# Reagan Was Senile In 1988 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 13, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-was-senile-in-1988/250054 "2004-06-13T01:22:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-was-senile-in-1988/250054/41 "2004-06-13T07:16:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Reagan was, above all else, an actor. As long as he had a script or a teleprompter in front of him, he did great. It’s not true that ‘above all, he was an actor’. He was president of a large union in the 1950’s (the Screen Actor’s Guild). In 1964 he gave a speech for Barry Goldwater which is so legendary now it’s just called “The Speech”. Reagan wrote it himself, and he had been giving variants on it for years. He was a two-term governor of the largest state in the union, elected both times by landslides. Acting was probably the least of the things Reagan did, although it made him famous before he went into politics. Reagan was an intellectual. He was class president, he studied economics in college, and he was a voracious reader and writer all his life. Read [this interview](http://reason.com/7507/int_reagan.shtml), and tell me that man is not a thinker. He’s every bit as wonkish as Al Gore when he wants to be. It’s also interesting that he was far more Libertarian than even the conservative Republicans today. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-was-senile-in-1988/250054/42 "2004-06-13T07:41:14Z")
> [@fessie](#): > > Apparently my year wasn’t so wrong after all. It was indeed wrong. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-was-senile-in-1988/250054/43 "2004-06-13T07:50:46Z")
> [@fessie](#): > > One aspect of Reagan’s presidency that I didn’t see mentioned already (I did run a search on this, my apologies if I missed something) is his participation in baseball’s All-Star game **about 7 months after he left office.** Bolding mine. **fessie** , since he left office in 1989 and not 1988, the error is in the thread title inasmuch as the game is being used as evidence/proof for Reagan’s senility. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-was-senile-in-1988/250054/44 "2004-06-13T11:49:20Z")
I can’t find it now, but (IIRC) Will durst said something concerning the 1994 letter in which Reagan announced he had Alzheimer’s: “I suspect he wrote the letter in 1989 and forgot to mail it.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-was-senile-in-1988/250054/45 "2004-06-13T12:28:06Z")
> [@Dr. Rieux](#): > > I can’t find it now, but (IIRC) Will durst said something concerning the 1994 letter in which Reagan announced he had Alzheimer’s: > “I suspect he wrote the letter in 1989 and forgot to mail it.” Now _that_ is funny. Would you believe there are people in my country (UK) who honestly believe Americans have no sense of humour? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-was-senile-in-1988/250054/46 "2004-06-13T16:56:15Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Now _that_ is funny. Would you believe there are people in my country (UK) who honestly believe Americans have no sense of humour? :smack: That’s “humor” to _you_, Redcoat! ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-was-senile-in-1988/250054/47 "2004-06-13T17:13:24Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Now why would you say that? There are an absurd number of safeguards built into the system. If anything he would forget the code group that he’s supposed to read, in which case we would have been dead 25 minutes earlier than the Soviets instead of 15. The President cannot unilaterally launch, and the 25th Amendment makes sure that no single nutcase can give the order. > > We’d probably be safer with some senile old dude than with some young, hyper-aggressive crusader, if you get my drift. You’re right. Which is why we need to get GWB out of there as soon as possible… Ava ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-was-senile-in-1988/250054/48 "2004-06-13T20:53:37Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Now _that_ is funny. Would you believe there are people in my country (UK) who honestly believe Americans have no sense of humour? :smack: Look at the politicians we elect, and the people we idolize, and then tell me we have no sense of humor! I have to admit, though, that THIS American enjoys a lot of UK humor (books and TV shows). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-was-senile-in-1988/250054.md?page=2)