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Ronald Reagan had Alzheimer's while president, says son
Ronald Reagan's sons have locked horns over the former president's political legacy after the younger brother, Ron, said his late father's battle with Alzheimer's began while he was in the White House.
The spat opens up a subject that has long been a talking point–when did the 40th president begin to become mentally impaired by the disease. He was formally diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1994, five years after he left office. Reagan died 10 years later at 93.
His sons have written books on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of their father's birth, that falls on 6 February.
The more contentious of the two is My Father at 100, written by Ron, Reagan's natural son with Nancy.
In it, Ron Reagan describes his growing sense of alarm over his father's mental condition, beginning as early as three years into his first term. He recalls the presidential debate with Walter Mondale on 7 October 1984.
"My heart sank as he floundered his way through his responses, fumbling with his notes, uncharacteristically lost for words. He looked tired and bewildered," Ron Reagan writes.
Their father's mannerisms while in office–including stumbling over his words, his occasional falling asleep in public, his weak memory–led to much speculation about how early on dementia had set in.