Ronald and Nancy

I never saw this movie (or any others either one of them did, for that matter), but I do remember very well when Ronald Reagan was President from 1981 to 1989 (and thus Nancy being First Lady). He was President during nearly my entire post elementary school education (he became President midway through my 7th grade year, and left office midway through my third-and final-year in college). He was also the fifth President to serve in my lifetime (after Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter), as well as being the fifth President to die in my lifetime (after Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon). These two fives would have also been the case for anyone born from November, 1964 to early January, 1969. Though I haven't thought about it, Nancy was also the 5th First Lady in my lifetime. But these things did occur to me about Ronald Reagan after he died on June 5, 2004. Like most people, I personally liked Reagan, and also thought he did very well to strengthen the military, take bold action with it when he did, and stand up to the Soviet Union, then form good relations with them (though I was opposed to his "star Wars" SDI missle defense system, thought it was unnecessary. And I also did not approve of most of his conservative political views, glad they did not take effect, or his economic programs ("Reaganomics", I remember first hearing that term in high school in 1983), as I felt they curtailed welfare too greatly, and benefitted the wealthy too much. Probably the most famous thing from his presidency, and what got the most attention in the week after he died, was the Iran-contra affair, which came to the American public's attention in early November, 1986, and I first heard about on the ABC Nightly News on Saturday, November 8, 1986 (I was home from my freshman year in college that weekend, which was Parents' Weekend). Then in January, 1987 there I did a term paper for English 102 class, and choose the American Presidency as my topic, and used this as a basis in it (which by then was greatly in the news). It probably remains to be seen where among Presidents Ronald Reagan will rank, though I would put him as above average, though not great, and I think he was better than Eisenhower, Ford, Carter, Nixon, or the first George Bush (who of course was also his Vice President), but not as good as Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, John Kennedy, or Bill Clinton (and too early to tell about the current George Bush).

"I happen to be a vegetarian". Lex, from Jurrasic Park