<p>Yes, Reagan was probably smarter than people give him credit for, although I’ve seen nothing to indicate that he was ever able to understand views that disagreed with his, either intellectually or on any other level. But there’s no doubt whatsoever in my mind – based on what I’ve been told by a good friend who was highly prominent in Republican politics both at the time and later on, in both elective and appointive office, and met Reagan many times – that when Reagan was President, particularly in his second term, he was already suffering from what was eventually diagnosed as Alzheimers.</p>
<p>This same friend did not have a high opinion of the intelligence of either President Bush.</p>
<p>Interesting that nobody’s mentioned how smart Richard Nixon was. Whether you like him or not, which I didn’t. </p>
<p>I don’t think FDR was ever thought of by his contemporaries as being brilliant intellectually. (My father knew someone who wrote speeches for FDR and, I think, Al Smith, who confirmed this to be true.)</p>