Ronald Reagan Documentary: HBO Film Features President At 100 (VIDEO)

As the myths about him grow larger, a new documentary from HBO, called "Reagan," takes a look at the "deeply misunderstood legacy" of late President Ronald Reagan on Monday night.

Airing at 9 pm EST, the documentary, director Eugene Jarecki promises to "get behind the sort of shallow presentation of him that has sort of come to dominate in the mainstream media," as he told The Hill.

"What we always learn is that Ronald Reagan never lives up to the sort of caricatures that are drawn of him today," Jarecki said to the paper. "As I made the film and as I got to know more and more about Ronald Reagan, I started to come to see a far richer, more textured and ultimately just far more complex man than any of those stereotypes allow for."

Reagan has become the ultimate conservative icon, his legacy recalled -- in sometimes inappropriate ways, according to his son Ron Reagan -- by Republicans. The documentary comes as some Americans celebrate Reagan's centennial birthday. Former Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin recently spoke at a celebration at the Ronald Reagan Library in California.

While the documentary will use candid images and video footage of Reagan, you can read here some of his most memorable quotes, and learn more surprising facts about the conservative icon.

WATCH a preview of the documentary:

Comments

[kengault]

09:50 AM on 02/26/2011

Watch Ronald Reagan and the Cold War. It is amzing what good he has done for us! No wonder he is the number 1 US president. What guts!

[Kalemanao]

02:43 AM on 02/22/2011

Trickle... ... Trickle............ Trickle....................... Trickle............................................ TRICK.

[reed markham]

01:25 PM on 02/10/2011

This month we are celebrating Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday.
Reagan, our 40th President faced many challenges, obstacles and
adversity with great courage. As a student of rhetoric I found his
speeches upbeat, positive and hopeful.

The following statements represent a sample of Reagan’s positive vision of
America and its citizens:

"America is too great for small dreams."

“We are never defeated unless we give up on God.”

“We will never recognize the true value of our own lives until we affirm the value in
the life of others.”

“Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands
on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything
we've ever known.”

“My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make
of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out.”

In President Reagan’s 1984 State of the Union, he shares a vision of America:
“The heart of America is strong; it's good and true. The cynics were wrong; America
never was a sick society. We're seeing rededication to bedrock values of faith, family,
work, neighborhood, peace, and freedom -- values that help bring us together as one
people, from the youngest child to the most senior citizen.”

As we celebrate President Ronald Reagan’s life in the coming weeks, we can
once again be motivated by his optimistic and hopeful view of America.

[thinchliff]

04:35 PM on 02/11/2011

Believe what you want...but actions speak a whole louder than words, and this persons actions have spoken volumes about the hypocritical legacy that he leaves behind.

[Frog in a pot]

01:49 PM on 02/09/2011

The Cult of Reagan: President of All Our Hearts


For a long while and certainly at the time he was in office Reagan was an under-rated President; today he's in danger of being over-rated. The problem with the Cult of Reagan is not Reagan, but the impact membership has on the believers. He was more flexible than his admirers today sometimes acknowledge. Few of today's Republicans would, one supposes, endorse Reagan's tax-raising 1982 budget. Nor, one suspects, would today's nationalists approve of his decision to talk to the Soviets (indeed, at the time there were some who whispered that Reagan was "soft on Communism".) Nor, for that matter, could a Republican with national aspirations today endorse Reagan's liberal approach to immigration issues.

Indeed, it's not clear a less gifted communicator armed with Reagan's actual beliefs could really win the Republican Presidential nomination today.

The Spectator

Reagan and even Nixon would be too lefty for todays "conservative".

[PWM]

12:25 PM on 02/09/2011

Reagan's Legacy: Part 1.
1) Increased the National Debt by 189% ($998 billion to $2.6 trillion) no one else comes close.
2) Converted millions of highpaying union jobs into low paying nonunion jobs.
3) Cut spending on healthcare leaving exservicemen, disabled people, and the old without any support and left to rot on the streets.
4) Doubled the number of poor in the country.
5) Turned the US from the major exporter of manufactured goods in the world to the major importer of manufactured goods.
6) Turned the US from a net importer of raw natural resources into a nation that exported raw natural resources (just like a third-world country).
7) Funded terrorists and death squads.
8) Funded and added Saddam with his WMD.
9) Encouraged corruption, allowing companies to sell $25 toilet seats to the military for $360 and $8 hammers for $120.
10) Cut income taxes on the working class but increased payroll taxes and the mandated contributions to Medicare and Social Security but did so in such a way that the top 1% paid 15% less than they did before by limiting their deductions on the first $61,000 but the working poorest had theirs increased 15%..

