Presidential Pen Pal’s Letters Offer a Glimpse of the Inner Reagan

Their correspondence started when she was 13 and he was a dashing Hollywood actor, and it lasted for more than a half-century.

Ronald Reagan shared candid details of his life, love, family, politics and careers in 276 letters to Lorraine Wagner, a Philadelphia woman who recently sold the collection to a dealer.

The letters trace Reagan’s life and times, from his early years as a Democrat and labor activist to his later life as a conservative politician who reached the California governor’s office and the White House.

Reagan, who has Alzheimer’s disease, lives in Los Angeles. He is 88.

“I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have known him,” Wagner said from her home, where Reagan photographs, books and scrapbooks document the friendship.

It all began with a fan letter sent by junior high school student Lorraine Makler in 1943. She wrote to her 10 favorite movie stars, and Reagan sent the young fan a large photo and a personalized note.

“I was thrilled. I don’t know that I would have answered me--I was just a kid,” said Wagner, now 70. “It speaks to the generosity and thoughtfulness Ronald Reagan had.”

The correspondence turned into a friendship that included several visits to Reagan’s California ranch and to the White House. Her husband--she married Elwood Wagner in 1954--and children came to know the president.

Among the subjects Reagan wrote about was his dismay over marital troubles with his first wife, actress Jane Wyman (“I know she loves me, even though she thinks she doesn’t”); his suspicion that President Carter was “a real phony”; and his boredom during his deposition in the Iran-Contra case (“I was tempted several times to reply by asking the lawyer, ‘Where were you three years ago last Friday?’ But I didn’t.”).

Wagner sold the letters to Steve Raab Autographs, a suburban Philadelphia dealer, in October. The sale wasn’t widely known until an article on the letters appeared in the New Yorker magazine recently.

The dealer is asking $395,000 for the collection, said Neale Lanigan, an associate for the dealer.

Wagner said she hopes the letters will end up in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

“If they did make their way here or someone offered to donate them, we would most definitely be interested in them,” said library archivist Rhonda Wilson.

The last personal note to Wagner from Reagan came in June 1994, saying: “I am grateful for your friendship through the years.”

Later that year, she received her final letter, a farewell message sent to thousands of friends to tell them he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.