When we think of the presidency of the late Ronald Reagan, usually three things come to mind immediately: his surviving the 1981 assassination attempt, his famous quote “Tear down that wall” from a 1989 speech in West Berlin, and, first and foremost, the complete ineptitude of his administration to respond to the AIDS epidemic during the 1980s. In an interview to promote her new book The Earth Breaks In Colors, Patti Davis, once regarded as the renegade daughter of Ronnie and first lady Nancy, speaks with activist James Duke Mason, son of pop star Belinda Carlisle and Reagan’s former Chief of Protocol Morgan Mason, about her father’s abject failure in regards to the latter.
“I’m not gonna make excuses for, um, the failure of his administration to address the AIDS crisis when it was going on,” Davis says plainly. “I mean, it was a failure. It hurts my heart that that happened, on so many levels.”
She explains that her father wasn’t as informed as he should have been due to his staff’s own agenda and bias.
“One of my father’s flaws was that he delegated authority to other people, and relied on them to, uh, give him the appropriate information on things,” she offers. “Presidents get briefings every morning, um, they’re busy, so their time watching CNN is limited, so they do rely on people to bring them information on what was going on. There were people around him who did not want him dealing with the AIDS crisis, and I’m not making excuses for him, I’m saying that’s a flaw of his, and in this case it turned out to be a really tragic flaw because he didn’t really know the extent of what was going on until Rock Hudson died.”
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Davis says that it wasn’t until the death of his longtime Hollywood pal in 1985 that her father learned the extent of the epidemic and only then did he speak out and allot government money for AIDS research.
The former first daughter also makes it very clear that the current crop of Republican presidential candidates who evoke her father’s name wouldn’t garner his favor.
“My father supported immigration,” she says. “He would certainly not be saying that Muslims should register and let’s build a huge wall and let Mexico pay for it and send them all back.” Sorry, Donald.
Watch their conversation below.
AJAnders
Here’s a scary thought. What if Reagan wasn’t friends with Rock Hudson? Would he have acknowledged the AIDS crises at all?
If it was thought of as a gay person’s disease at the time, wouldn’t having a gay son be enough for him to do more?
Bob LaBlah
@AJAnders: “If it was thought of as a gay person’s disease at the time, wouldn’t having a gay son be enough for him to do more?”
To give you some idea just how distant he and Nancy were from their children he was asked in an interview why every time he only sand “Nancy and I” during his speeches but never mentioned his children, including the late Maureen Reagan. Not only was he dumbfounded by the question but that was the last one on one interview Sam Donaldson got with Reagan.
I am not surprised that he would not support Trump because the people in Reagan circle were the ones who would be telling Trump just how much money he could borrow. Donald is a bit too low on the totem pole for ol’ Ronnie to have wanted to be bothered with.
Kieran
“Patty Davis”: Spoiled rich girl who never quite grew up and made a name or life for herself. She’s as bad as her adopted brother Michael, exploiting their famous father’s name at any opportunity in a pathetic bid for attention.
ingyaom
I think of Iran-Contra and Savings & Loan.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
Why is it that there are posters who come on here, say harassing and homophobic things all day long, like the poster above and yet are allowed to still post here? No other site allows this kind of behavior without risk of getting banned.
Why do I have to put up with this Queerty?
MinnesotaNotNice
I do hope that Ronnie has been burning in hell for the last 12 years since his death. Nancy is welcome to join him anytime she wishes.
1EqualityUSA
…visceral response, every time I see Reagan’s photo on this article. woof..
Masc Pride
@Kieran: I remember when I found my dad’s stash and saw her Playboy spread. She totally did it to disgrace her father. Nice natural tits though.
Bob LaBlah
@Masc Pride…….I wanted to tell you about a book she wrote where she claims to have be beaten in the face with a hair brush by Nancy but it is obvious I won’t be allowed to say it no matter it being void of profanity. I guess I am exceeded my limit on comments.