'The Butler' Slams Reagans, Ignores Real-Life Butler's Bond with Couple

Big Hollywood

 

"The film is based on an article in The Washington Post detailing the career of a black butler, Eugene Allen, who served with dignity through eight presidential administrations.

"Spoiler Alert  The title character (Forest Whitaker) quits his job after decades of service apparently due to his frustration that President Reagan refuses to embrace sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid policies.
"Yet in the Post article, Allen hardly seems angry at the Reagans.

Gene Allen was promoted to maitre d' in 1980. He left the White House in 1986, after 34 years. President Reagan wrote him a sweet note. Nancy Reagan hugged him, tight....
They've got pictures of President and Mrs. Reagan in the living room. On a wall in the basement, they've got pictures of every president Gene ever served. There's a painting President Eisenhower gave him and a picture of President Ford opening birthday gifts, Gene hovering nearby.

The WaPo shows things a bit differently:  Colin Powell would become the highest-ranking black of any White House to that point when he was named President Reagan's national security adviser in 1987. Condoleezza Rice would have that same position under President George W. Bush.
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"Gene Allen was promoted to maitre d' in 1980. He left the White House in 1986, after 34 years. President Reagan wrote him a sweet note. Nancy Reagan hugged him, tight."

Rust and Diamonds: Jane Doesn’t Do Nancy Any Justice At All "It would have been too much to ask for Hollywood to give the Reagans their due in the forthcoming movie “The Butler.” You knew that going in. But either way, casting Jane Fonda in the role of Nancy Reagan was surely meant to push buttons, stir up controversy and generate interest in – and hence, profits for – the movie."
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"There is no evidence that Jane Fonda did anything except cause misery in other peoples’ lives when it comes to this difficult period of American history.
"Meanwhile someday someone will write a very good book about Nancy Reagan and what she meant to her husband and, by extension, America. It was said that if Reagan had wanted to be a shoe salesman, she would have made sure he was the best shoe salesman in America. It just so happened he wanted to be president. This country is fortunate for him and for her pushing him."