The Reagan Diaries

THE REAGAN DIARIES BY RONALD REAGAN EDITED BY DOUGLAS BRINKLEY HARPER COLLINS 2007, 767 PAGES, $35.00

Ronald Reagan was known as the Teflon President as well as the Great Communicator. He was a master speech-giver and usually wrote his own orations. A Hollywood B-movie star, his acting ability was put to good use during his two terms in the White House. He was the only president to keep a daily diary, missing entries only during his hospital stay while recovering from an assassination attempt on his life.

A Democrat who turned Republican, he railed against high taxes and bureaucracy. While he did not engender a personality cult, he was much admired as a genuine American. He came across as an earnest, humble, and God-fearing man who believed in the power and consolation of prayer. Tall, ruggedly good-looking, and usually sporting a warm and winning smile, Reagan was the image of the mythic Man of the American West. He exuded optimism and the voters looked for his Administration to right all the perceived wrongs of the Jimmy Carter presidency.

This book is a judiciously edited work selected from the five volumes of diaries housed in the Reagan Presidential Library. It provides insight into the man and his presidency, comments on other world leaders, momentous historical events, as well as mundane observations on whatever struck his fancy at the time. We are given more than a mere glimpse into scenes encountered in the Oval Office. We actually witness how it functions in times of crisis as well as when things are going smoothly. The book reveals the trials in exercising leadership, in choosing which political issues can be compromised and those that will not. The editor felicitously sums up the diaries as "a stream of consciousness."

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What the diaries make clear is that it takes a special kind of person to head the government. Indeed, one wonders how anyone holding that high office is able to sleep at night. They also reveal that although Pres. Reagan had his finger in the pie on most issues, he was good at delegating responsibility, not trying to micromanage everything.

This volume begins on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 1981. The president remarks how especially busy the next five days are, working with Cabinet appointments and welcoming home the American hostages from Iran. In fact, virtually every day in office was a busy one.

Reading this book is, in Yogi Berra's inimitable phrase, like "deja vu all over again." Here one comes across former headline names such as George Schultz, Alexander Haig, Edward Meese, Oliver North, Caspar Weinberger, James Baker, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, and a plethora of movie star friends.

One senses the frustrations a chief executive has in resolving or learning to live with controversies such as the Israeli-Palestinean conflict, the struggle between Taiwan and China, etc. The leaking of information also was a sore spot and felt by every president. None was successful at preventing it. There were the usual underlings continually trying to make inroads on the turf of others. Budget cuts were a top priority of Reagan, and he fought a Congress that saw money floating from the skies.

In these private notes, the President as husband expresses his concern each time Nancy travels some place. No question that he missed her when she was not at his side. He disliked Bishop Tutu and said so, but practically wallowed in his friendship with the Iron Woman, U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The feeling was mutual as she declared, "Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot."

This edition of the Reagan Diaries should be of burning interest to anyone fascinated or repulsed by the Midwest baseball announcer who became a Hollywood star, and then president of the U.S. Photos and an excellent index top off the work.

Reviewed by

GERALD F. KREYCHE

American Thought Editor

COPYRIGHT 2008 Society for the Advancement of Education
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning