My friends and I started speculating that Reagan was developing Alzheimers' back around the time he made that on-the-air crack about outlawing Russia and launching the missile strike on them. That was in 1984. We all started watching his press conferences and public appearances very carefully after that looking for signs that he was slipping. It was bad enough that the Reagans had astrologers in the White House, supposedly just to help determine the best dates to schedule meetings. That was nutty enough. We just assumed at the time that if the President was secretly losing his mind, his handlers would step in and cover it up as best they could. Supposedly his thinking did not become seriously impaired until after he left office, but I don't think we'll ever know for sure.