-Americans have always sort of seen religious faith
as kind of a proxy in politics.
They see it as a, an expression that their leaders
come from some kind of foundation of values.
And for the past couple of years
I've been working on a biography of Nancy Reagan.
And as a result, I have spent many,
many, many weeks at the Reagan library.
I was going through a box of Nancy Reagan's personal effects,
and then I came across this truly extraordinary letter
that President Reagan, himself, had written.
And it was a letter to his father-in-law Loyal Davis,
who was a pioneering neurosurgeon,
and who also, in August of 1982, was on his deathbed.
Loyal Davis was, for all intents and purposes, an atheist.
In this letter, his son-in-law, Ronald Reagan,
Ronnie as he called himself in the letter,
is trying desperately to convince his father-in-law
to accept God before he dies.
So Ronald Reagan opens the letter
with a story of something that he says happened to him,
back when he was California governor.
He was suffering from a horrific ulcer.
And one day, he suddenly realizes the pain is gone.
And on that very morning, he writes his father-in-law,
he opens up two letters.
And the two letters are from people,
perfect strangers who tell him that they are part of groups
that are praying for him.
And sure enough, the next time that he goes to see his doctor,
he says, there's no sign that he ever had an ulcer.
Another thing about this letter,
is Ronald Reagan connects marital fidelity to his faith.
He writes to his father-in-law,
"Loyal, you and Edith have known a great love.
That love will not end with the end of this life.
We've been promised this is only a part of life
and that a greater life, a greater glory awaits us.
All that is required is that you believe
and tell God you put yourself in his hands."
Ronald Reagan, in particular, is an interesting study,
because he marshaled a force of fundamentalist Christians
who rejected Jimmy Carter, a born-again Christian,
in favor of a divorced man, who had come from Hollywood.
And these, when you ask evangelical leaders
why they have been willing to look aside
all of Donald Trump's many, many, moral failings,
the way he has lived his life,
they will often mention Ronald Reagan.
-The reason we supported President Trump,
President Reagan,
was not because we supported womanizing or divorce,
we supported his policies.
-But this letter really shows that Ronald Reagan's faith
was at the core of his being.
So did this letter have any affect on Loyal Davis?
In 1988, very close to the end of the Reagan presidency,
Nancy Reagan mentioned a letter in a speech
that she had given to a religious youth group.
"Two days before he died,
he asked to see the hospital chaplain.
I don't know what the chaplain did or what he said,
but whatever it was, it was the right thing
and it gave my father comfort."
"When he died the next day, he was at peace, finally.
And I was so happy for him.
My prayers were answered."
What Ronald Reagan's own words, in his own hand,
in the most private and intimate communication show,
is that faith for him really was a starting point.
It was not just some sort of political gambit.
-In nearly all our lives there are moments
when our prayers and the prayers of our friends
and loved ones help to see us through
and keep us on the right path.
In fact, prayer is one of the few things in this world
that hurts no one and sustains the spirit of millions.