By Mark D. Zimmerman
MELVILLE, New York — To what did Ronald Reagan attribute his strong negative feelings about anti-Semitism?
A. He credited his father, John Reagan, a traveling salesman, who told of checking into a hotel while on a sales trip. The clerk said to Mr. Reagan, “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it here; we don’t allow any Jews.” At that point, despite the fact that there was a blizzard outside, Mr. Reagan informed the clerk that he would not enjoy sleeping there, and he left the hotel and slept in his car.
B. He credited his mother, Nelle Wilson Reagan, who shopped regularly at a store in his birthplace, Tampico Illinois. Because Reagan’s father, a traveling salesman, was often on the road, Mrs. Reagan did not always have the funds needed to make purchases. As Mrs. Reagan explained it to Ronald, “The storekeeper was a very kind Jewish man, Mr. Harry Schilkofsky. He would let me shop and he kept a record of what I owed, so that when your father returned, we could pay our debts. Many stores would not let Irish Catholics shop on credit. Mr. Schilkofsky was a godsend to us.”
C. Said Reagan in an interview with Barbara Walters in 2001, “I was very lucky to meet so many wonderful Jewish people when I was working in Hollywood. Kitty Carlisle, Kirk Douglas, John Garfield, Dinah Shore, and so many others. But I really owe everything to Jack Mayer of Warner Brothers, who gave me my first break, signing me to a contract in 1937. I knew that people like this did not deserve the hatred that so many Americans felt toward them just because of their religion.”
D. In an interview with Dick Cavett, Reagan said, “I had only been working in Hollywood for a few years when Senator McCarthy began holding a series of hearings, looking for Communists. A lot of people I knew were called to testify, and over time, I noticed that many Jewish actors I had known and worked with seemed to disappear from view. Edward G. Robinson, Stella Adler, Howard da Silva, John Garfield. So many wonderful actors who hadn’t done anything wrong. That’s when I first began to understand how terrible anti-Semitism was, and that’s when I first began to get involved in politics. If not for this awakening, I might never have run for president of the Screen Actors Guild, which was really my first elected position.”
E. Reagan had starred in the movie Bedtime for Bonzo, where he and actress Jane Linden posed as the parents of a chimpanzee, Bonzo, so that Reagan’s character, a psychology professor, could experiment with the chimp regarding the classic “nature vs. nurture” issue of human development. Said Reagan, “The producers had intended to hire Lauren Bacall to play my wife in the movie. But it turns out that Bonzo had a clause in his contract saying that he would not work with any Jewish actors, and as a result, Bacall was not hired. I even tried to intervene, pleading with Bonzo to make an exception. But he just squealed and threw a banana at me. I finished the film because I had already signed my contract, but I decided never to put myself in that position again.”
B. He credited his mother, Nelle Wilson Reagan, who shopped regularly at a store in his birthplace, Tampico Illinois. Because Reagan’s father, a traveling salesman, was often on the road, Mrs. Reagan did not always have the funds needed to make purchases. As Mrs. Reagan explained it to Ronald, “The storekeeper was a very kind Jewish man, Mr. Harry Schilkofsky. He would let me shop and he kept a record of what I owed, so that when your father returned, we could pay our debts. Many stores would not let Irish Catholics shop on credit. Mr. Schilkofsky was a godsend to us.”
C. Said Reagan in an interview with Barbara Walters in 2001, “I was very lucky to meet so many wonderful Jewish people when I was working in Hollywood. Kitty Carlisle, Kirk Douglas, John Garfield, Dinah Shore, and so many others. But I really owe everything to Jack Mayer of Warner Brothers, who gave me my first break, signing me to a contract in 1937. I knew that people like this did not deserve the hatred that so many Americans felt toward them just because of their religion.”
D. In an interview with Dick Cavett, Reagan said, “I had only been working in Hollywood for a few years when Senator McCarthy began holding a series of hearings, looking for Communists. A lot of people I knew were called to testify, and over time, I noticed that many Jewish actors I had known and worked with seemed to disappear from view. Edward G. Robinson, Stella Adler, Howard da Silva, John Garfield. So many wonderful actors who hadn’t done anything wrong. That’s when I first began to understand how terrible anti-Semitism was, and that’s when I first began to get involved in politics. If not for this awakening, I might never have run for president of the Screen Actors Guild, which was really my first elected position.”
E. Reagan had starred in the movie Bedtime for Bonzo, where he and actress Jane Linden posed as the parents of a chimpanzee, Bonzo, so that Reagan’s character, a psychology professor, could experiment with the chimp regarding the classic “nature vs. nurture” issue of human development. Said Reagan, “The producers had intended to hire Lauren Bacall to play my wife in the movie. But it turns out that Bonzo had a clause in his contract saying that he would not work with any Jewish actors, and as a result, Bacall was not hired. I even tried to intervene, pleading with Bonzo to make an exception. But he just squealed and threw a banana at me. I finished the film because I had already signed my contract, but I decided never to put myself in that position again.”
Link to answer:
http://rrrjewishtrivia.com/answers/ronald-reagan-answer.html
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Mark D. Zimmerman is the author of Rashi, Rambam and Ramalamadingdong series of Jewish trivia e-books. Learn more at rrrjewishtrivia.com.
Reagan, a real mensch.
Jerome C Liner, Cincinnati, OH