Summary :
When I ran for president in 1984, I was opposing one of the most popular chief executives in American history. Long before his election, Ronald Reagan, “Th e Great Communicator,” had been a Sunday-night fi xture in millions of homes as the television spokesman for General Electric and host of the GE Th eater, the springboard to his winning the governorship of California. And Reagan had established his comfort with the Hollywood camera and his ability to win audience sympathy through memorable portrayals of such tragic characters as the epileptic John Galen in Philip Wylie’s Night Unto Night , Drake McHugh in Kings Row (“Where’s the rest of me?”), and George Gipp in Knute Rockne, All American (“Win one for the Gipper”). Clearly, it would be a major challenge to face this accomplished actor-orator and presidential incumbent on a television stage. As the time approached for the presidential debates, I knew I would need plenty of rehearsal time with the best possible stand-in for my opponent. To play Ronald Reagan, I chose a faculty member I fi rst encountered when I was a student at the University of Minnesota Law School. His name was Michael I. Sovern.Mike Sovern taught at Minnesota for two years after graduating fi rst in his class from Columbia Law School. Th ough he was the teacher and I was on the receiving end, I was three years older, having served in the army during the Korean War. As virtual contemporaries, we became not simply student and teacher but also friends.

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