[PWM]

12:26 PM on 02/09/2011

Reagan's Legacy: Part 2.
11) Took a staggering 355 vacation days at his ranch in 8 years to avoid work..
12) Allowed Rupert Murdoch to circumvent the immigration laws to purchase American media sources.
13) Supported the genocidal Khmer Rouge.
14) Secretly sent a birthday cake to Ayatollah Khomeini trying to flattery the dictator, while in public attacking Iran as a barbaric nation.
15) Tried, unsuccessfully, to trade arms for hostages (Iran Contra).
16) Repeatedly lied to Congress and the American people that he knew nothing of Iran-Contra only to finally admit it later. In fact, he claimed 150 times during questioning the he did not remember.
17) Had one of the most corrupt administrations in American history. 138 Reagan appointees were forced to resign or were convicted on corruption charges.
18) Claiimed Trees created more pollution than automobiles.
19) Believed nuclear missiles could be recalled after launch.
20) Created the Savings & Loans Crisis first by deregulation, then doing nothing for 8 years so a the tax payers had to pick up a $124 billion dollars tab..

[PWM]

12:27 PM on 02/09/2011

Reagan's Legacy. Part 3.
21) 1980 Reagan gives China MFN trading status with a few restrictions.
22) 1984 U.S. at end of visit by Chinese Defense Minister Zhang Aiping, announces agreement "in principle" on sale to China of US antiaircra ­ft, antitank weapons.
23) 1985 President Ronald Reagan meets at White House with Chinese President Li Xiannian, announces signing of pact allowing sale of American nuclear reactors to communist China.
24) 1985 Vice President George Bush visits China, announces US agreement to speed export of some high-techn ­ology products to China.
25) 1986 Reagan Administra ­tion sells $550 million in aviation electronic ­s to communist china.
26) 1986 the Reagan administra ­tion openly sold US nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan AND Communist China under an agreement that Pakistan and China.

[PWM]

12:12 PM on 02/09/2011

The Reagan Administration has fostered a climate in which a barest majority of the Supreme Court caters to the passions and hatreds of the American mob, stripping away the constitutional shield outside our bedrooms.... How tragically ironic that an Administration that promised to get Government "off our backs" is now so active in draping Government gumshoes over every part of our anatomies. ~Carl T. Rowan

[PWM]

10:24 AM on 02/09/2011

Lazy Reagan
Vacation Time as President:
8 years is 2,920 days
George W. Bush: 490 days at his farm in Crawford and 43 days at family Kennebunkp­ort Compound.
George W.H.Bush: 250 days at family Kennebunkp­ort Compound (in four years!)
Ronald Reagan: 355 days at his ranch.
Bill Clinton: 152 days
Jimmy Carter: 79 days (in four years)
This is not counting weekends or Camp David visits. This is actual vacations away from the white house and politics.

[ranchero42]

11:27 AM on 02/09/2011

Sorry - Reagan's numbers didn't survive the initial offering posted there. Let's assume they're much bigger than the other President you listed.

Can't help it - it's how 'we' roll.

[PWM]

11:31 AM on 02/09/2011

Actually, W outdoes them all. W. took off over 900 days.

[ranchero42]

11:43 AM on 02/09/2011

Ooops. There it is. Three hundred and fifty five days getting to know his electric chain saw.

What a guy.

[PWM]

12:28 PM on 02/09/2011

It always amazed me that for a man with a ranch, we never saw him ride a horse. According to the president of Mexico, W was afraid of horses.

[AndyGra]

11:20 PM on 02/08/2011

Bring on the National Holiday !!!

[ranchero42]

11:32 AM on 02/09/2011

Let's make it a global holiday!! The Rightie campaign to make that happen will expend huge amounts of THEIR resources and serve only to poison that mysterious 'well' they keep returning to!!

