| Reagan And Tough Love |
| Ronald Reagan and the Berlin Wall When I heard Ronald Reagan say something about the Berlin Wall keeping East Berliners from going into West Berlin, I remembered something from a school book of mine 30 years earlier. To check on it I called Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to ask him about it. He told me. I had remembered right. I called Reagan to tell him but he said he did not have time for me and hung up on me. Two days Reagan made a similar remark about the Berlin Wall and was very nasty to what he called the "communists". Mikhail Gorbachev called and said that Reagan was acting like a jackass- Mikhail's choice of word. I said to him that I would try to talk to Reagan. I tried but I heard Reagan say to his secretary that he did not have time to talk with me. A week later Reagan made his famous/infamous speech at the Berlin Wall(picture to left). When I thought it was evening that same day in Germany, I called and he said to me: "Sorry but I have been very busy with this Berlin Wall thing and I do not even know if it will do any good". Considering that if I waited until he was back to his jackass-style of recent speeches he would ignore me, I gave it to him straight about the Berlin Wall: "Hey stupid, the Berlin Wall is in WEST Berlin. You can take it down any time you want to." Three days later the Berlin Wall was taken down. After realizing how he had been acting he never acted badly towards anyone after that. Jackass Reagan had disappeared. Took a friend to do it. |
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| To Live Or To Die In early 1952 Ronald Reagan and Nancy moved into an old house on a small part of a 3 section ranch of the later famous Rancho del Cielo- that is what the sign said that day. I was there with my grandpa Frank Silva to help them anyway they needed it, at the asking of the owner of property who was letting them stay there. I rode with Ronald much as he was doing things to move- he said he was trying to get away from the Screen Actors Guild. He sold his home near Hollywood and his ranch in Malibu Canyon was put up for sale and he gave away his interest in an orchard business near Northridge. Him talking out loud about not sure what to do with his mother's rocking chair got me to thinking about what he REALLY trying to do. Abandoning nearly all his clothes was a sign. Treating some of his best friends rudely was a sign. Finally Nancy was concerned- she said to me that she was scared about Ronald and herself! She said to me: "I do not want to go!". She had fear in her eyes at that moment. I had noticed that she had been shying away from him very much. I thought of a plan. It started with the storekeeper at the Solvang Market who had been a preacher. He understood the situation as I explained it to him and would speak with Ronald but Ronald had to want to. Not easy because Ronald did not want to see anybody new and barely tolerated myself and Nancy. While driving near the Solvang Market I faked a leg cramp and said that I needed to walk the cramp out and could he pull into the parking lot,please! Knowing Ronald, he got out to stretch legs(only thing about his health he cared about any more). I pointed to the front of the market and said "Go talk to the man in there". As I said that I walked behind him and gave him the hardest kick in the butt this 5 year old kid could. He rubbed his butt and said "All right. All right". More than a hour later he came out looking and sounding like a new man- he wanted to live! Nancy gave him a great big hug and whispered to me: "What happened?". I said "I gave him a GOOD kick". From a friend. |