At 72, Did He or Didn’t He? Answer Stayed Hidden Behind Reagan’s Smile

Ronald Reagan may have been the first president to be asked in an interview about his sex life.

The fact that I survived to write about it -- that I wasn’t tossed off Air Force One by Secret Service agents -- tells a lot about Reagan. How he handled my awkward question spoke reams about his sense of humor, self-confidence, character and class.

It’s the kind of story that might be told at a eulogy. But since I won’t be a eulogizer, I’ll recount the tale here.

President Reagan had counseled young people at a Houston drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in 1983 to take care of their bodies so they could enjoy sex late into life. At least, that’s the way it sounded to bemused reporters, startled aides and the recovering addicts, who responded to the grinning president with laughter.

This is what the 72-year-old Reagan actually said:

“When you get along to where I am, you find out taking care of that machinery sure pays off when ... you can still tie your shoes and pull on your own socks without sitting down and do a lot of things that are much more enjoyable than that.”

There was a big smile on his face.

Later, I asked longtime Reagan advisor Michael Deaver, whom I’d known since we were fraternity brothers at San Jose State, whether the president had been referring to sex. Deaver said he thought so, but it was a question only the president could answer.

He arranged an interview for me as Reagan flew from Washington to Santa Barbara for a Fourth of July holiday. Our topic was to be aging. Reagan would be running for reelection the next year, and many voters were concerned about the physical stamina and mental agility of America’s oldest president, particularly after he had narrowly survived an assassination attempt.

Sitting across a table from the president in his private cabin, I decided to make my first question about the drug clinic comments. Reagan explained that he had actually been thinking about activities such as cutting tree limbs, riding horses and swimming. Sex “wasn’t in my mind,” he said, chuckling, but he instantly realized the audience had interpreted his remarks that way.

I plowed ahead: “Well, I’m on shaky ground here, OK?”

“Fine,” Reagan replied.

“But I’ve got to ask a 72-year-old president ... “

“Yeah?”

” ... if you still have an active sex life?”

Reagan’s eyes opened wide, he grinned broadly and laughed. Deaver sat up straight.

“I don’t think, no, George -- and I’m remembering things like Mr. Carter in Playhouse [sic].” -- Reagan was referring to candidate Jimmy Carter’s 1976 confession in Playboy that he had “lusted” in his heart. -- “No, this is a subject I think I’ll stay away from.”

Persisting, I asked the president what he found physically different about himself compared to 10 or 20 years ago. Again grinning, he answered: “Well, in many ways I feel better.”

After that exchange, I could ask the president virtually anything relating to health and age. It was a terrific, fun interview.

Reagan spoke candidly about how he loved his ranch but would be “bored” if he weren’t president. He talked about his sparing use of alcohol and shunning of tobacco, the slow loss of hearing in his right ear, the gradual curling of a finger because of a rare hereditary malady -- and the attempt on his life, the inevitability of death and his deep religious faith.

I didn’t write a word about sex, feeling he really hadn’t said much. But others later did, because snickering White House aides leaked excerpts to reporters.

The point here is that Reagan was a rare politician -- rare person -- who could make a reporter feel comfortable fishing in treacherous waters. He took it in stride and seemed to enjoy the banter. He was invariably at ease with himself and everyone else.

Later, I received a White House photo of me querying the beaming president. He wrote on it: “Then I said -- !?”

Reporters did not intimidate Reagan. As governor, he held weekly news conferences in the Capitol, a practice long since abandoned by successors who have opted for staged photo-ops. Reagan prospered politically from news conferences because his sincerity and conviction got through to the public.

Each summer, he’d invite Capitol reporters and their families -- kids and all -- to his house for a swimming party and barbecue. My three daughters still cherish a snapshot of them standing waist-high to Reagan as he nonchalantly held a half-hidden beer can. How many pols today would dare be photographed with a beer can?

When he was president and I was covering him, Reagan called my mother on her 85th birthday. “Haven’t you got better things to do?” she asked with typical Skelton tact. Of course he did, but Reagan loved to call and surprise people. He complimented her for years of volunteer work at the Ojai Valley museum.

“The essence to understanding Ronald Reagan is that he genuinely likes people,” said press aide Mark Weinberg, who set up the call. “He took great pleasure in brightening their day.

“There was nothing insincere about him. He may have been an actor, but he wasn’t a fake.”

And that was the essence of Reagan’s popularity. Even people who disagreed with him knew he was genuine.

We reporters would sit in the Western White House press center in Santa Barbara -- a hotel meeting room aerated by a soft ocean breeze -- and listen to a spokesman describe Reagan’s day.

“The president and the first lady went riding this morning. The president now is conferring with advisors. Then he plans to cut more brush and chop wood. At the ranch, it’s sunny and warm.”

And I’d instantly think: Sunny and warm -- an apt description of Reagan.

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George Skelton writes Monday and Thursday. Reach him at george.skelton@latimes.com.