Keep in mind, that when Mr. Reagan was shot due to an assassination attempt - the Presidential limousine on its way to the hospital, the Secret Service completely familiar with the streets of Washington DC got "lost" for quite some time. The ambulance carrying James Brady, arriving to the assassination scene 5 mins after the Presidential limousine left with a wounded Ronald Reagan inside, arrived at the hospital before the Presidential limousine. When Mr. Reagan found this information out, his relationship with his co-executive was never the same.
There never was a close relationship.
Reagan adamantly refused to allow Bush as a running mate, specifically stating that he wasn't about to stack his presidency with CFR members. At the convention Reagan was given a come to Jesus moment where he was informed that his ship was as good as sunk for even securing the nomination if he continued along this path and it was either take Bush or pack it in.
I am struggling to remember the book this is all taken from (no no, don't start diagnosing me yet LOL), I read it a while ago, perhaps five or six years maybe, but this was all laid out.
Reagan did NOT LIKE GHWB.
Now a bit of personal recollection via satellite...
In the early days when having satellite meant having a backyard B.U.D. (BIG ugly dish) the network news feeds were loosely scheduled and unencrypted. For instance, if the networks were going to run a presidential news conference or speech, they just hooked the van to the uplink, turned on the cameras and viewers got treated to color bars and then a few minutes of unattended camera feeds until the event started.
Basically we were getting exactly what the local affiliates were getting in those days.
Well I DO remember a presser like that on satellite around '83 or so, and President Reagan was led to the podium while the crews got the rest of it ready, and while we waited for the affiliate time slot to open (this was not a breaking news story, but rather a scheduled conference).
Reagan stood there at the podium, staring off into space, even PICKING HIS NOSE, then staring off slack-jawed into space again.
His expression was so detached that you might think he was reminiscing about "Bedtime for Bonzo".
Then suddenly the AD piped up with "ten seconds Mister President" and it was like a SWITCH clicked on, his posture straightened, his face lit up and then we were in...
"Good evening my fellow Americans...."
When the speech was over, it was as if someone had pulled a plug and deflated him, he went back to the slack-jawed thorazine fueled thousand yard stare again, until he was led back off the podium...then color bars...end of stream.
I've worked at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, I've been a visitor to a few nursing homes and I had an in-law succumb to the disease, and Reagan's appearance and off into outer space behavior looked like a carbon copy of what I know to be Alzheimer's.
