Summary: Yesterday, August 16, 2021, was national tell a joke day. In honor of this entertaining day, we thought we’d take another look at Ronald Reagan and humor. Ronald Reagan loved a good joke. He could take them and dish them out with ease. Throughout his political career, Ronald Reagan used humor to take the sharp edge off serious messages, and he also used it to alleviate the hurt of detractors. Ronald Reagan’s age was the subject of many jokes during his presidency, and in a famous moment during the October 28, 1984, presidential debate with former Vice President Walter Mondale, he spun the issue in his own favor, famously deadpanning, “I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” In another instance, he noted, “Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.’ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.” So sit back and relax, and enjoy some of our favorite jokes and quips and stories during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