[Guitarsandmore]

09:52 PM on 02/08/2011

Reagan started the trend of borrowing from the future to give money to defense contractors today. We are now slaves to Reaganomics.

[Paul Confer]

10:48 PM on 02/08/2011

Gee, I thought that started with the borrowing for the Vietnam War. Oh, wait the National Debt goes even further back.

[PWM]

10:24 AM on 02/09/2011

It is not the National Debt, it is the fact Reagan tripled it.

[LeftRight]

01:09 PM on 02/09/2011

No, because you're talking about borrowing from the Social Security Trust Fund, which occurred ONE year under LBJ during the Vietnam war.

And as for the National Debt, we've always had a debt except for one time under President Jackson. And only for one year.

The point is that except during the HEIGHT of WW2 we've never had a National Debt as high as we've got now as a percentage of GDP. And since we were actually fighting for our lives then, we might not want to have such a large national debt during times of peace.

[Della Mae Smith]

11:01 PM on 02/08/2011

I guess that's why so many of the GOP are quoting him today. Reagan is the force behind them being so rich today.These major players have invested wisely in the defense and ammunition and oil industires.

[LeftRight]

01:11 PM on 02/09/2011

EXACTLY!!! There was a poster on here yesterday who made some point of Reagan cutting the tax burden in half.... Never mind that for the middle class and poor we've seen our taxes go UP since Reagan came into office, and never mind the fact that the middle class and poor have seen our wages stagnate since Reagan took office, and never mind the fact that we've seen our share of the federal debt go up by something like a factor of 100 since Reagan took office....

[elan4444]

09:51 PM on 02/08/2011

It would be wise not to make more out of something or someone than what is actually available. Presently, to have a "birthday" celebration and actually sing the Happy Birthday song to a deceased individual borders on bad taste. How far will whatever group that is behind this hype go in the attempt to deify a perfectly ordinary man who happened to be able to parlay his acting ability into the White House. And no, Regan did not bring about the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was the Beatles, and I am serious. The lure of Western popular culture and the persistence of East Berliners to break free of their oppression is what made that happen. Roosevelt does not need anyone to sing him a birthday song, he will be remembered for recognizing that our country needed attention, and he and his wonderful wife Eleanor provided it.But certainly, he made mistakes. Kennedy managed in his short time to gather individuals together who proposed sweeping civil rights reforms and started the Peace Corps.He took the blame for the Bay of Pigs. His place in history is secure as well, and we know he was a flawed man. I think that's what is not part of the picture here, Regan devotees don't want one blemish to be admitted - hence the refusal to accept Ron's assertion that his dad may have had Alzheimer's while still Commander-in-chief.

[thinchliff]

04:39 PM on 02/11/2011

Nice post - well said and covers about everything.
Thanks!

[Guitarsandmore]

09:48 PM on 02/08/2011

Reagan elevated the presidency above the rule of law because he believed he knew better than anyone else how the country should be run. It was Reagan that went up against the middle class and against the labor unions at the air traffic controllers. It was Reagan that brought in Alan Greenspan who taught us all how to bring in cheap labor from across the border and bust the unions. Reagan successfully lowered the standard of living for most Americans and began slow transfer of wealth from the middle class to the upper class.

The most unpatriotic president we have ever had.

[PWM]

10:58 AM on 02/09/2011

I agree. Reagan even made plans to run the nation by suspending the constitution.

[LeftRight]

01:13 PM on 02/09/2011

To be fair, Nixon elevated the office of President to "above the law" and Ford helped him. Honestly, I think that Ford did a HUGE amount of damage to the country by pardoning Nixon. I also think that Clinton did too when he refused to investigate Reagan and Bush....

[Frog in a pot]

08:27 PM on 02/08/2011

Reagan was a GE puppet.GE was the first company to fully sell out to china.

When Reagan gave his nationally-televised speech in support of Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in October of 1964, David Broder, the dean of the Washington press corps, described it as

“the most successful political debut since William Jennings Bryan’s Cross of Gold speech in 1896.” The speaker told the press that the address had been developed during his GE years, when, in addition to his television duties, he spent a quarter of his time traveling the country to speak with the company’s employees and their neighbors.

