Sold – A Private Glimpse of Reagan, Reflecting on his Life, Hurting as a Father
Among the most powerful and emotional letters we have ever seen by a President, unpublished and acquired directly from Patti Davis, the recipient and daughter of Ronald Reagan.
Ronald Reagan left office in 1989. He had been in the public eye for decades and now...
“…My years are limited. I can tell you what it’s like to have regrets over things I did or didn’t do before my parents left this earth. I don’t want you to face that.”
Ronald Reagan left office in 1989. He had been in the public eye for decades and now his life entered a new phase, one in which he would spend his time not behind the camera. The Reagan family had its share of strife, and some of that played out in the public sphere.
Before his 81st birthday, Reagan caught wind of an upcoming biography by his daughter, Patti Davis, portraying the Reagan family in personal and sometimes negative terms. This hurt Reagan, who wrote Patti.
It is tempting to forget the personal side of great men and women and to not see them having the same struggles, as parents and children, as we do. They change as they grow older, reflect on parts of their lives decades back, look to make amends with family, and reminisce about earlier times. In his letter to Patti, perhaps the most personal letter of any president we have ever seen, Reagan appeals to Patti, reminding her of their lives together and giving lessons from his own experiences. Although Reagan distrusted the press and preferred to keep matters that were personal in private, it is interesting here that his overwhelming concern is about his relationship with his child and not leaks to the media.
This unpublished letter was acquired directly from Ms. Davis, is unpublished, previously unknown to exist, and has never been offered for sale before.
Autograph Letter Signed not dated but late 1991 / early 1992, with envelope included, to daughter Patti Davis:
“Dear Patti, With myself going on 81 years, I first can’t sit back and make no effort to change our family situation. I’ve heard and read statements by you about the biography you are working on and how you plan to explore what you say are the failures of your family.
“Patti you are hurting us – your parents – but you are hurting yourself even more. We were not a dysfunctional family. Was it dysfunctional to man the hot dog stand at an every year affair at your school? Was it dysfunctional to have trips every summer at Coronado and Frances Beach? I wish you would sit down with me and look at photos of these occasions and many others. Was your mother [Nancy] dysfunctional when she planned your wedding?
“Patti in our meeting at the office you said your mother didn’t like you. That’s not true. Yes she’s unhappy about the way things are but again I can show you photos in which the love between you is unmistakable. And these pictures are at virtually every stage of your life. Pictures don’t lie.
“Well I could go on like this but Patti as I wrote at the beginning of this my years are limited. I can tell you what it’s like to have regrets over things I did or didn’t do before my parents left this earth. I don’t want you to face that. But most important Patti is that you realize your Mother and Father have great memories of our “first born” – a beautiful little girl who used to come into our bedroom early in the morning before we were up and slip into our bed between us. That is just one of many memories we cherish and treasure.
“Please Patti don’t take away our memories of a daughter we truly love and who we miss. With Love, Dad”
In 1993, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimers, a fact he related to the nation in an open letter the next year.
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