It seemed that Ronald Reagan was a kind person in real life. However, there was a controversy when he took office. He had divorced. Even though divorce is now very common, it wasn’t as common then. It wasn’t forbidden, but it wasn’t always accepted. Ronald Reagan was known for trying to make the divorcing process a lot easier.
Many people frowned upon this and then that made them think that he was not always a great person in real life. It was difficult to determine whether that was a good idea at that time. However, he and his first wife stayed friends throughout his life. She even voted for him, so there was no bad blood between the two which signals that he was a “great and gentle man” as Wyman put it.