Reagan’s son says Alzheimer’s likely began in White House years

President Reagan’s son suggests in a new memoir, “My Father at 100,” that the commander in chief began suffering from Alzheimer’s disease while still serving in the Oval Office.

The title of Ron Reagan’s book reflects the centennial celebrations that will be taking place soon to mark what would have been his dad’s 100th birthday on Feb. 6.

Reagan said on “20/20” Friday night that he noticed changes in his father later into his presidency. “It wasn’t like oh my God he doesn’t remember he’s President…You know,
it was just — I had an inkling something was going on,” he said.

Reagan writes in his book, to go on sale Tuesday, that his father, who died in 2004 at age 93 from Alzheimer complications, would have taken action had a diagnosis been made in his White House years.

“I’ve seen no evidence that my father (or anyone else) was aware of his
medical condition while he was in office,” Reagan writes. “Had the
diagnosis been made in, say 1987, would he have stepped down? I believe
he would have.”

The son of the much-revered Republican president said on “20/20” that those suspicions shouldn’t taint his father’s legacy.

“This no more discredits or defines his presidency than Lincoln’s
chronic depression, Roosevelt’s polio, Kennedy’s Addison Disease any of
those things,” he said. “You can’t define their presidencies in terms of
that.”

“Better, it seems to me, to judge our presidents by what they actually
accomplish than what hidden factors may be weighing on them,” Reagan writes in his book, according to early excerpts.

“That likely condition, though, serves as a reminder that when we elect
presidents, we elect human beings with all their foibles and
weaknesses, psychological and physiological,” he adds.