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RONALD REAGAN'S BIG BREAK Some of the individuals I interviewed are recognized as high achievers because they seized opportunities, grasping them just as they appeared to be slipping away, seemingly out of reach. If you ask them, they can tell you when and how it happened. In 1940, Ronald Reagan’s film career was proceeding smoothly, although not spectacularly. He had already played the lead in "Love is on the Air." That film had been made on the B lot of Warner Brothers in 1937. In those days, the major film studios made two kinds of pictures, the big A blockbuster pictures that would lure the people in, and the pictures from the B lot than ran for about an hour instead of the normal ninety minutes. Pictures from the B lot usually received second billing on the double-feature programs. Getting to play the lead in one’s first film, even if it was on the B lot, was a tremendous break for any young actor. “I since have learned that I was very lucky,” Reagan told me, “because many times people were put under contract, and then months would go by without their ever setting foot in front of a camera.” After making "Love is on the Air," the studio continued to use Reagan on the B lot, and, from time to time, would send him over to the A lot to play parts in the major pictures. One of those pictures made on the A lot proved to be a major turning point in Reagan’s life. Shortly after arriving at Warner Brothers, he began to talk about the need to make a major film about football. “Everybody that comes to Hollywood, I guess, begins to get ideas about what would make a good picture,” Reagan told me. He knew whose lives should be portrayed in the film: Knute Rockne, the legendary Notre Dame coach, and his great ballplayer George Gipp. “I’d been a sports announcer, and I’d told the story of George Gipp on the air on a sports program,” Reagan explained. “I knew the lines without having to memorize them. I thought a story of Rockne would make a great picture. But being new, I talked all around the lot, asking people’s advice on this Rockne thing.” One day, Reagan picked up a copy of a trade paper and came upon an announcement that Warner Brothers, his studio, was going to make a movie on Rockne. Reagan was thunderstruck. “I went to my mentor, who was head of the B unit, and said, ‘Hey, they’re going to make Rockne.’ And he said, ‘You talk too much. You’ve been talking all over the lot. It was a good idea, and they’re going to make it.’ I said, ‘Look, I didn’t want anything for it. I just wanted to play George Gipp.’ “’Well,’ he said, ‘You’d better get on the ball, because they’ve already tested about six guys already.’” Reagan hurried over the producer’s office and requested a screen test. However, the producer was not overly impressed by the young actor who stood before him—at least, not for this particular part. It was excruciatingly painful for Reagan to see the role he had dreamed about slipping away from him. Then, in a flash, he realized what he had to do: “I suddenly remembered, standing there in clothes like this [a business suit], that football players don’t look like football players, usually, unless they’re in uniform. And I also remembered that a cameraman told me that in Hollywood all they knew was what they saw on film. “So I said, ‘Excuse me.’ I went home—drove home as fast as I could and dug down in the trunk. And I came up with my college football pictures—I had played on the line for eight years in high school and college.” Reagan rushed back to the studio, hurried into the office, and triumphantly placed the photographs on the desk in front of the producer. Looking at them intently, the producer finally asked: “Can I keep these for a little bit?” Reagan, of course, agreed. Returning to his home, Reagan had only a few minutes to wait before the phone rang. “Be in the studio at eight o’clock in the morning,” the voice on the other end said. “You’re testing for Gipp.” The next morning, Pat O’Brien, who was already cast to play Rockne, played the test with Reagan. “I got the part,” Reagan told me, “and it was the one that opened the door.” "Current Biography" agreed with Reagan’s assessment: “Reagan’s performance in the role [of Gipp], climaxed by a stirring deathbed scene, established his reputation as a serious actor.” The Reagan story illustrates several of the factors that are important in high achievement. The young actor had a mentor—the head of the B lot—who gave him timely advice and criticism, which Reagan took. Reagan even used the word mentor to describe him. Reagan had conceived of a good idea, actually an innovative idea—a serious sports movie—that he believed in enough to try to promote it. And Reagan by this time was not a rookie anymore. He was well along the road toward competence. He had played important roles in several films, and—in the words of scientist Herbert A. Simon—Reagan had stored in memory a number of “patterns,” or “chunks of information.” He knew movie people really believe only what they see on film. Finally, and perhaps most important, Reagan moved decisively and quickly on the perceived opportunity. This selection is adapted from B. Eugene Griessman, "The Achievement Factors: Candid Interviews With Some Of The Most Important People Of Our Time." Listen to success stories from Ronald Reagan and other high achievers on the audio book "Griessman Live: Lessons Learned From High Achievers. To order this audio book, click here. Gene Griessman tells the Ronald Reagan story and scores of other inspirational and entertaining anecdotes from his interviews in the keynote, "Lessons From Legends" To learn more about this presentation, click here. BONUS ARTICLE:
