There are many politicians who say they want to be like the late President Ronald Reagan, but they "don't understand what made the man," James Rosebush, the longest-serving chief of staff to first lady Nancy Reagan.
"He would never have been the pantheon of the top five presidents of U.S. history the way he is today, had he not the character, the fiber, and the values and belief system he had,"
Rosebush told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
Rosebush said that there were many layers when it came to the late president, and his new book
"True Reagan: What Made Ronald Reagan Great and Why It Matters," book unveils the mystery behind the man.
"He was a man who was completely buttoned up, he was a gentleman of an earlier age," he said. "He identified more with the founding fathers than the politicians of his era and their values, and so he believed that his presidency was more about America than about Ronald Reagan. You know, he left the White House the same man he came in as, and he had that saying on his desk 'there's no limit to what a man can achieve if he doesn't care who gets the credit,' so he never talked about himself. He kept it all inside."
Rosebush also described Reagan as a man of deep faith, but those beliefs could have caused him problems in Hollywood and politics,"had he talked about his faith and foundational truths he believed in," but it's important to understand him "in order to have more Reagans."
"I think Ronald Reagan still felt even when he signed his letter to the American people, I still feel America's best days are ahead, that's why people loved Ronald Reagan," Rosebush told the program. "He gave them hope."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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