Nancy Reagan hid Alzheimer's from Prez for 5 years

[kskiska]

For five years after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Ronald Reagan was not told he had the deadly illness because his devoted wife NANCY decided to keep the ex-prez blissfully unaware of his dire condition.

That's one of the bombshell revelations in the blockbuster new book, My Father at 100, A Memoir, penned by his son Ron Reagan.

In 1994, Reagan, disclosed he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and informed the nation he was beginning "the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life."

But Ron confirms in the book that his father was actually diagnosed with the brain-robbing disease in 1989 after a fall from a horse required him to undergo surgery to relieve pressure in his skull.

more…
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/ronal_reagan_tell_all_shockers_nancy_betrayed/celebrity/69909


(Edited for misleading headline)

[Karmadillo]

1. Didn't Lesley Stahl think he had Alzheimer's after an interview she had with him when

he was still president?

[DaveinJapan]

2. Unrec for misleading headline...

If he was diagnosed after he left office, it's nobody's business but theirs (thus saying "mislead US" is highly misleading).

[kskiska]

7. My bad

Sorry, I misread.

[adigal]

42. Personally, I think he had it while President

He was always confused, and his aides were always pulling him off the podium to answer questions for him.

[applegrove]

4. Oh yes at the end of his second term canadian reporters asked American

reporters how they felt about RR confusion and they said "what, you are not going to report that are you". (It was so long ago I can't remember the source for this).

[frazzled]

17. You are completely right about Stahl ... I heard the interview

in which she admitted it, and I was in shock. I've actually never forgotten what she said (proof that I am not yet in the full throes of Alzheimer's). Stahl talked about how she got a private interview with the President and sensed something was really really wrong. He didn't recognize her, and he didn't seem to know what was going on. She wondered whether she should report about it, and decided ... not to.


Former CBS White House correspondent Lesley Stahl recalls an interview when he was president where "a vacant Reagan barely seemed to realize anyone else was in the room," and that before he "reemerged into alertness" she recalls that "I had come that close to reporting that Reagan was senile."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan

Reagan was in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's when he was still in the White House. All you had to do was listen to the man to tell.

[Kolesar]

46. The failed assassination fucked up RR; he went downhill after that

And the assassination attempt was early in his second year.

It is amazing how the American bullshit industry/media/press could make Americans think that everything was fine when the country was being run by his appointees and Nancy Reagan.

[RandomKoolzip]

65. Reagan was inagurated Jan 1981; assassination attempt happened March 1981.

He was just 69 days into the first year of his presidency.

[niyad]

60. I wonder how she felt later about keeping her mouth shut about such an important piece of

information?

[eShirl]

28. by the time someone is diagnosed, the disease has already progressed to a certain point

the point at which it becomes diagnosable, or after

[Boudica the Lyoness]

39. I remember Lesley Stahl saying

that he just sat there unresponsive to her questions and then she mentioned something about the movie industry and he kind of snapped out of it. Yes, he was president then.

[adigal]

44. I think it was in between his two terms

when he was about to begin his second term. We had four years of a president who didn't know what was going on. But it was OK, because Nancy Reagan had her astrologer.

[Mz Pip]

3. I don't think I would want to know

either.

Tough call but maybe the right one. Guess you try to do the best you can with a diagnosis like this. I'd probably do the same thing if I'd learned that Mr Pip had that diagnosis but was still doing pretty good. What would be the point of telling him he'd be losin his mind in 5 years?

[robinlynne]

10. my Mom has this disease. She absolutley denies it. period. That is how she copes.

Of course she actually knows, but it is too frightening for her to be "aware" of. People have different ways (remember the 5 stages) of coping with loss. All are human; all are ok.

[CoffeeCat]

45. That's beautiful...

...and very compassionate.

:hug:

[OhioBlue]

22. but if you know, isn't there therapy that could help slow the disease?

When my grandma was in her last stages of life and becoming very confused and forgetful, we were advised to make scrapbooks for her to help her remember - also I've read that "exercising the mind" can be helpful for Alzheimer patients.

I do agree with you that it is a tough call and you have to do the best that you can with a diagnosis such as this... I to think however that the patient has a right to know and explore things that can help as well as have conversations with loved ones that they want to before they forget.

[robinlynne]

49. in the beginning stages memory exercises help a lot. Also physical exercise is

essential according to Mom's neurologist. And calm, and there is medicatio which helps quite a bit.

[enough]

30. I took care of my father during his Alzheimer's disease, and I would want to know the diagnosis

as early as possible. The reason for this is that I would want to commit suicide before the disease got to the point that I did not know what was going on.

