Dutched by an Angel

“so young, so healthy, so hedonistic.” jane wyman and ronald reagan, circa 1938

From Dutch: a memoir of Ronald Reagan

Details

Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan
By Edmund Morris
Random House, 884 pp., $35
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More About

• Ronald Reagan
• Edmund Morris
• Eddie Morris
• Jimmy Carter
• Moscow

I always thought it was easy to understand how Reagan turned out this way: his dad was the town drunk, moved the family 14 times before Dutch turned 18. Nothing like a life of horrified chaos to addict a fellow to fantasy, keep his human vulnerability hidden at all costs, and attract him to a core set of simpleminded bedrock dogmas. But Eddie— who was always a bit psychologically obtuse— doesn't think his upbringing has anything to do with it. "Nothing," he writes, "not even Jack's binges and Nelle's despair, seems to have affected his preternatural, lifelong calm."

It's enough to make me write a memoir of my own. Anyone have $3 million to spare?