1. Ronald Wilson Reagan (/ ˈ r eɪ ɡ ən / RAY-gən; February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and became a highly influential voice of modern conservatism.Prior to his presidency, he was a Hollywood actor and union leader before serving as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975.
2. Why was Ronald Reagans nickname dutch? As a boy, Reagan's father nicknamed his son 'Dutch,' due to his'fat little Dutchman'-like appearance, and his 'Dutchboy'haircut. Check Wikipedia.

• Dutch A Memoir Of Ronald Reagan Amazon
• Dutch Ronald Reagan Biography
• Patti Davis

Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan has elicited sharp and impassioned criticism from professional historians that also reveals fissures in the historical profession itself. Professional historians began lambasting Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan even before its September 30 release. Most have insisted that the book, which is populated by made-up.

September 30, 1999

Dutch A Memoir Of Ronald Reagan Amazon

'Dutch': A Guy Who Wasn't There Meets the Guy Who Was

By CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT

t comes as a shock at first. On page nine of Edmund Morris' long-awaited 'Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan' you read, in a chapter called 'The Land of Lost Things,' that the author was born in the American Midwest on Aug. 9, 1912.

This would make him 87, which does not square with the Edmund Morris we know from the book's publicity material, who is much younger, was born in South Africa and could therefore not have had the American parents he gives himself in the text, even footnoting them as being cited in several reference works.

Dutch Ronald Reagan Biography

On closer inspection you realize that Morris is coyly telling you that he is fabricating, when he writes of his birth that it 'more or less coincided with the archeological furor over Piltdown Man, while other scientists were finding that genes could be lined up along a chromosome.' He continues: 'Who knows, the latter discovery may prove as fraudulent as the former. The past is delusion, the future illusion; one locates one's center where one can. (Or in cases like Reagan's, where one wishes.)'

So why, you find yourself asking, should you believe any previously unreported details in this authorized biography, the first one ever written by someone invited to observe a sitting president? What is the difference between 'Dutch' and, say, Oliver Stone's film 'J.F.K.' or Joe McGinniss' 'The Last Brother,' a biography of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy? Why shouldn't Morris' memoir be treated as historical fiction?

But as you read on -- and such is the force and fascination of Morris' narrative that you can't help reading on -- you begin to see the benefits of his highly unorthodox technique, which turns out to be a conjoining of invention and reality.

Since Morris' partly fictional persona was born only a year later than Reagan and crossed paths with him at various points in their early careers, the author can make use of directly contemporaneous commentary instead of having to resort to speculative 'must haves' and 'may wells.'

The fluidity of the resulting viewpoints frees Morris to liven up his narrative with the devices of oral and documentary history, employing dialogues, interviews, film scenarios, epistolary sections and so forth.

For instance as a schoolmate of Reagan's at Eureka College, he reviews his subject's first known stage role, the shepherd Thyrsis in Edna St. Vincent Millay's verse drama 'Aria da Capo,' which, prophetically, centers on the building of an artificial wall between two friends, although not until 57 years later would President Reagan say, in Berlin, 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.'

Finally, Morris' inventions lend at least the first half of 'Dutch' a faint air of make-believe, which seems entirely fitting for Reagan's rise to prominence. (In a brilliant description of his first film role, as the radio broadcaster Andy McCaine in 'Love Is on the Air,' it is difficult to tell for a while whether what he is describing is the movie or Reagan's experience.)

One might of course dismiss Morris' technique as committing the fallacy of imitative form, matching an artificial narrative with an inauthentic subject. But some would argue that Reagan's rise to fame was the contradiction of that fallacy.

Patti Davis

Above all Morris seems at pains to animate a life that in an earlier treatment, that of Reagan's autobiography, 'An American Life,' produced what Morris himself calls 'the most boring book of its kind since Herbert Hoover's 'Challenge to Liberty.'

Certainly 'Dutch' is very far from boring. As gossip it hypnotizes: Morris has come up with the ultimate 'Hi, I'm Ronald Reagan, who are you?' anecdote when he tells how Reagan failed to recognize his own son Michael at his high school commencement.

Treating such delicate issues as Reagan's shift to the right politically, his conduct during the Red-hunting era in Hollywood, his relations with his wives, Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis, and the dating of his decline into senescence, the book manages to be both balanced and sensitive.

And in its coverage of the Reagan presidency it makes an oft-told tale exciting and at times, even inspiring, particularly in its vivid accounts of the various summit conferences with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Couldn't all this have been accomplished without Morris' narrative abracadabra? Perhaps, but I can think of few conventional political biographies that bring their subjects' pasts so richly alive.