I am absolutely serious about this; it's not rhetorical. I have experienced what this disease does to the other members of the family and I do not want my family to have to go through it.

This choice would perhaps be different if you had a large enough cushion of money so that care-decisions could be made freely, which was certainly the case for Reagan.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

33. I understand your choice of exits

The manner would have to be discrete, if there's insurance.

Give me a tall iceberg, and a star to steer her by.

:hi:

[enough]

43. Sounds perfect. I understand that there's euphoria in freezing to death, after the initial

discomfort.

Love your verbal image.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

53. Not my imagery - I borrowed it

"Sea-Fever"

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

By John Masefield (1878-1967).
(English Poet Laureate, 1930-1967.)
:hi:

(The iceberg image was stolen from an old rumor about the fate of aging eskimos)

[CTyankee]

67. My mother essentially starved herself to death. At 93, after my brother died of a sudden

stroke (his 3rd) in a nursing home, she fell and broke her arm. She had been exhibiting signs of dementia at her assisted living facility.

She never recovered from the fall...2 and 1/2 months later she died. She had just stopped eating. I know now that starvation is not that painful if other needs are tended to, such as hydration. Of course, she had a feeding tube, but also a directive so as her POA I could help her exit as painlessly as she obviously had wanted. And she did, peacefully and gently, and it was fine. She knew I was there and I think that was all that mattered at that point...

[robinlynne]

50. I feel the same way. I do not have children, and if My mom were alone in this world

terrible things would be happening to her. You are absolutely defenseless with alzheimers or dementia. I will make sure I find a way to die if I get this disease. I would not like to be in her condition and rely on strangers for care. Even just to cross the street, she doesn't remember when she is supposed to cross. She knows about the green and red lights but not the walk dont walk signs.

[morningglory]

31. Might not want to tell the old geezer, but maybe tell the USA! n/t

[intheflow]

56. The difference is that Mr Pip

doesn't have the ability to start WW3 if he's confused about events unfolding around him. The president has that power. Reagan should have been told.

In Mr Pip's case, though, you sound like a loving and compassionate soul. He is lucky to have you. You might want to talk with him about this, ask him his wishes if the diagnosis arises. He may want to know, you could cause him more pain unintentionally by trying to do what seems to you most compassionate. The Golden Rule says to do unto others as you'd have them do unto you, but the Platinum Rule says you should ask others before you do anything unto them in case their wants are different unto yours. :)

[Mz Pip]

61. You make some really good points

Though if anyone in this house is likely to lose their mind, it's me. The guy that discusses string theory and quantum particles seems to have a lot more on the ball than Mz Pip who can never find her damn car keys.

But you are right. This is a conversation people of our age(or mine) need to have with their families.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

72. Married to a physicist too I see?

My DH has a BS and MS in physics.
Recently calculated the elliptical orbit of the earth (like Kepler did) on a giant excel spreadsheet just for fun.
Talks about relativity and gravitomagnetism.

And I say "Yes dear. You got me fooled. You sound like you know what you're talking about."

I have him fooled in other subjects that I got degrees in or studied.

[valerief]

5. Guess releasing that info right away wasn't in the stars.nt

[demosincebirth]

6. He had onset dementia before he took office. He never made important

decisions, because he couldn't...and his advisor's knew it. Everyone still says Reagan this and Reagan that, and that his policies brought the downfall of the USSR. Thats nothing but hyperbole by the right wing press and the GOP. Shit, I don't even think he ever knew he was president. Really!

[RaleighNCDUer]

16. Not sure about 'before he took office' - but it WAS before '89 by a

long shot. My thoughts, for years, has been that it was the trauma of being shot that triggered it. Physical trauma will often kick it off, as it did with my own dad.

Triggered in '81, was strongly manifesting by '85. Bush I was the real president from '86 on.

IMO.

[demosincebirth]

51. He made wierd statements when he was Gov of Califronia. And that was when?

[RaleighNCDUer]

66. That was in the 60s, and Alzheimers doesn't run 30 years.

He made weird statements because he had a fucked up political phuilosophy. The Alzheimers didn't manifest until the early to mid 80s. Watch clips of him from the 60s, and then from the mid-80s, and compare them to clips from his campaign in 79. You can see the prounounced difference between the pre-shooting and post-shooting clips. He's very much the same person in 79 as he was in 69, and a wholly different person in 89.

Before he got shot he was a moron. After he was shot, he was a moron with Alzheimers, in rapid decline from 85 on.

[demosincebirth]

71. I agree with you last sentence whole heartedly. But he had a

Little "hitch" in his neck when he answered (or tried) a question. I used to know a person who had a little hitch like that and he ended up with Alzheimer. It probly doesn't mean much, but that always struck me about Ronnie boy.

