The Triumph of Nancy Reagan by Karen Tumulty (short books for teens txt) 📕

Ronnie picked up a few pieces of stationery and went to a small table by the window in his library, where he sat down and wrote a letter to the country:

Nov. 5, 1994

My Fellow Americans,

I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

Upon learning this news, Nancy and I had to decide whether as private citizens we would keep this a private matter or whether we would make this news known in a public way.

In the past Nancy suffered from breast cancer and I had my cancer surgeries. We found through our open disclosures we were able to raise public awareness. We were happy that as a result many more people underwent testing.

They were treated in early stages and able to return to normal, healthy lives.

So now, we feel it is important to share it with you. In opening our hearts, we hope this might promote greater awareness of this condition. Perhaps it will encourage a clearer understanding of the individuals and families who are affected by it.

At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done. I will continue to share life’s journey with my beloved Nancy and my family. I plan to enjoy the great outdoors and stay in touch with my friends and supporters.

Unfortunately, as Alzheimer’s disease progresses, the family often bears a heavy burden. I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience. When the time comes, I am confident that with your help she will face it with faith and courage.

In closing let me thank you, the American people for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your President. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future.

I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.

Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you.

Sincerely,

Ronald Reagan

He gave it to Nancy to read. Her eyes filled with tears. She nodded silently. Then he handed it to Ryan and asked to have it typed and released. Ryan said no, that Americans should see this in Ronnie’s own handwriting. It was the right choice—the irrefutable evidence that the grace and strength of his character remained, even as disease was eating away at his memory.

Nancy was the one who informed the Reagan children. She told her son, Ron, of the diagnosis by telephone. “It was no surprise,” he said.

Maureen and her husband, Dennis Revell, were expected for lunch the day Ronnie wrote his letter to the country. They were in the process of adopting a daughter, Rita, whom Maureen and Dennis had met in a Ugandan orphanage when she was three and were bringing her as well to visit. Nancy called Maureen and asked if they could come by a little early. When they arrived, Nancy said to Ronnie: “Sweetheart, why don’t you take Rita down by the pool?” Helping his granddaughter master her swimming skills was one of the old lifeguard’s favorite things to do.

Nancy showed Maureen and her husband the letter. “Then she explained what the doctors had found, and the letter, and said it would be released shortly, and we talked about it. He walked back in, and we resumed normal conversation,” Revell said. And that was it. Ronnie left for the ranch at two o’clock, as he had intended to do earlier. Rancho del Cielo is where Rawhide would be when the world heard the news.

So began the final chapter of their love story. What Nancy would call “the long good-bye” was also a deepening twilight, one without the prospect of a dawn. Soon, birthdays and anniversaries, which used to bring long, sentimental letters from Ronnie, would go by as if they were no different from any other day. “They were very short—the golden years,” Nancy said later. “The golden years are when you can sit back, hopefully, and exchange memories. And that’s the worst part about this disease. There’s nobody to exchange memories with, and we had a lot of memories.

“… When you come right down to it, you’re in it alone, and there’s nothing that anybody can do for you, so it’s lonely.”

Even her harshest critics would acknowledge the grace and determination she would show when her devotion was put to its greatest test. In seeing Nancy’s strength, the nation would gain a new appreciation of her character. Never again would anyone doubt that the adoring gaze she had fixed on her Ronnie for all those years was anything but genuine. She would become one of the most admired women in the country.

Ronnie had intended to continue “doing the things I have always done” for as long as he could. For a few years, he would go to the office most days and receive visitors—though sometimes he seemed unclear as to who they were. Dressed impeccably as always, he would show his mementoes; the photos of himself with the pope and Thatcher. “He had this little routine; those synapses seemed to be still preserved for doing that. Some people would say, ‘He’s fine,’ ” Hutton recalled. A couple of afternoons a week, the doctor took Ronnie to a driving range, where he hit golf balls. He took walks with a caregiver and his Secret Service agents and enjoyed watching neighborhood children play in a nearby park. People sometimes spotted the former president strolling with Nancy along the Venice Beach boardwalk, savoring an ice cream cone. When he was recognized, as he inevitably was, Ronnie was still capable of a pleasant greeting.

But doing anything more ambitious