But he said frankly to his friend, "We were poor" and he was. His father was a shoe salesman and also unfortunately an alcoholic, who moved around a lot and lost lots of jobs. His mother, however, saved him. Nancy Reagan literally says that his mother saved his life. "She saved him through a profound and natural religious belief, a total faith in Christ," says Nancy Reagan.
In a president, character is everything. A president doesn't have to be brilliant; Harry Truman wasn't brilliant, but he helped save Western Europe from Stalin. He doesn't have to clever or quick witted. You can hire clever, and White Houses are filled with people ready to advise on how to flip a senator. You can buy pragmatic. What you cannot buy is courage and decency, you cannot rent a strong moral sense. A man must bring that with him. If he does, they will give meaning and life to the great practical requirement of the presidency. He must know why he's there and what he wants to do. He needs to have a vision of the future he wishes to create. This is the function of thinking. But a vision is worth little if he doesn't have the character, courage, and heart to see it through.
When we think of Ronald Reagan, we think immediately of his presidency. We tend to forget what came before. What came before 1980 was 1976. Reagan's revolutionary presidential bid against Gerald Ford. Ford was riding high. He was the good guy who followed Nixon after the disgrace of Watergate. Reagan thought he was part of the problem so he declared against him. Reagan came within a whisker of taking the nomination from Ford.
We have noticed in life that big people with big virtues frequently have big flaws too. Reagan's great flaw was not one of character but of personality. He had a temper. He didn't get mad lightly, but when he did it was real and hit like lighting. Reagan is always described as genial and easygoing, some would call him "warmly ruthless.