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Lot 184
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Ronald Reagan, Lengthy 13pp Manuscript Praising Nancy: "She must certainly stem from pioneer stock. I know of no other way to explain her courage..."
Ronald Reagan, Lengthy 13pp Manuscript Praising Nancy: "She must certainly stem from pioneer stock. I know of no other way to explain her courage..."
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Description:

Reagan Ronald

Ronald Reagan, lengthy 13pp manuscript praising Nancy: "She must certainly stem from pioneer stock. I know of no other way to explain her courage…"

13pp AM inscribed by future 40th U.S. President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). The unsigned manuscript is inscribed overall in pencil on customized “Yearling Row, Agoura, California” stationery, each 7" x 10.875" page with a stylized horse head sign at top. Circa 1953. Some toning, two pages with rusted paperclip impressions, and a few closed tears, chipped edges, and folded corners throughout. Otherwise near fine. With numerous cross-outs, erasures, and one page highlighted with red pencil. Spelling mistakes in any excerpts have not been corrected.

This lovely 13pp manuscript describes life on Ronald Reagan's Agoura, California "Yearling Row" cattle ranch and horse farm. The ranch's name "Yearling Row" was derived from two films starring Reagan and first wife Jane Wyman, The Yearling and King’s Row. The actor had purchased the 350 acres of mixed terrain in the 1950s. It was secluded enough to be a getaway, and close enough to work: “an easy 45 min. to Beverly Hills—50 if the Cops are out.” Reagan also hoped that the ranch would be the setting for a new reality radio show, based on his and newlywed Nancy's life.

"The foregoing article was written to give some hint of the flavor of Yearling Row, our ranch in the Malibu hills. The few incidents related are true.  It is our idea that a radio series could be built based on the personal incidents as well as the ranch happenings of a Hollywood couple, an Actor and Actress who go into ranching. Not only is the usual Husband and Wife situation enhanced by a motion picture background but it is played in a setting boasting its own glamour and adventure, a thoroughbred horse farm." Evidently, the Reagans thought their radio show delivered everything from comedy to pathos: chasing the American dream, triumphing over the elements, mastering animals…

Reagan’s wit is evident throughout the narrative, as he humorously details his misfortunes as a ranch owner. The ranch enabled Reagan to indulge his passion for the outdoor life, but more importantly, the cattle ranch and horse-breeding business supplemented the Reagans' unpredictable income from acting. “Retirement,” Reagan complained, “has gone the way of the buffalo nickle thanks to the U.S. dept of Internal Revenue whose legal take can amount to as much as 91% of an actors salary.” His response? “So! Back to the farm or as us Westerners put it, ‘Back Out Yonder to the ranch’ (rancho if you like the latin flavor).”

He praised his beloved wife and business partner Nancy, saying, “she must certainly stem from pioneer stock. I know of no other way to explain her courage in being willing to trade the familiarity of curb stones for the unexplored mystery of ploughed ground.” Reagan was deeply moved by Nancy's commitment to a ranch ideal so alien to her. Raised in Chicago and educated at Smith College, Nancy hated "anything that crawled, flew or slithered." Yet the city slicker had a touching faith in Reagan, one that he hoped would "survive the familiarity of the forthcoming years of marital experience."

Reagan adopted a playfully pastoral tone while recounting his ranching misadventures. The realtor “had a map with some circles on it and the name and phone number of a geologist who had some information about where new wells would produce something resembling the Johnstown flood.” After learning that two proposed wells only produced about two gallons per minute, and that showers and horses needed “a certain number of gallons per day,” Reagan concluded, “start adding and this becomes very thirsty arithmetic.” Fortunately, “the geologist knew exactly where to dig the wells — after we paid him." Reagan was pleased to report after several more mishaps that, “All is peaceful now on the water front. We don’t have any irrigated pasture — we just have four pumps busily thrusting twelve gallons of water up to our 5000 gal. tank at a cost in electricity only slightly higher than it would cost to have Gunga Din doing the job on foot.”

When it became clear that their oat crop was not going to make a profit, the Reagans purchased “fifty head of steers to grow fat on the stunted oats. Naturally, we were going to turn a tidy buck on this. We bought at 40 cents a lb. and turned them into the field to chew their way into a dividend.” Then, “Uncle Sam slapped a ceiling of 25¢ on beef." After explaining the financial travails of raising cattle, Reagan commented: “Do you know what it is like to be awakened at 2 AM of a dark foggy night by a telephone call from the Sheriff’s office? ‘Your cattle have gone through the fence and are blissfully headed for Ventura blvd.’”

Reagan recounted some darker incidents as well. When a “grand old mare” became fatally entangled in barbed wire, Reagan dispatched the animal himself. “Nancy was reluctant and doubted our right to decide over life and death. My own view was that in domesticating animals we have to accept some of Gods responsibility in these things...I couldn’t ask someone else to do my job so I loaded the rifle. This was a bad day to receive a phone call that I had been rejected for a role in an outdoor picture because the producer didn’t think I was the ranch type—besides he’d  found just the fellow he needed in a New York play.”

Reagan waxed poetic about his ranch. “When later the stars come out in greater numbers than they do over all the cities of the world and when we turn on the radio and hear that one of our foals (a leggy little stranger we helped into the world on a cold winter night) is now a winner at Santa Anita we feel kind of snug. But not for long, because out in the stable on a bed of straw another foal will be born tonight and tomorrow there are yearlings to be trained because this is Yearling Row.”

Reagan’s biographer, Edmund Morris, made the controversial decision to tell Reagan’s story through the eyes of a fictional character in Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan. In evaluating Reagan’s proposal for a radio series, the narrator sarcastically observed: “Mr. Reagan seems to think that his film-star status is enough to guarantee widespread interest, 'but he did not' see many listeners, aside from the 874 licensed plumbers in L.A. County, holding their breath over pipeline problems."

Reagan sold "Yearling Row" for $1,900,000 in 1966 to pay for his successful run for California governor; the sale also made him an instant millionaire. The ranch is now part of Malibu Creek State Park.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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