by Bret Baier
“I thought I married”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.
“He loved shoes”: Ronald Reagan with Richard G. Huber, Where’s the Rest of Me? (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1965). [Note: Reagan wrote two memoirs, this first published just before he began his political career.]
“I wanted to let”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.
“If you’re the child”: Lou Cannon, interview on “The Reagan Years: The Making of a President,” CNN Perspective, February 11, 2001.
“I learned from”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.
“Times were tough”: Ronald Reagan, “Remarks During a Homecoming and Birthday Celebration in Dixon, Illinois,” February 6, 1984, The American Presidency Project; http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=39366.
“My existence turned”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.
“house of magic”: Ronald Reagan, Reagan: A Life in Letters, ed. Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson (New York: Free Press, 2003).
“I’m damned if anyone”: Ronald Reagan, Where’s the Rest of Me?
“When the credits roll”: Bonnie Angelo, First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents (New York: William Morrow, 2000).
“She had a natural”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.
“To higher, nobler things”: Reagan’s Country, Reagan Foundation Member Newsletter, 2012.
“I wonder what”: Reagan’s Country, Reagan Foundation Member Newsletter, 2012; http://home.reaganfoundation.org/site/DocServer/ReaganMomentsEssayJuly2012.pdf?docID=886.
“Just between us”: Ronald Reagan, A Life in Letters.
“I discovered that night”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.
“We attended a college”: Ronald Reagan, “Your America to Be Free,” 1957 Commencement Address at Eureka College in Illinois, reagan2020.us.
With Reagan sitting there: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.
From then on: Ibid.
“Rock, sometimes when”: Film Knute Rockne, All American, 1940, Warner Bros. Preserved in the National Film Registry.
Worried that the press: Author interview with Marlin Fitzwater, July 19, 2017.
More than any other project: Ronald Reagan, Where’s the Rest of Me?
“a great president”: Adam Miller, “Wyman Hails Her ‘Great’ Ex,” New York Post, June 12, 2004.
“In every story”: Michael Reagan, On the Outside Looking In (New York: Zebra, 1988).
“Are you and your son”: Sam Donaldson, Hold On, Mr. President (New York: Random House, 1987).
“At the early onset”: Michael Reagan, Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan (New York: Humanix Books, 2016).
“I didn’t realize it”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.
Chapter 2: A Political Evolution
The hearing room: “Ronald Reagan and Albert Maltz, Testimony Before HUAC 1947,” U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Un-American Activities Hearing, October 23, 1947.
“Perhaps part of it”: Ronald Reagan, Where’s the Rest of Me?; see also Stephen Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood: Movies and Politics (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994); Jennifer Latson, “Walt Disney, Ronald Reagan and the Fear of Hollywood Communism,” Time, October 20, 2014.
“ ‘Suddenly,’ he wrote”: Ronald Reagan, Where’s the Rest of Me?
“Well, sir”: Ronald Reagan, Testimony before the U.S. Congress, House Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearing, October 23, 1947; https://ia802607.us.archive.org/23/items/hearingsregardin1947aunit/hearingsregardin1947aunit.pdf.
when he returned: Reagan, Where’s the Rest of Me?
Ironically, it was: Nancy Reagan, My Turn; see also Ronald Reagan, Where’s the Rest of Me?
“If ever God”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.
“Those GE tours”: Ibid.
“Whether we admit it”: Matthew Dallek, The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan’s First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics (Oxford University Press, 2004).
Frequently, on the road: Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan (New York: Random House, 2000).
“Every family has problems”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.
“I’m counting on you”: Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie.
“He was easy to love”: Ron Reagan, My Father at 100: A Memoir (New York: Penguin Group, 2011).
“an odd sibling rivalry”: Patti Davis, Dateline NBC, November 14, 2004.
“I think you could”: Ron Reagan, Today, March 7, 2004.
“This is the issue”: Ronald Reagan, “A Time For Choosing,” http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganatimeforchoosing.htm.
“one bright spot”: Matthew Dallek, The Right Moment.
“I didn’t know”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.
“I have a feeling”: Merriman Smith, oral history with John Luter, January 3, 1968, Columbia University Oral History Project, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas.
“Extremism in the”: Barry Goldwater, “Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco,” July 16, 1964, The American Presidency Project; http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25973.
“a race that”: Larry J. Sabato, “How Goldwater Changed Campaigns Forever,” Politico Magazine, October 27, 2014.
“He believed basically”: Stuart Spencer, oral history with Jim Young et al., November 15 and 16, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Reagan laughed: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.
