Jacob Weisberg (2016)

The President he admired the most in his own lifetime was FDR. He consciously modeled himself on FDR in many ways - including his Saturday Radio addresses, which were a reinvention of Roosevelt's fireside chat. He borrowed some key phrases from Lincoln, like the America as the "last, best hope" of man on earth. But he like all great political speechmakers, he borrowed liberally from his predecessors.

Not just in leftist circles. His son, Ron Jr, thinks Reagan's Alzheimer's was affecting him pretty significantly by 1986 - the middle of his second term. There's a lot of evidence to support that, including a study by some Alzheimer's researchers I cite in my book that looks at his use of language in press conferences. That doesn't mean he was barely functioning. Like a lot of people in the early stages of that disease, he had better days and worse days.

Reagan would be a moderate in today's GOP -- he signed the biggest-ever immigration "amnesty" (his phrase) into law, supported handgun regulation, and played a huge in making abortion legal -- and keeping it legal, by nominating Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court. There's no one running who supports those positions. In policy terms, I'd say the closest is John Kasich, because he's more moderate than the others. Temperamentally, Marco Rubio seems the most Reagan-like to me. Rubio is optimistic and future-focused, where most of the others are pessimistic and negative about America's future.

I started by reading about 25 books about Reagan. By that point, I had an idea of what some of the unsolved mysteries were about Reagan that I wanted to pursue. How did he move from liberal to conservative in the 1950s? What role did he really play in the end of the Cold War? What was going on inside his head? With those questions in mind, I read another 25 books, and another 25. I had a fruitful visit to the Reagan Library in California, where I tracked down some documents I was especially interested in, like Reagan's handwritten letters to Soviet leaders, and some of his pre-presidential correspondence and writings. At some point, I had absorbed enough to start telling the story of Reagan's life and presidency as I had come to understand it. Having a length constraint of around 55,000 words was really helpful. I knew I had to boil it down to what was really essential, while trying to bring some fresh ideas to a heavily trodden subject.

I started by reading about 25 books about Reagan. By that point, I had an idea of what some of the unsolved mysteries were about Reagan that I wanted to pursue. How did he move from liberal to conservative in the 1950s? What role did he really play in the end of the Cold War? What was going on inside his head? With those questions in mind, I read another 25 books, and another 25. I had a fruitful visit to the Reagan Library in California, where I tracked down some documents I was especially interested in, like Reagan's handwritten letters to Soviet leaders, and some of his pre-presidential correspondence and writings. At some point, I had absorbed enough to start telling the story of Reagan's life and presidency as I had come to understand it. Having a length constraint of around 55,000 words was really helpful. I knew I had to boil it down to what was really essential, while trying to bring some fresh ideas to a heavily trodden subject.

I really enjoyed watching the old Reagan movies. He wasn't a great actor, but he wasn't a terrible one. His films give you a lot of feel for popular culture during his period in Hollywood - 1938 to the mid-1950s. I think Reagan had a pretty good idea of his own talents and limitations. He thought his best role was in "King's Row" -- the film where he wakes up after his legs have been amputated and shouts, "Where's the rest of me?" It's a good performance in a dark film that still holds a lot of interest. But in many ways, I think Reagan's real talent was for radio, which the medium he worked in before and after his Hollywood years.

Afraid I haven't seen that. Reagan's a pretty hard part to play without it turning into parody.

Life expectancy keeps increasing, and being 70 now doesn't mean what it meant in 1980 - let alone what it meant in 1880. On the other hand, the presidency is physically very taxing -- I've heard it said that a year in the White House takes the physical toll of two years outside of it. Reagan was a vigorous, healthy man when he took office, but he suffered from a number of health problems tied to age. I don't know that there's an age when you're too old per se. Sanders definitely pushes the limit. It's hard to imagine someone over 80, which he would be in a second term, being up to the demands of the job. But there are better reasons to not vote from Sanders, IMO

I wouldn't call Reagan a womanizer. He does write about the tendency to always fall in love with the leading lady when he was younger. But I've never heard it argued that Reagan was anything other than faithful in his two marriages. During the period in between, after he divorced Jane Wyman, he definitely played the field and slept around in Hollywood. But I don't think he enjoyed that very much -- he was eager to settle down with someone, and Nancy ended up being his true soulmate.

As fashionable as I am, I don't think you could call me a participant!

Sorry I missed your response. I do think I solved them, or at least come up with some fresh answers. Unfortunately, there's not a single long biography I'd recommend. Richard Reeves' book is probably the most readable and interesting in one volume. Lou Cannon's four biographies contain a lot of great reportage and insight. I also like the book Garry Wills wrote when Reagan was still in office, "Reagan's American." And Ronald Reagan, Jr.'s "My Father at 100," is excellent. Finally, Reagan's pre-presidential autobiography, "Where's the Rest of Me?" is unjustly neglected in my opinion - though a lot of what's in it falls under the category of fable.

Reagan wasn't an intellectual, but he wasn't a lightweight. I think he was an original thinker, who developed his own views by reading and thinking. He was a persuasive and coherent writer. Most importantly, he had confidence in his own views, so I don't think he was ever easily swayed by advisors or anyone else.

I give him a lot of credit. Reagan was unusual on the right in thinking -- as far back as 1962 -- that communism might just collapse, because it was a ridiculous system. And he improvised to help it do so, moving from nuclear hawk in his first term to disarmament radical in his second. Both the push he gave the Soviets, and the support he gave Gorbachev, were crucial to the (mostly) peaceful collapse of the Soviet Empire.

Reagan was minimally reflective. I think he had a realistic sense of his own abilities and limitations. But he was highly secure, and didn't worry much about the latter. And he was capable of admitting mistakes, though he seldom did. He preferred to tune out a lot of things that were difficult for him to deal with, personally and politically. People around him found him hard to read, difficult to be close to, and generally impossible to truly understand. Whatever he was thinking, he seldom let other people in.

It's not what I'm focused on - I'm more interested in Reagan's ideas, where he got them, who he really was, and how he changed politics. Culturally, Reagan's frame of reference ended before the Beatles. He kept up with movies, but hated seeing drug use or sexuality, or hearing profanity on screen. But Reagan surely did have a large influence on popular culture, because he loomed so large in global politics in the 1980s.

I don't see any other questions, so I'm going to say goodbye and thanks to all for participating.

Enjoy the results tonight, whomever you're rooting against.