Focus on the Family’s The Daily Citizen just premiered “Ronald Reagan: Man of Faith,” a first in the division’s new documentary film series. The film tells a story of faith, family and a divine plan that brought a president and a pope together to end the Cold War.

Released on Facebook and YouTube, the film garnered glowing reviews and has already been viewed thousands of times across the two different platforms in the hours since its release.

The documentary features many well-known, influential conservative figures including:

  • Michael Reagan, son of former President Ronald Reagan
  • Paul Kengor, Ronald Reagan biographer and professor of political science at Grove City College
  • Edwin Meese III, former attorney general and counselor to President Reagan
  • John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute
  • Former Gov. Scott Walker, president of Young America’s Foundation
  • Andrew Coffin, vice president and director of the Reagan Ranch

The film dives deep into the history of the assassination attempt on President Reagan by John Hinkley on March 30, 1981, and the attempt on Pope John Paul II’s life less than two months later on May 13, 1981.

After both surviving the assassin’s bullet, the two leaders met at the Vatican in June of 1982. Both felt that they had been saved by God from the attempts on their life in order to bring about the end of atheistic Soviet communism.

“If Ronald Reagan and John Paul II had died… history would have turned out completely different. And not as beautifully as it turned out by the end of the 1980s,” Kengor says in the film.

“If either one of them died, I would tell you the Berlin Wall would still be up, the Cold War would still be going on,” states Michael Reagan in the documentary. “But they both felt they were saved for a reason, and that reason was that Divine Plan, to bring freedom [and] Christianity… to the rest of the world.”

“When we started this project, we wanted to tell a story about President Reagan’s faith that the public hadn’t really heard before,” said Michael McGonigle, the film’s writer and host. “After hours of interviews with his son and some of the people who knew Reagan best, I think that’s exactly what we got. I hope viewers are moved by the redemptive power of Christ that is evident throughout the film.”

Tim Morgan, the documentary’s producer, said, “With some documentary films, you can have an idea what the end product will look like, but it isn’t until you do the interviews that you really see how things are going to come together.”

“It was beautiful to see God take it in certain directions that I did not anticipate, specifically with the relationship dynamics between Michael Reagan and his dad. Their story arcs with each other and God left me with something I could really take away from and grow in my own faith. I hope the film gives viewers that same experience,” he added.

You can watch the film for free on Facebook or on YouTube.

To gain access to exclusive content from the film, click here or text REAGAN to 32728.

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