Michael Reagan

For other people named Michael Reagan, see Michael Reagan (disambiguation).
Michael Edward Reagan
Born John Flaugher
(1945-03-18) March 18, 1945
Los Angeles, California, United States
Residence Toluca Lake, California, U.S.
Alma mater Arizona State University
Occupation Radio talk show host, writer
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Pamela Gail Putnam (m. 1970–71)
Colleen Sterns (m. 1975)
Children Cameron Reagan[1]
Ashley Reagan[2]
Parent(s) Ronald Reagan
Jane Wyman

Michael Edward Reagan (born John Flaugher; March 18, 1945)[3] is the son of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his first wife, Jane Wyman. He is the oldest living child of the late U.S. President.

Early life

He was born in Los Angeles, California to Irene Flaugher (1916[4] – December 26, 1985),[5] an unmarried woman from Kentucky[6] who became pregnant through a relationship with U.S. Army corporal John Bourgholtzer. He was adopted by Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman shortly after his birth.[3]

He was expelled from Loyola High School after a short period of time at the school[3] and in 1964, he graduated from the Judson School, a boarding school outside of Scottsdale, Arizona.[7] He attended Arizona State University for less than one semester and Los Angeles Valley College.[8][9] but never graduated.

Careers

Salesman

Sometime prior to September 1970, Reagan was working as a salesman for the clothing company Hart, Schaffner & Marx. He then became a director of special events catering at Michaelson Food Service Company in Los Angeles.[8]

Actor

Reagan has had small roles in movies and television shows since 1985, including Falcon Crest which starred his mother, Jane Wyman.[10]

Radio

His work in talk radio started in the Southern California local market as a guest host for radio commentator Michael Jackson's talk radio show slot on KABC in Los Angeles.[11] After this beginning, he landed a talk show spot on KSDO radio in San Diego, California. [12]

Reagan also hosted The Michael Reagan Show while affiliated with Premiere Networks.[11] but was dropped for poor ratings. He then went to the Radio America Network where he was once again dropped.[13] Since then he has focused on public speaking about his father.[14]

Author

In 1988, he wrote, with Joe Hyams, an autobiographical book Michael Reagan: On The Outside Looking In.[15] In 2005, he wrote Twice Adopted about his feelings of rejection being adopted, parents divorcing and becoming a born-again Christian.[3]

Political commentary

Gay marriage

In April 2013, in a syndicated column, Michael Reagan accused American churches of not fighting hard enough to block same-sex marriage. He wrote that, in regards to arguments supporting gay marriage, similar arguments could be used to support polygamy, bestiality, and murder. As he wrote: "There is also a very slippery slope leading to other alternative relationships and the unconstitutionality of any law based on morality. Think about polygamy, bestiality, and perhaps even murder."[16]

After Reagan wrote the piece, the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center disinvited him as the keynote speaker for a fundraising luncheon.[17]

Mark Foley statements

Reacting to the Mark Foley scandal in 2006, Reagan said, "Any member of Congress who was aware of the sexual emails and protected the congressman should resign effective immediately. I was sexually abused by a day-camp counselor at age eight and also made to be part of child pornography."[18]

Mark Dice controversy

In June 2008, activist Mark Dice launched a campaign urging people to send letters and DVDs to troops stationed in Iraq which support the theory that the September 11 attacks were an "inside job". "Operation Inform the Soldiers", as Dice has called it, prompted Reagan to comment that Dice should be killed for treason.[19] Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a liberal/progressive media criticism organization, asked Radio America at the time to explain whether it permits "its hosts to call for murder on the air."[20]

Reagan filed a copyright infringement claim to prevent audio clip of him calling for the murder of Dice from circulating across the internet.[21] Dice said that the use of the audio clip fell under fair use laws, and the clip was evidence of a crime.[21]

Statements on profiling

He spoke out in support of profiling in October 2014. In a piece called Profile or Die, he wrote that it would be left to citizens to defend themselves if there were an attack against them by terrorists such as the Islamic State.[22]

Legal problems

Agricultural Energy Resources

In 1981 Reagan was accused of felony violations of California securities laws in court documents. The Los Angeles County District Attorney alleged that Reagan had baited investors into unlawful stock arrangements, and selling stocks despite the fact that he was not legally permitted to do so.[23]

