Historian H.W. Brands' new biography of Ronald Reagan is very good but conveys an incomplete impression about Reagan's religious faith. Here's a paragraph about Reagan supposedly failing to follow up about his dying father-in-law's lack of faith:
DURING REAGAN'S SECOND year in office, his father-in-law, Loyal Davis, became seriously ill. “Nancy is very depressed about her father's health and understandably so,” Reagan wrote in his diary. Davis and Nancy's mother had retired to Scottsdale, Arizona, and his illness prompted repeated flights by Nancy across the country from Washington. Reagan liked and respected his father-in-law and was naturally concerned for his health. But he worried more about his spiritual health. “He's always been an Agnostic,” Reagan wrote. “Now I think he knows fear for probably the first time in his life.” Reagan couldn't take the time Nancy did to visit Davis, but he wished he could. “I want so much to speak to him about faith,” he said. “I believe this is a moment when he should turn to God and I want so much to help him do that.” Yet Reagan never found the time, and Davis died a few months later with Reagan's words unspoken.
But in fact Reagan did find the time to contact his troubled father-in-law even if he could not visit.
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