Hugh Sidey of Time/Life, who covered every president from Eisenhower through George W. Bush, commented that he thought Reagan’s speeches in England and Russia were the finest ever given abroad by an American leader. When he asked a White House speechwriter who had written these offerings, he was told: “Reagan. They were actually pretty much the speeches he had given when he worked for General Electric.”

Vision Accomplished | Ronald Reagan Centennial CelebrationAuthor Thomas Evans shows how Ronald Reagan's years at GE helped shape his Presidency.
reagan.geblogs.com/vision-acco.../ - Cached



The GE Years: What Made Reagan Reagan

The Education of Ronald Reagan: The General Electric Years and the Untold Story of his Conversion to Conservatism, ...
hnn.us/articles/32681.html - Cached - Similar

He also gave millions of illegals amnesty and guarenteed free healthcare too.

[Della Mae Smith]

11:21 PM on 02/09/2011

Great Post !

[Frog in a pot]

08:21 PM on 02/08/2011

Ronald Reagan was GE's first complete puppet president.GE was financed by JP MORGAN ...you know one of the banks who are bringing the western world to its knees?you know the banks republicans and corporate dems refused to regulate?

Ronald Reagan & GE
Learn More About Reagan’s Journey From GE to the White House.

www.ge.com/Reagan



Reagan referred to his GE years as his “post-graduate education in political science” and observed that “it wasn’t a bad apprenticeship for someone who’d someday enter public life.” He spoke of his “self-conversion” during these years, and that he ended up “preaching sermons” about his strongly-held beliefs. His speechwriters at the White House frequently admitted using the speeches of the GE years as the basis of their own efforts. The fact that he achieved so much of what he advanced as his goals, confirms the merit of his ideas. But it also testifies to the effectiveness of lessons he learned about how to turn his vision into political majorities and governmental acts.

[Carol Hillman]

01:32 AM on 02/09/2011

Hmm - you mean there is MERIT in the idea of trickle-down economics? I had no idea! (I'd say it was Reagan who had no idea but he did have some ideas - that moved this country so far to the right that now Democrats are more conservative than Richard Nixon!)

[Frog in a pot]

08:17 PM on 02/08/2011

April 8, 1986 Reagan Administration informs US Congress of intent to sell PRC (People’s Republic of China) $550 million in aviation electronics, in largest military sale to Beijing since 1972.

July 23 1985 President Ronald Reagan meets at White House with Chinese President Li Xiannian, announces signing of pact allowing sale of American nuclear reactors and nonmilitary technology to China

Oct 13-18, 1985 Vice President George Bush visits China, announces US agreement to speed export of some high-technology products to China; Taiwan issue is raised by Chinese leaders as obstacle to Sino-US relations

July 14 1984 U.S. at end of visit by Chinese Defense Minister Zhang Aiping, announces agreement "in principle" on sale to China of US antiaircraft, antitank weapons.

June 15, 1984 White House spokesman, citing Chinese support for Pakistani nuclear programs, warns that 4/30 US-Chinese nuclear cooperation accord will not be sent to Congress without new guarantees that China will not aid emergence of new nuclear-weapon states

In 1986 the Reagan–HW Bush administration openly sold US nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan AND Communist China under an agreement that Pakistan and China were not to transfer the technology or any weapons built from the technology to any third parties. The Soviet Union had provided similar technology to make India a nuclear power. The Reagan-HW Bush administration claimed they gave Pakistan and Communist China US nuclear technology to counterbalance the Soviet nuclear threat and to offset and balance the Soviet move with India.

[PWM]

10:32 AM on 02/09/2011

The man also made china a favored trading partner opening the door to the US outsourcing jobs over there.

[Frog in a pot]

01:38 PM on 02/09/2011

He was a GE puppet.They were one of the first corporations to go there and dump U.S. workers.

[Hardy Campbell]

07:06 PM on 02/08/2011

Two good books are out there that explode all the lies, propaganda and mythmaking of the man who did more than anyone to bring America to its knees. I recommend "Tear Down This Myth" and The Man Who Sold the World."

[PWM]

10:54 AM on 02/09/2011

The man who sold the world is excellent.