Study of Threat Perception in Decision Making Process: A Case of ‘Germany First’ Strategy

Abstract

November 1948 marked the beginning of Ronald Reagan's winter of discontent. He was in London to make a movie with Patricia Neal and Richard Todd, but he could not anticipate this overseas assignment with enthusiasm and hope. He was, in fact, in the depths of personal and professional despair. Cast as the second male lead in this movie, The Hasty Heart, he faced a dubious future as an actor who could neither reach nor sustain the pinnacle of Hollywood stardom that he sought. Equally devastating to him was the condition of his marriage to Jane Wyman. The marriage, which had been publicized as so successful that it could serve as a model for moviegoers, in reality meant a great deal to Reagan, providing him with a sense of well-being and happiness. However, it was at this point doomed, a victim of the reverse directions of Reagan's and Wyman's careers as she moved toward ever greater financial and professional ascendancy. As Stephen Vaughn writes in this important and impressive study of the melding of politics and personality, Patricia Neal, the female star of The Hasty Heart, remembered him in tears at a New Year's Eve party. 'It was sad,' she said, 'because he did not want a divorce.' (229) He tried in London to come to terms with what he called his 'lonely inner world. ' (229)