are is good enough for me.”