February 6 marked Ronald Reagan's 96th birthday -- coincidentally, it's the same birth month as two of America's greatest Presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and also the same month that the nation celebrates Presidents' Day.When we think of Ronald ReaganÂ’s relationship with Presidents or presidential families, we might think of the Bushes, or perhaps even the Fords, but we do not think of the Kennedys. Yet, throughout his political life, Ronald Reagan had some fascinating and sometimes even moving run-ins with the Kennedys. These instances have fallen through the cracks of history, which is unfortunate, since each offers a telling tale of sharp political differences -- of ups and downs.
Reagan began his political life as a liberal Democrat, the type that a staunchly anti-Communist Democrat named John F. Kennedy judged naïve about the Communist threat. An ironic example of the early Reagan’s being too liberal for the Kennedys took place when Jack, Bobby and their father crossed party lines and loyalties to support Republican Richard Nixon in his 1950 Senate bid against the “Pink Lady,” Democrat Helen Gahagan Douglas -- for whom an actor named Ronald Reagan had been campaigning.