8/15/2013

Reagan Biographer: 'The Butler' maligns Reagan's Record on Race

Reagan Biographer Blasts 'The Butler' for Maligning President's Race Record

The new political drama Lee Daniels' The Butler depicts President Ronald Reagan as being dismissive of apartheid in South Africa as well as civil rights regarding black Americans.

Reagan biographer Craig Shirley says such a characterization is nonsense.

Shirley, who worked on Reagan's 1980 and 1984 presidential campaigns, says the country's 40th president signed the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday into law as well as legislation extending the Voting Rights and Fair Housing Acts.

A critical scene in the movie shows Reagan (Alan Rickman) bluntly threatening to crush sanctions against South Africa for its racist policies.

Shirley says Reagan's position on the matter was far more intricate than the film describes, a stand that likely helped the nation emerge from its hateful policies with less bloodshed.

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Reagan Biographer Blasts 'The Butler' for Maligning President's Race Record
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