WAS RONALD REAGAN WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
COLLAPSE OF THE EVIL EMPIRE? Many Americans have now added another myth to their treasure chest of partial truths by which they interpret history and the world around them. This one embellishes the larger-than-life record of Ronald Reagan. His is another of America’s log cabin stories-- poor boy from the provinces makes it to the White House. Many Americans now believe that the 40th President single-handedly brought about the fall of the Communism. This particular myth, like many other myths, has something to recommend it. Ronald Reagan was resolute, he detested communism, and he used his considerable resources to oppose it. I liked Ronald Reagan, and did an exclusive interview with him that aired as two “UP CLOSE” shows on TBS just prior to his election as President. Reagan struck me as self-confident, intelligent, and amiable. I checked with individuals who had an opportunity to observe him on a regular basis and found that their perception jibed with mine. The public felt this way too. Even those who disagreed with his politics felt that he was a good man who had the best interests of the American people at heart. During the non-stop praise that marked his funeral, Americans were repeatedly told by devout admirers and media commentators, who should have known better, that he was the first President not to mince words with the Soviets. Until Reagan, previous American Presidents were backboneless appeasers. Reagan’s plainspoken politics struck fear in the Russian’s bones. Some of Reagan’s actions did in fact hasten the collapse of “the evil empire,” as he famously called it. But to claim that he alone was responsible for the collapse of Communism is to completely misunderstand recent history. If Reagan didn't do it, who or what did it? First of all, Reagan's plain words did not cause the wall to come tumbling down. Many a plain word had been spoken years by many an American President. If words could have done it, the credit should go to John F. Kennedy. In one of the most eloquent speeches ever made by an American President, John F. Kennedy, in June of 1963 stated: “There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say, in Europe and elsewhere, we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin. Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades. All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner." Eloquent words! But the Soviets did not run away in panic. If words did not cause the collapse, what did? There were several causes. In fact, social changes of this magnitude always have multiple causes. Max Weber once cautioned that if one ever encountered a monocausal explanation about any social change, one could be sure that the explanation was false. 1. My personal
choice for the most important cause was President Truman’s
Marshall Plan. Unprecedented in the history of warfare, the
U.S. government spent approximately 13 billion dollars to
rebuild the shattered economies of the European nations that it
had conquered. The concept was later expanded to include Japan,
Asia, South America, and Africa. 2. America’s space program. At first, the Soviets shot ahead. In a race between the German space scientists that the Russians captured at the end of WWII and the German space scientists that Americans captured, the Germans in the USSR scored first. And they scored big. The Soviets put the first man in orbit. JFK sensed that only a dramatic space event would recover America’s lost prestige, and this fact more than anything else motivated him to launch the program to put an American on the moon. JFK did not live to see it—Lyndon Johnson deserves the credit for pushing the project to completion—but those massive expenditures made the U.S. preeminent in this sphere. A spin-off of space exploration was satellite technology, which had far-reaching effects in the struggle between the superpowers. 3. The Beatles. That’s right, The Beatles. According to author/sociologist Artemy Troitsky, “The Beatles, Paul and John, George and Ringo, have done more for the fall of Communism, than any other western institution.” The Beatles fueled widespread rebellion mainly among the youth of the Soviet bloc nations. Soviet censors made a strategic mistake in trying to keep the music out, with the result that millions came to see the government as an oppressive enemy. 4. CNN. Ted Turner’s creation deserves a great deal of credit for the collapse. What CNN did, piggybacking on satellite technology developed by NASA, was permit ordinary people in the Soviet bloc to see with their own eyes just how far behind they were, how impoverished and how unfree. At first they did not believe it. This was just false propaganda by enemies of the great experiment. But in the end, they had to admit that what their eyes and ears told them was right. 5. Ronald Reagan’s military budget. The Reagan administration spent literally billions and billions of dollars building up the military. Unbeknownst to most Americans, the Soviet economy, which for years had appropriated a huge part of its budget for the military, was pushed to the limit. Confronted by a choice between bread for impoverished inhabitants or missiles, and fearing starvation and revolt, the Soviet leaders had to bow out of the arms race. Détente—living side-by-side peacefully with Americans--seemed to be the best option available, and the Soviets chose it. After détente, it was just a matter of time before everybody on that side of the curtain knew what was happening in the world. So what did Ronald Reagan do? He kicked down a door that had been rotting for years.
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