Here is something I pulled out of Wikipedia regarding his relationship with Nancy Reagan. Might give some perspective on his letter to his son.
"During his presidency they were reported to frequently display their affection for one another; one press secretary said, "They never took each other for granted. They never stopped courting." He often called her "Mommy" she called him "Ronnie". He once wrote to her, "Whatever I treasure and enjoy ... all would be without meaning if I didn't have you." When he was in the hospital in 1981, she slept with one of his shirts to be comforted by his scent. In a letter to U.S. citizens written in 1994, Reagan wrote "I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's disease.... I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience," and in 1998, while Reagan was stricken by Alzheimer's, Nancy told Vanity Fair, "Our relationship is very special. We were very much in love and still are. When I say my life began with Ronnie, well, it's true. It did. I can't imagine life without him."
Mike, you know better than many what an unhappy home is and what it can do to others.
Seems to me he's saying "I've made mistakes and learned from them".
That letter was sent in 1971, well into his marriage with Nancy Davis, which would last for another 33 years, until his death.
Interpret this however you want :)
There are plenty of other places on the internet to make controversial personality politics statements.
I use this a lot in my daily happenings.
I do think these letters are of historical interest though, glad to see them available.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
> Waving your arms and pushing your own absolutes on other people however can be quite so.
Which seemed to be directly in response to the OPs assertion:
> Ronald Reagan was a wise man and great president.
You can see how I would think you were referencing this in your comment as you specified that you were stating an opinion and the OP asserted this comment as fact, yet I stated:
> As far as I'm concerned he is an embarrassment
Which is obviously presented as opinion and not hard fact. I did however back up my opinion with points in a follow up comment.
edit: the downvotes don't make me any less correct in my response, if you disagree please explain.
While that's still an order of magnitude above "lightning strike" it's below, say, Hepatitis C or many hundreds of other diseases that get less press.
Also, I think you're a little breezy about the threat AIDS poses. It's still killing 2m people a year, down from 3m at its peak.
The cultural losses were especially incalculable. So many artists at the height of their powers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hGpjsgquqw
Or is this like listening to the Kardashian's opinion on... child rearing or something?