The D.A.'s office investigated allegations that Reagan improperly spent money invested by others in a company, Agricultural Energy Resources, he operated out of his house in a venture to develop the potential of gasohol, a combination of alcohol and gasoline. Investigators said they were also checking whether he had spent up to $17,500 of investors' money for his living expenses. Reagan's lawyer, said that the company "was a sole proprietorship." The lawyer added that the money that the District Attorney's office alleged was paid to him as shares was in fact loaned to Reagan by four friends. "They were lending him money as friends because he couldn't support himself after he quit his job."[23] The district attorney's office cleared Reagan of both charges later that year.[24]

Reagan.com email service

On September 20, 2012, Reagan was sued by a founder of the @Reagan.com email service, Elias Chavando, who alleged that Reagan cheated him out of $4 million.[25][26][27][28]

Reagan and his company, the Reagan Group, along with Reagan's partners, Tim Kelly and Jay Hoffman, were sued for fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, conversion, breach of partnership agreement, breach of fiduciary duty, promissory estoppel and unjust enrichment, for dealings related to the Reagan.com Email service.[29] According to the filings on the case[25] the email service attracted thousands of subscribers and turned large profits.[29] Reagan and Kelly then sold half of the email business to Chicago trader Anthony Saliba, with Reagan, Kelly, and Hoffman each receiving about $3.8 million, which Chavando alleged he should also have received.[27][29][30]

In November 2014, as part of the lawsuit relating to the Reagan.com email service, lawyers showed that Reagan sent emails containing statements that Chavando, a Latino and a former business partner, should be "put in his place." And in another email, Reagan vehemently stated that he did not want to work with Chavando any further.[14] Another email contained disparaging remarks about Chavando's Latino heritage.[27] Reagan was called a racist by Radar Online over the emails, in which he referred to his partner as a "Mexican a**hole."[14]

The retrial started on January 12, 2015. In his opening statement in the lawsuit against Reagan, Kelly and Hoffman, plaintiff’s attorney Mark Chassman said the three defendants took his client’s share of the business generated from @Reagan.com for themselves and put their interests ahead of his. Chassman accused them of using "greed, arrogance and strong-armed tactics … to enrich themselves." But Reagan's attorney responded that Reagan and Kelly only agreed to split profits from the email idea with Chavando, not ownership, backing that assertion up with an email written by Chavando telling Reagan “It’s your name and your company.”[27][28]

On January 27, 2015, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury appeared to believe the defendants, only finding Reagan and Kelly liable for conversion and breach of fiduciary duty. Hoffman was also found liable for conversion. They were ordered to pay $662,500 to the plaintiff in damages, which was a small fraction of the roughly $11.4 million the 3 had allegedly received for half ownership of the business.[27][28][31] Hoffman, a movie producer,[32] and member of the board of directors of the Reagan Legacy Foundation,[33] was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for fraud in 2002 in an unrelated matter.[34]

Personal life

In 1971 Reagan married Pamela Gail Putnam (born 1952). She is the daughter of Duane Putnam, who was then the Atlanta Falcons football line coach.[8] The couple divorced in 1972.[35]

He married Colleen Sterns, an interior decorator, in 1975 at the The Church On The Way.[9] They have two children, Cameron and Ashley. Reagan and his wife live in the Toluca Lake area of Los Angeles.[36]

In January 2011, he called his half-brother Ron Reagan "an embarrassment" for speculating in a memoir that their father suffered from Alzheimer's disease while president.[37]