[hedgehog]

54. On a similar note, I have often wondered what kind of Pope

John Paul II would have been had he never been shot. I may not remember this correctly, but I think of a vital, healthy open man before the shooting, and a scared, punishing figure after.

[Zoeisright]

23. My psychiatrist friend said she saw it in the early 80s, because of circular reasoning.

That's one of the first signs. Of course, most repukes think circular reasoning is just fine.

[Kali]

8. After watching and caring for my Grandfather I feel like I have a kind of

Alzheimer's radar (like gaydar) and I could tell while he was still in office - I call it that senile old man stare - he had it, and the charming story telling to keep people from having real conversations - that is a trick too.

He was exhibiting symptoms in office, at least in my totally unqualified opinion.

[pamela]

18. Absolutely

I thought for sure he had Alzheimers during the last few years of his presidency. I thought it was obvious.

[Le Taz Hot]

26. I saw it too.

And you're right about the "charming story telling" part. For some reason the DC press corps just ate that shit up, all the while completely ignoring the scandals within his administration.

[former9thward]

9. I assume Nancy Reagan was not the doctor that made his diagnosis.

So that means his doctor hid the diagnosis of Alzheimer's from him. That would be unethical and irresponsible.

[robinlynne]

11. That's true. Doctors would not tell a family member and not the patient. That is a practice which

stopped around the 60s or 70s. But you never know. Could be she had power of attorney already, or could be that he did not want to know. It is a very difficult, personal thing. Generally, you try to do anything you can to help the person stay calm, which relieves the symptoms somewhat..

[JackRiddler]

55. You'll admit a president is a very special case, beyond normal doctor-patient relations.

We amateurs watching the telly started sincerely diagnosing Reagan as showing signs of dementia already around 1985. That was not just as a joke, since he'd been prone to idiocy all along (my 15-year-old self had trouble believing anyone could get elected after saying, as he did in 1980, that 90 percent of pollution comes from trees). It's true my circle were radicals, but by 1985 we thought it was an empirical case that Bush and his crew were in charge and Reagan taking heavy naps. It would have been quite the news item, and might have prompted a minor reassessment of the prior few years if, in the same year that Reagan's term ended, we were also told that he'd been diagnosed with Alzheimers.

[kskiska]

12. Actually, that used to be common practice

I remember how even back in the 50s sometimes people with terminal illnesses were kept in the dark about their impending death. Friends would ask the wife (or husband) of the patient, "Does he know?"

He wouldn't have believed it, anyway. When interviewed following his surgery where a portion of his colon was removed, Reagan was in denial.

Once, after surgery for colon cancer, he told reporters: "I didn't have cancer. I had something inside of me that had cancer in it, and it was removed." It helped that he was an actor. "There have been times in this office," he once told interviewer David Brinkley, "when I've wondered how you could do the job if you hadn't been an actor."

www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cd26/promocion/v16n4/333.pdf

[niyad]

59. well, since he was never anything but a third-rate actor. . .

[mitchtv]

13. diagnosed in '89?

What bs, he was obviously senile for at least half of his second term.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. +1. All you had to do was watch him on TV. -nt

[hlthe2b]

14. Yikes...Son, Ron admits seeing signs of dementia as early as 1983

"Ron writes that he noticed his father's mental faculties slipping as early as 1983 and was alarmed to see him confused and to hear him repeating stories.

Early in the course of his disease, Reagan had moments of delusion.

While watching televised football games, the ex-president would think he was back in high school and was needed on the football field, his son writes."


I am not criticizing Ron (son). But yikes.... Didn't the family have some responsibility to the country to get him diagnosed earlier? What about his doctor? Geebus.

[GoCubsGo]

34. I'm not sure he could have done much.

Consider who his father's handlers were. IIRC, back then Ron, Jr. was having to defend himself from accusations of being gay, all because was into ballet. Even if he had tried to say something, he would have been smeared into oblivion. Republicans eat their own who cross them. Even their puppet President's family members. I am willing to bet that if Ron, Jr. had brought it out into the open, he'd have been dead within a year or two from "suicide" or an "accident".

[progressoid]

41. Yeah, that's completely believable

He would say some pretty weird shit back then.

[Gman]

15. By the time Oliver North was doing his thing

It was already affecting Reagan. That's why he could very honestly say he had no knowledge. Plus they probably kept a lot from the "old man".

