What did President Ronald Reagan think of Rocky IV? How did the Matthew Broderick film WarGames inform America’s missile defense system? What Michael J. Fox movie made such an impression on President Reagan that he felt compelled to mention it in a speech to the Joint Session of Congress?
Over the course of eight years, Mark Weinberg travelled to Camp David each weekend with Ronald and Nancy Reagan. He was one of a few select members invited into the Aspen Lodge, where the First Family screened both contemporary and classic movies on Friday and Saturday nights. They watched movies in times of triumph, such as the aftermath of Reagan’s 1984 landslide, and after moments of tragedy, such as the explosion of the Challenger and the shooting of the President and Press Secretary Jim Brady.
Weinberg’s unparalleled access offers a rare glimpse of the Reagans—unscripted, relaxed, unburdened by the world, with no cameras in sight. Each chapter discusses a legendary film, what the Reagans thought of it, and provides warm anecdotes and untold stories about his family and the administration. From Reagan’s pranks on the Secret Service to his thoughts on the parallels between Hollywood and Washington, Weinberg paints a full picture of the president The New Yorker once famously dubbed “The Unknowable.”
Movie Nights with the Reagans is a nostalgic journey through the 1980s and its most iconic films, seen through the eyes of one of Hollywood’s former stars: one who was simultaneously transforming the Republican Party, the American economy, and the course of the Cold War.
DR. JASON DOMINITZ - 50,000 U.S. VETERANS PARTICIPATING IN LANDMARK CLINICAL TRIAL FOR CANCER RESEARCH
According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women and the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States (excluding skin cancers). There were an estimated 95,520 new cases of colon cancer and 39,910 cases of rectal cancer diagnosed in the US in 2017.
The Veterans Affairs (VA) Research and Development program has been improving the lives of Veterans for more than 90 years through health care innovation, with researchers working on the causes of and treatments for cancers. One of the VA's important cancer research objectives in treating cancer is improving doctors' ability to diagnose colon cancer. Colon cancer can be cured if diagnosed early, yet one-third of patients who develop colon cancer will die from the disease.
March is colorectal cancer awareness month, a time to remind Americans of the importance of screening and the strides being made in cancer research. The VA is now conducting its largest-ever clinical trial involving more than 50,000 Veterans, a trial that aims to learn which test is best for colorectal cancer screening. On March 8, Dr. Jason Dominitz and Dr. Douglas Robertson, co-chairs of the “CONFIRM” clinical trial, will be available for interviews. They will share the latest statistics on colorectal cancer, details about their clinical trial and what they hope to discover through their research.