When exactly did Ronald Ree-gan become Ronald Ray-gan.
I have been listening to some old time radio shows and he refers to himself as ree-gan.
Has everyone been saying it wrong?
I thought Reegan was a different guy from Raygan
Don Regan was White House Chief of Staff under Ronald Reagan. He allegedly clashed with Nancy Reagan a lot. He is also famous for supposdly having a tiger tattooed on his butt. (Yes, I know that’s a rather pathetic legacy. Sue me.)
IIRC he changed the pronounciation of his name when he got involved with politics (an attempt to attract voters of irish decent?).
Well, it’s an anagram of Insane Anglo Warlord, pronounce it as you like…
Ronald Wilson Reagan, that is.
I thought the insane Angle warlord was Bill Clinton.
Do you mean that he’s got a different angle on everything?
So No one knows or is the political thing correct?
You think’d come up at the time.
It’s rather unusual how that sort of thing doesn’t come up much of the time, in both politics and sports.
For example: it was only after the ridiculous exposure of presidential hopeful Gary Hart’s infidelity that it became commonly repeated in the press that he had changed both his name and his signature prior to his national political career–not to mention multiple stated dates of birth. I’ll work on those citations…
Joe Theismann found himself facing a unique opportunity as a college quarterback/Heisman Trophy candidate, and characteristically ran with it… And he scored–that gal from That’s Incredible! But not the trophy.
Then there was Tony Dorsett, emphasis on the first syllable of the surname and pride of the Panthers, whose name rolls off the tounge when pronounced with the obligatory high-five: “Tony DorSETT!” He, at least, earned the change in pronunciation.
As for The Ron, this site echoes your suspicions, but not authoritatively. You heard it, I believe it, and as for the current biographical treatments of this living-so-long-he-survives-his-own-revisionist-phase legend, I wouldn’t be too suprised if this part was glossed over somewhat. I’d like to know how the change came about, too.