And had he used a more conventional form, one finds it hard to imagine how he could have so effectively evolved his narrative voice from the wise-cracking irreverence of the narrator's youth to the stunned admiration of his maturer years. (Here he undetectably slows his aging process, turns himself into the middle-aged Edmund Morris we recognize from the voice of his prize-winning biography, 'The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt,' and thereby provides internal evidence of his deception, which he nowhere mentions overtly.)

Is 'Dutch' then finally flawed by Morris' technique? To judge from the book's extensive notes, it in no way distorts the record of Reagan's life, only the viewpoint from which it is told.

It is difficult to approve the technique in theory; in less skilled hands it will doubtless prove a disaster. But it certainly succeeds in this case. So call 'Dutch' a literary work instead of a biography. Besides, all biographies invent their stories, as Jay Parini pointed out recently in his 'Robert Frost: A Life.' Why not invent the inventor?

But does 'Dutch' finally penetrate the mystery of Ronald Reagan, explain the calculated spontaneity, the cold warmth, the absent presence? No, yet in passage after passage it certainly captures the paradoxes he comprised. Just one example of many:

'Out of Tampico's ice there grew, crystal by crystal, the glacier that is Ronald Reagan: an ever-thrusting, ever-deepening mass of chill purpose. Possessed of no inner warmth, with no apparent interest save in its own growth, it directed itself toward whatever declivities lay in its path. Inevitably, as the glacier grew, it collected rocks before it, and used them to flatten obstructions; when the rocks were worn smooth they rode up onto the glacier's back, briefly enjoying high sunny views, then tumbled off to become part of the surrounding countryside. They lie where they fell, some cracked, some crumbled: Dutch's lateral moraine. And the glacier sped slowly on.'

Like Morris' book, irresistibly.

December 1, 1985

The President. Well -- [laughter] -- it's good to be Dutch again, and it's wonderful to be surrounded by so many fine and talented friends. To paraphrase Jack Kennedy, there hasn't been so much talent assembled in one room since -- well, since the last time Monty Hall hosted ``Let's Make a Deal.' [Laughter] Seriously, Nancy and I have watched these parties over the years, and we're thrilled to be a part of the good work of the Variety Clubs International. And something Lucy [Ball] said last year applies to the way that I feel right now. Let's see if I can quote her accurately: ``To those of you who said such nice things about me tonight, I just wish you were all under oath.' [Laughter] I wish you were all Members of Congress. [Laughter]

You know, when I first started in my present job, I'd sometimes put together in my mind my own dream Cabinet -- you know, John Wayne as Secretary of State -- [laughter] -- Clint Eastwood at Defense -- [laughter] -- Jack Benny as Secretary of Treasury -- [laughter] -- Groucho Marx at Education. [Laughter] But even Presidents can't have everything, except tonight; tonight, all of you here, well, you've really made my day. [Laughter] And as for all of you who were so generous in sharing your talents with us tonight, will you please stand up so that I can applaud you all once more? Come on, those of you -- [applause]. Thank you. And, Frank -- --

Mr. Sinatra. Yes, sir.

The President. 'Old Blue Eyes,' as always, you've been the perfect host. Your voice rings just as pure and clear as ever for all of us guys and dolls who are still young at heart. And speaking of music, Steve and Eydie, I like the songs you sang -- not a clinker in the bunch. [Laughter] And Dean Martin, there you go again. [Laughter] Dean, I am thrilled that you were able to be here tonight for Burt Reynolds' party. [Laughter] And sometime, if they ever have a party for Nancy and me, I hope you can make that one, too. [Laughter] And Vin Scully, you brought back a lot of happy memories. And Monty Hall, the voice of Variety Clubs, thank you for your presentation. And Mike Frankovich, you share those words of gratitude; everybody knows how devoted you are to Variety. [Laughter] And Ben Vereen, you've danced your way into America's heart. And Emmanuel Lewis, we should never lose sight of what you said -- wait a minute -- even if sometimes we lose sight of you. [Laughter] Well, there you are, Manny. And that was a lovely sentiment that was expressed by the International [National] Children's Choir. And Chuck Heston, I knew you had leadership qualities when I saw you play Moses. You were eloquent and gracious in your remarks about me -- that guard on the Eureka varsity -- thank you.

To all of you associated with the good work of Variety, you have our eternal gratitude for arranging this party, for all the good work that you have done in your half a century of giving and caring for those who need our help the most, the innocent children of the world. Having my name associated with your good work -- the University of Nebraska Medical Center will always have a special place in my heart, and I thank you all very much.

And now, speaking for Nancy as well as myself, to all of you here and to all Americans everywhere, paraphrasing something that Moses said earlier, God shed His grace on each of thee. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 7:53 p.m. at the NBC studios. The fundraiser was sponsored by Variety Clubs International. Following his remarks, he attended a dinner for program participants and guests. At the end of the evening, the President went to the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, CA, where he stayed overnight.