A Recollection of Early Questions About Reagan's Health

[kskiska]

When Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1980, pundits and political opponents criticized him for making contradictory statements and described him as absent-minded and inattentive. The portrayals raised questions about the health, and particularly the mental faculties, of a man who at age 69 would become the oldest to be elected president. During the campaign, Mr. Reagan agreed to let me talk to all his doctors, examine his records and then interview him about his health.

On a plane from San Francisco to Denver, Mr. Reagan told me that his mother, Nellie, had been senile "for a few years before she died" of a stroke at age 80. Mr. Reagan said he fully expected his White House doctors to check his mental status, and he pledged to resign if he became senile while in office.

Then he asked me about senility. He, like many people, including doctors at the time, believed that senility usually developed as a complication of strokes. Strokes can cause senility, or dementia. And Alzheimer's disease was not the household term it is today.

(snip)

In 1980, despite his mother's history of senility, it was only a hypothetical possibility that Mr. Reagan would develop Alzheimer's. The disease's hereditary pattern was, and is, not precisely known. As it turned out, the disease is believed to have afflicted Mr. Reagan's brother, Neil, too. Whether their mother's dementia was from strokes or Alzheimer's, or both, is not known.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/06/15/health/15docs.html

[Racenut20]

1. I could see the difference

I saw him in 1976 at the convention, and the spellbinding talk he gave after the nominations were over.

He attempted to recite one of the same stories in a debate, the next time around and lost it right in the middle.

So I am sure, especially from the way he was handled, that he was already beginning the early stages by 1980.

By 88 he was only partially functional. When they finally got to interview him about Iran arms deals, he really didn't remember.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. He was demented

before the dementia.

[Tracer]

3. He was certainly affected by early-stage Alzheimers during his presidency.

I clearly recall watching an outdoor press conference where Reagan couln't answer a question posed to him. Nancy, who had been standing behind him, stepped forward and spoke the answer into his ear Ñ which was picked up by his microphone.

Reagan then repeated Nancy's words.

I was quite stunned at the proof of his growing debilitation.

[noonwitch]

4. I remember that press conference, too

Remember all the jokes, long before any announcement was made about his condition, that when he said he couldn't recall about the Iran/Contra thing, that he had alzheimer's or was senile?

[Eurobabe]

5. okay kids so what's up with the current 'pReznit' in light

of this article? Any takers? Early alzheimer's, mad cow perhaps?