To the Editor:
Kevin Williamson does an admirable job of debunking a number of Reagan myths in his review of Bob Spitz’s Reagan biography (“A Hollow Man,” November). I wanted to help him with another. I share a byline with Michael Reagan on Newsmax, and we discussed the well-known incident during which Reagan is said not to have recognized his son.
Michael says that his father was moving along the line of students and faculty and shaking their hands. There were the usual “Hi, how are you” exchanges that characterize fleeting encounters with politicians and celebrities. When Reagan got to Michael and said, “I’m Ronald Reagan, who are you?,” it was a joke that both of them enjoyed. The left later turned this harmless fun against Reagan to advance the image of him as a clueless figure. And they did so with more than a little success.
It was “fake news” before the term existed, and the media got away with it because there were not sufficient conservative media outlets to correct the story.
Michael R. Shannon
Montclair, Virginia