"REAGAN'S JOURNEY: Lessons from a Remarkable Career," by Margot Morrell, Threshold Editions, $25, 309 pages (nf)
President Ronald Reagan is often known as “The Great Communicator,” but how he got to the top of multiple different industries is its own story. Through "Reagan’s Journey: Lessons from a Remarkable Career," the reader is given a background on what it was like to grow up in the early 1900s as well as an intimate account of his life and the heartbreaks that he had to endure throughout his career as a sportscaster, actor, union leader, public speaker and finally a politician. The main theme of this book is showing the different strategies and tactics that made Reagan successful, especially from the point of view of his values and principles.
Born Feb. 6, 1911, during a time when most Americans did not continue their studies past high school, Reagan was different. He made the decision early to attend college, even though his father and brother had told him that the family would not be able to help support the boys while they attended school. Upon graduation in 1932, which was in the heart of the Great Depression, Reagan utilized talents and strengths that he had identified earlier in his life to help him succeed even with the uncertainty that most Americans faced during that time. These values and principles were the basis for all that he was able to accomplish in his career, and he learned them at a very young age.
Over the course of Reagan’s career, he endured things that would make some people give up or want to quit, including essentially being fired from Warner Brothers Studios after having a longstanding contract with the company. As the book moves through his life and career, each chapter has a separate theme and many examples of lessons that can be taken from someone who never gave up once he set his mind to something.
Another thing that the reader will take away from this book is the way Reagan viewed opportunities and challenges. He was known for taking advantage of these opportunities and learning from failures. That belief was very evident in the way Reagan approached the 1980 election after he lost the Republican primary to President Gerald Ford in 1976.
This book is an interesting and insightful look into the mind of one of the great politicians of the 20th century. Both younger and older audiences would benefit reading as most people will go through changes at some point in their life and will have a feeling that they do not know what to do next. If readers take on the same attitudes of our former president and believe in themselves, anything can be possible, just as Reagan demonstrated during his life.
Landon Walters is a history and political science major currently studying at Salt Lake Community College and is an avid sports fan. His email is mavericksoccer_22@hotmail.com.