NAMES IN THE NEWS : Reagan in ‘41: ‘Mr. America’
Nearly 50 years ago, broadcaster Eric Sevareid saw Ronald Reagan on a Warner Bros. movie lot and immediately identified him as “Mr. America.”
It was 1941, and as a reporter for then fledgling CBS News, Sevareid also met Warner Bros. stars such as Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich. But Reagan most impressed him, Sevareid recalled Monday night in a speech at Central Missouri State University.
“You could see immediately he was the Eagle Scout, Mr. America,” Sevareid said.
In the White House, 40 years later, Reagan’s appeal “did prove to be almost irresistible for quite some time,” Sevareid said, in remarks concerning the relationship between the presidency and the press.
“I think he did make most people feel better,” although by his second term Reagan had nothing new to offer, Sevareid said.
Sevareid’s son, Michael, is an adjunct lecturer and graduate student at Central Missouri.
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