References

  1. ↑ Mehta, Seema (January 7, 2010). "Reagan grandson arrested in Van Nuys". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  2. ↑ Edwards, Anne The Reagans: Portrait of a Marriage, St. Martin's Griffin (2004); ISBN 0312331177.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Reagan, Michael. Twice Adopted: An Important Social Commentator Speaks to the Cultural Ailments Threatening America Today, B&H Books (2005); ISBN 0805431446.
  4. ↑ "Genealogy of Campbell Rice". familytreemaker.genealogy.com. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
  5. ↑ Dougherty, Margot; Armstrong, Lois. "Binding Up the Wounds". People. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  6. ↑ Irene Flaugher, birth mother of Michael Reagan at the Wayback Machine (archived September 28, 2009), Kentucky Historical Society (2005)
  7. ↑ Lavin, Cheryl (April 17, 1988). "Family Outcast: A Reagan Son Sadly Remembers Years Of Neglect". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  8. 1 2 3 "Michael Reagan, Governor's Son, to Marry Miss Pamela Putnam". New York Times. September 22, 1970. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  9. 1 2 Barrett, Laurence I.; Wallis, Claudia (January 5, 1981). "Four Reagans Used to Going Their Own Ways". Time. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  10. ↑ "Michael Reagan". IMDb. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  11. 1 2 Michaelson, Judith (January 29, 2000). "Michael Reagan Finds a Home on L.A.'s KIEV". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  12. ↑ Brass, Kevin (January 30, 1992). "KSDO Replaces Michael Reagan With Rush Limbaugh". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  13. ↑ Staff (October 28, 2008). "Roger Hedgecock Goes Daily with Radio America" (Press release). Lubbock, TX: KCBD. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  14. 1 2 3 Cronin, Melissa (November 19, 2014). "Racist Reagan! Son Of Former President Caught In Scandal Over Hateful Rants About ‘Mexican A**holes’ & Muslims". Radaronline.com. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  15. ↑ Reagan, Michael; Hyams, Joe. Michael Reagan: On the Outside Looking In. Kensington Publishing Corporation, 1988; ISBN 0821723928.
  16. ↑ Reagan, Michael (April 2, 2013). "Churches: Time to fight back". Ironton Tribune. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  17. ↑ Theiss, Evelyn (April 5, 2013). "Michael Reagan out as Cleveland Rape Crisis Center speaker after gay marriage comments". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  18. ↑ Beutler, Brian (October 2, 2006). "Conservatives also seek Hastert's resignation". The Raw Story.
  19. ↑ "Alex Jones interviews Mark Dice over Mike Reagan death threat constroversy". The Alex Jones Show. Jun 13, 2008. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Talk Show Host Calls for Murder". FAIR. June 24, 2008. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  21. 1 2 Staff (June 19, 2008). "Reagan Files Copyright Claim in Attempt to Get Mark Dice Death Threat Removed". Infowars. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  22. ↑ Reagan, Michael (October 24, 2014). "Profile, or Die". Townhall.com. Retrieved Jan 18, 2015.
  23. 1 2 Lindsey, Robert (February 11, 1981). "Reagan's Elder Son Being Investigated". New York Times. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  24. ↑ Lindsey, Robert (November 21, 1981). "Michael Reagan Cleared of Stock Fraud Charge". New York Times. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  25. 1 2 Elias C vs. Michael Reagan, Case Number: BC492373 (Los Angeles Superior Court 2014).
  26. ↑ Reynolds, Matt (September 20, 2012). "Ousted by Reagan's Son, Entrepreneur Says". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 Schreiber, John (November 5, 2014). "Lawsuit alleges Ronald Reagan's adopted son cheated businessman out of $4 million". MyNewsLA. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  28. 1 2 3 Schreiber, John (January 15, 2015). "Ronald Reagan's son allegedly cheated businessman out of $4 million". MyNewsLA. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  29. 1 2 3 Reynolds, Matt (September 20, 2012). "Ousted by Reagan's Son, Entrepreneur Says". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  30. ↑ "Executive Profile: Anthony J. Saliba". Businessweek.com. December 14, 2014. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  31. ↑ Alfonso, Mirna (January 31, 2015). "Late President's Son to Pay $600K to Businessman Forced Out of @Reagan.com". Patch. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  32. ↑ "Jay Hoffman". IMDb. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  33. ↑ "Board Members". The Reagan Legacy Foundation. 2015. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  34. ↑ "27-Month Sentence in Real Estate Fraud". Los Angeles Times. December 18, 2001. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  35. ↑ Boyle, Louise (December 31, 2012). "'You'll never get in trouble if you say I love you once a day': Ronald Reagan's touching letter to son on eve of his wedding". Daily Mail. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  36. ↑ "Motivational Speakers/Michael Reagan". Premier Speakers Bureau. 2010. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
  37. ↑ Hohmann, James (January 15, 2011). "Mike Reagan calls brother, Ron Reagan, an 'embarrassment'". Politico. Retrieved October 15, 2014.

External links

Preceded by
None		 Host of Lingo
1987–1988 		Succeeded by
Ralph Andrews
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