I listened to a very surprising interview with Ronald Reagan’s son. The biggest surprise for me in the interview was that Ronald Reagan had a son, which somehow had escaped me until that moment. What was also shocking to me was what was said about the man’s father, whom I had grown up believing was quite different from what was spoken of him in the interview. I had grown up in a culture that spoke of Ronald Reagan almost with reverence, believing him to be one of the last great leaders of the country. I had never felt a reason to question this thought, so I never investigated the history of the presidency.

This interview caused me to doubt the narrative I had heard throughout my life, so I began to investigate more about the man. I am shocked that I held a positive opinion of him for so long because the evidence was very available to contradict such a standpoint.

I found a series of podcast episodes that catalogued some of the more egregious issues with the man and his leadership, and it makes for a daunting list of problems. This is admittedly a biased look at the man and is intended to catalogue his faults, so I doubt this would ever be seen as a fair representation of him, but it feels like the antidote for the alternative that I understood of him.