“When Jack Warner”: This was a story Reagan repeated on many occasions in various settings. (It always got a laugh, even long after he was in the White House.) It’s recorded in the Public Papers of the Presidents: Ronald Reagan 1988–1989.
“There was something about him”: Lyn Nofziger, oral history with Stephen Knott et al., March 6, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“the best communicator”: Stuart Spencer, oral history with Jim Young et al., November 15 and 16, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“But there is a problem”: Ronald Reagan, Reagan: A Life in Letters, ed. Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson (New York: Free Press, 2003).
“There are lots of people”: Stuart Spencer, oral history with Jim Young et al., November 15 and 16, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“Dear Mr. President”: Ronald Reagan’s handwritten letter to President Eisenhower, June 10, 1966, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library.
“Ronald Reagan for”: Matthew Dallek, The Right Moment.
“because when Reagan”: William French Smith, “Evolution of the Kitchen Cabinet 1965–1973,” Ronald Reagan Gubernatorial Era Series, 1989.
“Never eat with them”: Michael Deaver, oral history with Jim Young et al., September 12, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“Keeping up with”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.
“Reagan was a”: Matthew Dallek, The Right Moment.
“Crisscrossing California”: “Ronald for Real,” Time, October 7, 1966.
“government by cabinet”: Edwin Meese III, With Reagan: The Inside Story (Washington D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 1992).
“He had to face up”: Stuart Spencer, oral history with Jim Young et al., November 15 and 16, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Chapter 3: The Greatest Stage
“You won’t have Nixon”: Richard Nixon, press conference, November 7, 1962, video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RMSb-tS_OM.
“For these critical years”: Richard M. Nixon, Letter to the Citizens of New Hampshire, January 31, 1968, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.
; “When I came back”: Chris Bachelder, “Crashing the Party: The Ill-Fated 1968 Presidential Campaign of Governor George Romney,” Michigan Historical Review (Fall 2007).
“There was a split”: Lyn Nofziger, oral history with Stephen Knott et al., March 6, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“motive was just as pure”: Paul Laxalt, oral history with Jim Young et al., October 9, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“He’d always remind us”: Ibid.
“His biggest trouble”: Eisenhower letter to Walter Thayer, October 24, 1966, post-presidential archives, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library.
A story Eisenhower related: Dwight D. Eisenhower, The Eisenhower Diaries, ed. Robert H. Ferrell (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1976).
“For years in”: Norman Mailer, Miami and the Siege of Chicago: An Informed History of the Republican and Democratic Conventions of 1968 (New York: World Publishing Co., 1968).
“idiosyncratic conservatism”: Steven Hayward, “Ronald Reagan: Conservative Statesman,” Heritage Foundation, June 4, 2013; http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2013/pdf/mapt09.pdf.
“I’ll never forget it”: Paul Laxalt, oral history with Jim Young et al., October 9, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“You know, if I”: Peter Hannaford, oral history with Stephen Knott et al., January 10, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“An interesting thing”: Ibid.
Deaver got a phone call: Michael Deaver, oral history with Jim Young et al., September 12, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“To err is human”: Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan in His Own Words, ed. Tyler Richmond (Seedbox Press, 2011).
Newsweek called him: “Ready on the Right—Ronald Reagan,” Newsweek, March 24, 1975.
“It’s time for us all”: Ibid.
“You shouldn’t be making”: Paul Laxalt, oral history with Jim Young et al., October 9, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“I just don’t think”: Michael Deaver, oral history with Jim Young et al., September 12, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“He doesn’t look”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.
“In my opinion”: Ronald Reagan, “Announcement for Presidential Candidacy and Press Conference,” November 20, 1975, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
“Okay, so here we are”: Martin Anderson, oral history with Jim Young, December 11 and 12, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“Okay, you borrow”: Ibid.
“If you were to stand”: Adam Wren, “ ‘It Was Riotous’: An Oral History of the GOP’s Last Open Convention: Twenty Republican Party Figures Remember 1976,” Politico, April 5, 2016. [Specifically, recollection of Reagan supporter Ernest Angelo.]
“You know what I regret”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.
The following morning: Michael Deaver, oral history with Jim Young et al., September 12, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“Am I being asked”: Ibid.
“They suggested I write”: Ronald Reagan, “Remarks at the Republican National Convention,” August 19, 1976, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
“We nominated the wrong guy”: Adam Wren, “ ‘It Was Riotous’: An Oral History of the GOP’s Last Open Convention,” Politico, April 5, 2016.
