Any election year they were both alive (but preferably around the 70's or 80's).
They were both introverts.
I’ve read that some stand up comics are in real life shy, introverted persons.. . . against the popular notion of Reagan as the outgoing charismatic politician, . . .
I’ve read that some stand up comics are in real life shy, introverted persons.
So, I don’t view it as a conflict. For some people, if it doesn’t come naturally, they may work at it harder.
Reagan tried to run for Congress as a Democrat in 1952, but the local Democrats said no because they thought he was too liberal. This rejected helped put the Gipper on the path to conservatism and he eventually switched parties ten years later. If the Democrats had supported him, he probably would've won. He could have gone on to be elected Senator in 1958 and be re-elected in 1964 and 1970. I don't think he could beat Nixon in 1972, but if he runs in 1976 and picks Carter as his running mate then Reagan beats Ford by a landslide margin. In such a scenario I don't think a Carter/Reagan ticket is likely, because as OTL 1980 showed Reagan was a far superior politician. Had they been running against each other as Democrats in a primary, Reagan would win.
It's not surprising at all that an artist like Reagan be introverted (or even that a successful politician would be an introvert, JFK once told Ben Bradlee he would rather read a book then talk to the other fellow on the plane), it's just that I've never read him being described as one.
That is really way out there. His children are running into the room and Ronnie is puzzled at who they are ? ?Landslide: LBJ and Ronald Reagan at the Dawn of a New America, Jonathan Darman, Random House, 2014, page 125:
' . . . His children, rushing into a room at day's end to greet their father, would find him looking puzzled, as if they were strangers. Have we met? . . . ’
https://books.google.com/books?id=1...ther, would find him looking puzzled”&f=false
(please scroll up to second paragraph from the top)
3) someone who really dives deeply into their intellectual work and temporarily loses orientation as to time and space, and this is probably more of a gift than not
Yes, the above book Landslide by Jonathan Darman also talks about how Reagan didn't recognize his son Michael when Reagan was the speaker at the young man's high school graduation. And also in the age of teleprompters, Reagan would remove the contact lense from his right eye just before going onto stage. I don't know if he did this when he used notecards to speak.As someone who knows introverts pretty well (they include some of my closest friends) I can tell you that not being able to recognize your own son has nothing to do with this. The most likely explanation is that Reagan did indeed have bad eyesight.
It may have been that Ronnie just needed more alone time than Nancy preferred and was comfortable with.President Reagan: The Role Of A Lifetime
By Lou Cannon, 1991, page 192.
https://books.google.com/books?id=7...to Ronnie and then something happens"&f=false
"You can get just so far to Ronnie and then something happens," said Nancy Reagan in 1989. "It took him a long time, I think, to feel that he could really trust me."
Reagan tried to run for Congress as a Democrat in 1952, but the local Democrats said no because they thought he was too liberal. This rejected helped put the Gipper on the path to conservatism and he eventually switched parties ten years later. If the Democrats had supported him, he probably would've won. He could have gone on to be elected Senator in 1958 and be re-elected in 1964 and 1970. I don't think he could beat Nixon in 1972, but if he runs in 1976 and picks Carter as his running mate then Reagan beats Ford by a landslide margin. In such a scenario I don't think a Carter/Reagan ticket is likely, because as OTL 1980 showed Reagan was a far superior politician. Had they been running against each other as Democrats in a primary, Reagan would win.