[csziggy]

20. I heard an NPR interview with the investigator of the Iran Contra crap

He said that when he talked to Reagan it was clear to him that Reagan was obviously not in full control of his faculties and that is why he gave him a pass on being held responsible. I am not sure exactly when his interview with Reagan happened, but it was when Reagan was still in office.

Some sources I have read have said Reagan was never quite the same after he was shot. That is not surprising, considering what anesthesia can do to a person's brain.

[Maru Kitteh]

25. Wikipedia says he lost over half of his blood volume on the table.

Hypoxic events can be pretty devastating to a brain full of cells already teetering on the brink.

[eShirl]

29. +1

[struggle4progress]

21. ... During a 1983 Congressional Medal of Honor ceremony Reagan told a story about military heroism

New York Daily News columnist Lars-Erik Nelson wrote never happened. Nelson had checked the citations on all 434 Congressional Medals of Honor awarded during WWII. The scene Reagan described did appear, however, in the 1944 film A Wing and a Prayer ... http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Ronald_Reagan/EnduringLies_RonaldReagan.html

... Many years later Reagan further blurred the issue by acknowledging to reporters that he had seen A Wing and a Prayer ...
President Reagan: the role of a lifetime
By Lou Cannon
p 40
http://books.google.com/books?id=jU70EeNlH54C&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=Reagan+%22Wing+and+a+Prayer%22&source=bl&ots=cWVRA7sYZB&sig=-A5v2i-Q3t67GtRYw7fKcTi0sY8&hl=en&ei=WWUdTYf4GMjKnAfQwPm-Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Reagan%20%22Wing%20and%20a%20Prayer%22&f=false

[jimlup]

24. I'm pretty sure the guy was missing by the time he left the presidency in '89

Seriously, when I saw the guy my thoughts then were:

"Porch light on, nobody home."

[xchrom]

27. +1

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

32. So what's GWB's excuse?

Talk about "nobody home".

Or is alcoholism in the same league as alzheimer's?

[Kali]

35. yep

truth is they are all just puppets - the repuke voters are just easier to fool, we need candidates that can speak in complete sentences

[jimlup]

38. Actually, I don't think of GWB as stupid

Not smart definitely, but if you think that he is "stupid" you are "misunderestimating (sic)" him again!

:rofl:

[felix_numinous]

36. CNN did a report of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDK--X0qOmg

I too remember Reagan exhibiting signs of dementia while he was in office. His pause when asked a question, "Well.........."

[TBF]

37. The National Enquirer? nt

[Dark]

63. Yea I saw that too.

Makes me think that it's bs.

[TBF]

64. Reportedly Mr. Reagan was very sharp and had a very good memory -

according to at least one former adviser who taught at Harvard in the early 90's. Reagan was not senile in office, he knew exactly what he was doing, and he was quite effective.

And it totally sucks for us, look at what we're dealing with now.

[Octafish]

40. Somebody else did, too.

Not that he would use his boss's medical condition for nefarious purposes or anything like that.

[Angry Dragon]

48. raygun looks really angry in that picture

someone must have told him he just lost the part of playing the president

[Kolesar]

47. Reagan's Brain

Ok, I could not find the original series from 1980, but this 1987 strip will have to do.

[tigereye]

70. ha ha ha! I had forgotten about that!

[earth mom]

52. I agree with those who think he was out of it and not all there while Prez.

Jeez, it's a scary thought the additional damage he could have done! :yoiks:

Edited to add that it also pisses me off that they tried to hide it from all of us! :grr:

[niyad]

57. when it was finally confirmed that he had alzheimer's, I called a friend in CA to ask, "are you and

I the only ones who knew he already had it when he was governor?" apparently we were.

[Forkboy]

58. How hard could that have been?

Oh, c'mon, someone had to say it!

[undeterred]

62. Nobody hid Chimpy's stupidity from the country for 8 years

and a lot of people still thought he was a good president. :shrug:

[pipi_k]

68. And he probably went along with the deception...

not wanting her to know he knew even though nobody had informed him of the diagnosis.

I'd bet anything.


When my MIL came here to live she was 93. She was having symptoms of Alzheimers. She was also, at her age, aware of the fact that her mind was slipping away.

She told us she knew her mind was not right.

[tigereye]

69. some folks aren't able to process the info by the time

it is diagnosed they don't really understand. That's what the Dr. told us when my mom was diagnosed. Usually by the time most folks are diagnosed they are well beyond the middle stages of the disease and their cognitive skills are quite compromised.


I suppose this may change since diagnostic tools/early screening is more common now.

[Raine]

73. I doubt that Ronnie didn't know.

Alzheimers runs in my family, an aunt, uncle, coussin and my father had it. All of them KNEW that something was wrong with their minds early into it.