Reagan

… He said to his wife, "What do you mean, change the baby?"

"I'm a ball player." "That's not my line of work."

And she turned around with her hands on her hips

- and she communicated. -

She said, "Look, Buster, you lay the diaper out like a diamond."

"You put second base on home plate."

"Put the baby's bottom on the pitcher's mound."

"Hook up first and third, slide home underneath."

"And if it starts to rain, the game ain't called,

you start all over again."

So I'm going to communicate.

Now, I know that we can't make things right overnight,

but we will make them right.

Our destiny is not our fate. It is our choice.

You and your forebears helped build this nation.

- - Now help us rebuild it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Good job, Mr. President.

Rawhide's on the move.

- All clear. - Went great, sir.

Boy, a trip down memory lane.

Haven't seen him in decades, Roy with the AFL-CIO.

Oh, he said the two of you fought with a guy in Hollywood named "Sorel."

Sorr-ell. Herb Sorrell.

Yes, he was working for the Soviets,

trying to infiltrate Hollywood through the unions.

Roy and I used to call him "Sore-as-hell" after that.

- What's next on the agenda? -

Coming out. One minute.

Rawhide coming through the south exit…

My mother used to say,

"Everything in life happens for a reason,

even the most disheartening setbacks."

"And in the end, everything,"

even seemingly random twists of fate,

"is all a part of the divine plan."

Get him out! Get him out!

Details are very sketchy at this moment.

We don't know precisely what happened. We don't know the sequence.

First of all, the president is safe.

That is just as… Pardon me, please.

- Bob Berkowitz. - Hello, Bob?

I'll wait for somebody in the back room to come up here and tell us.

We had been reporting to you that the president was not injured.

The White House has confirmed now just in the last few minutes

that President Reagan has indeed been shot.

- He isn't communicating. -

Larry, can I ask you a question?

Any evidence the assassin was working for the Soviets?

- Larry… - I can't say. That's it.

We have gotten confirmed reports…

Communists have seized power by force in Russia.

Anyone standing in the way of revolution will be removed.

An Iron Curtain has descended across the continent.

The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and war.

They spread and go on the evil side of poverty and strife.

They reach their full growth when the hope of a better life has died.

We must keep that hope alive!

The world witnessed a new level of destruction

in the first atomic bomb.

This show of atomic force is only a warning of things to come.

Soviet Union has by violence and intimidation

thwarted the rights of Poland, Ukraine and Czechoslovakia,

holding millions in a prison unable to escape.

The world is focused today on Berlin,

where East and West face off.

The Soviet regime looks to close its border in East Germany

against those fleeing the totalitarian crackdown.

Castro's takeover of Cuba secures the Soviets a base

for nuclear aggression aimed at the United States.

Now it is time for this nation

to take a clearly leading role in space achievement,

which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth.

Do you still worry they are listening?

They stopped listening to me long time ago.

Not me. I'm sending him to see you.

This is no longer a fight for old men.

Perhaps not, but he's our youngest cabinet member,

being groomed to be the next president.

He has little experience,

but some of us believe he can be the next leader.

However, he will need to learn from our mistakes.

You mean my mistakes?

Try to look at this as an opportunity to make things right.

Does anyone else know he's coming to see me?

Let's hope not.

- Hello. - Hello.

I'm here to see Viktor Petrovich.

Please come in.

Thank you.

Thank you for seeing me, Comrade.

Comrade? We don't use that term much any longer.

Offered in respect.

For you, and a time that deserves equal respect.

- 1981. - Oh.

Special.

So…

What brings the rising star of Mother Russia

to visit with an old spy?

To ask just one question of you.

Why?

Why?

If I'm about to regain our rightful place in this world,

I must know…

Why we failed 30 years ago.

Why we gave up without even a fight.

Why did we allow ourselves to become a mere shadow of our once great nation?

Wiser men than I have already answered that.

Not to my satisfaction.

What makes you think I am more capable?

Because of who you are, Comrade.

What you did.

And you were there.

Yes, I was there.

I was there.

My official title was analyst

at the Committee for State Security, our beloved KGB.

But I was psychologist

profiling those who could become threats to our nation

sometimes decades away.

Some say I was responsible for the fall of the Soviet Union.

Let's rest this little stagnation.

Yes? What is it, Comrade?

The actor.

He will win.

I've been warning about this man for many years.

Prepare a file.

Comrade Secretary, I have prepared dozens of these documents.

Yes, and I appreciate that, Comrade Petrovich.

But go prepare another.

Of course.

Yes, I was there.

When I began as analyst, we had one goal,

spreading communism to every corner of the globe.

Some countries we invaded with military force,

but we had special plans for the USA.

We sought to break them down from within,

strategically infiltrating their society,

even their movie industry.

My assignment was to track and influence their key players

and to merge their labor unions into one which we could control.

But it's the wrong question you ask.

History is never about when, where, why, how.

It always comes down to who.

- You ready? - Yes, sir, I'm ready.

All right. Ronald Reagan, come give us that Hollywood smile.

And I just happened to have been assigned to the Crusader.

That is what we mockingly called him.

It became my obsession to understand what was beneath the facade,

and I learned to never leave a detail behind as unimportant,

because it is all important.

After we get married, how many sons are we gonna have?

Well, how many do you want?

Well, it would be nice to have a full team.

What's your favorite sport?

That's the trouble. Football.

- - Cut! And print it!

Nice work, Ron and Jane. Moving on to the next shot.

Well, that felt pretty natural.

Really? What part?

Let's move into those baby blues.

But we're more than actors.

- We're symbols, leaders. - Yes.

We should be speaking to the important issues of the day.

Oh, Eddie. Give it a rest, will you? Leave that to the writers.

You're still new here, Reagan.

Trust me, the studios control every word I write.

And God help me if I don't write, or you don't read what they tell us to.

They're paying the bills, Dalton. They should have some say.

- We're doing pretty well, aren't we? - I think so.

You don't get it, Holden. All we are is a mouthpiece to a system.

To a society, a society that ignores the working man.

Trust me, it won't last.

- Well, what do you mean by that, Dalton? - Exactly what it says.

- Honey, come on. Let's go dance. - Just a second, honey.

No, no, really, explain it to me. I'd like to know.

Well, let's just say this whole American Dream thing

doesn't exactly apply to everyone equally.

And some of us aren't sitting still for it.

- We're doing something about it. - Doing what?

Dalton, maybe we should talk about this some other time.

At some point you're gonna need to pick a side.

Well, not tonight.

Tonight, the only thing I'm gonna pick is my dance partner,

and I'm dancing with my beautiful wife.

If you'll excuse me, fellas, and lady.

We'll be back.

He did not initially appear to be a great concern for us.

He was too busy enjoying his honeymoon,

not to mention the Hollywood glitz and glamour.

To understand what made this man unique,

I needed to understand the boy.

He grew up in a small town in the middle of America.