Me and Dutch
by Alex P. Keaton
as told to Bob Cook

I remember my first and only conversation with President Reagan like it was yesterday. It was 1982, and the first episode of "Family Ties" had just aired. My phone rang, and a voice said, "Please hold for the president." I'm thinking, "president of what?" when all of a sudden I hear, "Well, Alex, I just saw your show, and let me tell you, you are the kind of young man who's going to show America's youth just how great this country can be."

I was stunned. I mean, when NBC first proposed to follow us for a show called "Family Ties," it was pretty clear they were interested in the tension of how two hippies with three kids (one of them a Young Republican) could remain true to their ideals while still living a typical middle-class life in the suburbs. I figured, hey, the rest of us are along for the ride, you know? I figured maybe we'd get a little fan mail or get razzed at school or something, but to hear from the president? Even when I led my school's Youth for Reagan club during the 1980 election, I never expected I'd hear from our great leader himself.

"Alex," I remember him saying, "I know you love your parents, and that's good. But you're just the kind of bright young man we need. Don't become a liberal. Stay the course."

Those words always stuck with me. "Stay the course." It was more than a campaign slogan; it was a philosophy. You stick to your principles. You do what you know is morally right. And that, to me, is what President Reagan was all about, and why it's so heartening that, as he passes into a better world, "stay the course" still resonates with so many people in this great land of ours. Why do you think we're still sticking to our guns in a just war in Iraq? Stay the course.

Look, if you saw the show, you saw how much people can resist when you try to stay the course. I mean, I know the producers of "Family Ties" looked at it as some sort of running joke that I always wore a tie. But, you know, they finally figured out that what I was doing was a statement about the capitalist ideal, the readiness to work at any time to solve problems and, hopefully, create financial betterment for myself that could trickle down to others. Let me tell you, by show's end, those producers were wearing ties, too.

You didn't see this on the show, but sometimes Mallory and I would sit up late at night talking about this kind of stuff. Hey, even though she appeared kind of dumb on the show and they made a big deal out of her not going to college, Mallory was, and still is, a curious, thoughtful person. She would ask me how I was able to stay on such an even keel, and I'd tell her, "Stay the course." By her own admission, she had trouble with that, kind of flitting from thing to thing. Over the years, she'd say, "Alex, staying the course may work for you, but I'm just not sure. Look at Jennifer — she's still trying to get her band going, and no one cares." But when Mallory finally got that restraining order on Nick, found God and started that fashion design business she always wanted, she called me and said, "Alex, I get it! Stay the course!" You know, Mallory was the first person to call me when President Reagan died.

Mom, God bless her, is still as liberal as ever, but after she heard that President Reagan died, she called me and said, "You know I didn't always agree with his politics, but I have to tell you — I get what 'stay the course' is all about. And I can't say I had a problem with the tax cuts he wanted for small businesses." Mom's had a rough time of it, with the breast cancer, Dad leaving for some inexplicable reason to live in Nevada and some situations with Andy that are really best left private. But her architecture firm is doing great — she just got a huge job in Toledo. I couldn't be more proud.

President Reagan's "stay the course" has even taught me to be patient with things that at first blush seemed impossible. You remember Ellen leaving? Well, hey, I got her back, and now we're married with three kids. We operate a consultancy together and we recently moved back to Ohio so we could help run the Bush campaign's effort in that key swing state.

You know, after it had really registered with me that President Reagan had died, I invited Skippy over. Well, I didn't actually invite him, he just kinda showed up at my door and breathlessly asked me, "Alex, is it still morning in America?" I had him come in so we could watch my collection of old "Firing Line" tapes, have a little orange juice and talk about the good old days. I said, "Skippy, you know, it may not feel like morning in America, but it will again soon. Stay the course, good buddy. That's what he'd want us to do."

E-mail Bob Cook at bobc@flakmag.com.