“I’ll lay me down”: Lee Edwards, “When Reagan Almost Won: The 1976 GOP Convention,” Daily Signal, April 15, 2016.
Ten days after: Richard Allen, oral history with Stephen Knott, May 28, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
According to Hannaford: Peter Hannaford, oral history with Stephen Knott et al., January 10, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“he became Teddy Roosevelt”: Andrew E. Busch, Reagan’s Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005).
so-called malaise speech: Jimmy Carter, “Address to the Nation on Energy and National Goals: ‘The Malaise Speech,’ ” July 15, 1979, The American Presidency Project; http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=32596.
Some analysts believe: Chris Whipple, “Ted Kennedy: The Day the Presidency Was Lost,” ABC News, August 31, 2009.
“To me our country”: “Ronald Reagan Announcement for Presidential Candidacy,” November 13, 1979, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
“It was conventional wisdom”: Author interview with Charles Black, August 23, 2017.
“We made a decision”: Ibid.
Reagan biographer Craig Shirley: Craig Shirley, Reagan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976–1980 (New York: Broadside Books, 2017).
But his masterstroke: Ibid.
“Charlie, where’s John?”: Author interview with Charles Black, August 23, 2017.
“One of the most amazing things”: Michael Deaver, oral history with Jim Young et al., September 12, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“Reagan almost choked”: Ibid.
“Out of a clear blue”: Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush (New York: Random House, 2015).
“life seems to be governed”: Jimmy Carter, White House Diary (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010).
“There was a distinct sense”: Busch, Reagan’s Victory.
“The only strategic mistake”: Patrick Caddell, oral history with Jim Young, November 29, 1982, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, GA.
“I had a discussion”: “The Carter-Reagan Presidential Debate,” October 28, 1980, Commission on Presidential Debates; http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-28-1980-debate-transcript.
“It might be well”: Ibid.
“And there we stood”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.
“I was bitter”: Rosalynn Carter, First Lady from Plains (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1984).
“the chill in her manner”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.
Carter lectured Reagan: Carl Brauer, Presidential Transitions: Eisenhower Through Reagan (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).
“Reagan recalled verbatim”: Douglas Brinkley, The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House (New York: Viking, 1998).
“Allowing Ronald Reagan”: Brinkley, The Unfinished Presidency.
Chapter 4: A Revolution of Ideas
“Have you got”: Michael K. Deaver, A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan (New York: HarperCollins, 2001).
“Do I have to?”: Ibid.
In preparing the speech: Ken Khachigian, “Reagan’s Timeless Inaugural Message,” RealClear Politics, January 21, 2016; https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/01/21/reagans_timeless_inaugural_message_129383.html.
“In this present crisis”: Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address,” January 20, 1981, The American Presidency Project; http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=43130.
“I’ve had my differences”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.
“The true-hearted conservatives”: Carl Brauer, Presidential Transitions.
“The chief of staff”: James A. Baker, III, with Steve Fiffer, “Work Hard, Study . . . and Keep Out of Politics!” (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2008).
Deaver had surprised Reagan: Deaver, A Different Drummer.
“The Meese-Baker-Deaver combination”: Hedrick Smith, “The Presidential Troika,” New York Times, April 19, 1981.
&
nbsp; “We spent a lot”: Lyn Nofziger, oral history with Stephen Knott et al., March 6, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“He notified me”: Caspar Weinberger, oral history with Stephen Knott, November 19, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
It appears that Reagan: Archives, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“from the beginning”: Caspar Weinberger, oral history with Stephen Knott, November 19, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“Look, the NSC”: Richard Allen, oral history with Stephen Knott, May 28, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Allen introduced Reagan: Ibid.
“We’re going to make history”: Handwritten notes from cabinet meeting, February 13, 1981, 1:45 pm, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Early on he tangled: Caspar Weinberger, oral history with Stephen Knott, November 19, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“Is this what we want”: Ibid.
Stockman’s star might have risen: William Greider, “The Education of David Stockman,” The Atlantic, December 1981.
“See, the thing about Reagan”: Martin Anderson, oral history with Jim Young, December 11 and 12, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
the frequent laughter: Kathleen Osborne, oral history with Jim Young and Stephen Knott, April 26, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“so many of his decisions”: Howard Baker, oral history with Stephen Knott, August 24, 2004, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
David Gergen: David Gergen, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership; Nixon to Clinton (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000).
“Why do you like Reagan?”: Edward Rowny, oral history with Stephen Knott, March 17, 2016, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Deaver recalled that: The American Experience, PBS, February 23, 1998.
