by Bob Spitz
“The age issue is a cover”: Hannaford, The Reagans, p. 194.
“It was ammunition”: John Sears, interview with author, Jan. 30, 2014.
the price of gasoline: “May the Best Man Win,” Time, Nov. 12, 1979.
“They were the essence”: Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“community of shared values”: RR, speech during appearances in 1978 and 1979, quoted in Hannaford, The Reagans, p. 180.
“the acknowledged front-runner”: Robert Lindsay, “Reagan Urges Senate to Reject Arms Pact, But His Tone Is Softer,” New York Times, Sept. 17, 1979, p. 39.
“giving the matter serious consideration”: RR, statement issued to press, Mar. 8, 1979, LCA.
“the office seeks the man”: “He never got off that kick.” Stuart Spencer, interview, MCPA, Nov. 15, 2001, p. 34; Stuart Spencer, interview with author, July 21, 2014.
“In 1980, I don’t think”: Peter Hannaford, interview, MCPA, Jan. 10, 2003, p. 69; “Most of the old ’76 operation did not want him.” Deaver, interview, MCPA, Sept. 12, 2002, p. 28.
“And his judgment wasn’t perfect”: Peter Hannaford, interview with author, July 18, 2014.
“The smartest guy”: “He understood how to analyze people and figure out what motivates them.” Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“Sears gave Ronald Reagan”: “I thought it was a good idea to bring Sears back.” Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014; “The chief strategist had to be someone whose own base was Washington and had high credibility with the national press.” Hannaford, The Reagans, p. 202.
“the wonder boy of 1976”: NR/MT, p. 205.
“We couldn’t get it together”: Jim Lake interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“Sears had undisguised disdain”: David Keene, interview with author, Oct. 23, 2014.
“that fucking Sears is a disaster”: “We heard it over and over again.” Jim Lake, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“Life was easier”: John Sears, interview with author, Jan. 30, 2014.
“Deaver was territorial”: Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“It’s like an orchestra”: “I just wanted Deaver to take a fucking seat.” John Sears, interview with author, Jan. 30, 2014.
“I can’t put up with this”: John Sears, quoted in Jim Lake, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“Reagan didn’t like it”: Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“I forgot that Carolyn”: Mike Deaver, interview, July 1, 2002, LCA, p. 18.
“Sears thought Meese was ineffectual”: Jeffrey Bell, interview with author, Dec. 19, 2013.
“If you are the front-runner”: John Sears, interview with author, Jan. 30, 2014.
Many of the key Reagan: “Connally’s name had been jumping at all of us for several weeks.” Hannaford, The Reagans, p. 202; Mathews, “The Leading Man.”
“He’s like a Chinese lunch”: Lee Atwater, quoted in Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
His lifetime rating: Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“just out here waiting”: Bob Dole, quoted in Mathews, “The Leading Man.”
“Reagan’s impression was that Ford”: Hannaford, The Reagans, p. 187.
“We’re the front-runner”: John Sears, quoted in Hannaford, The Reagans, p. 54.
“I didn’t even bother”: John Sears, interview with author, Jan. 30, 2014.
“The President of the United States”: Ibid.
“There will be some kind”: “May the Best Man Win,” Time.
Her parents had no idea: “She had left home, and they didn’t have any idea where she was.” John Sears, interview with author, Jan. 30, 2014.
“I disagreed with my father’s politics”: Patti Davis, The Way I See It (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1992), pp. 236–37.
“I am here tonight”: RR speech, Nov. 13, 1979, transcript, RRPL.
TWENTY-NINE “BIG MO”
“There is a sea-change coming”: John Connally, quoted in “May the Best Man Win,” Time, Nov. 12, 1979.
a New York Times/CBS poll: Adam Clymer, “Reagan Off to a Fast Start Ahead of the Field,” New York Times, Nov. 18, 1979.
“I cannot doubt”: RR, speech, Florence, SC, Jan. 24, 1980, quoted in Bernard Weinraub, “Reagan Blames Carter ‘Failure’ for Soviet Move,” New York Times, Jan. 25, 1980.
“We were going to win”: Jim Lake, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“He was awkward”: James Leach, interview with author, May 15, 2013.
“We could sense him”: Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“Why give those other guys”: John Sears, interview with author, Jan. 30, 2014.
“You’ve pissed off everybody”: James Kuhn, interview with author, Nov. 20, 2013.
“This is not looking good”: Kenny Kling, quoted in Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“You have just witnessed”: Tom Petit, quoted in Jim Lake, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014; James Kuhn, interview with author, Nov. 20, 2013.
“We were really shocked”: Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“This time,” he said: Ibid.
“It’s in the more liberal”: Jim Lake, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“He was dog tired”: Charlie Black interview, Feb. 25, 2014.
The minute he hit: “I put on the news and there was George Bush on the tarmac, snow blowing all over, press surrounding him, and all he could talk about was Big Mo! Big Mo! Big Mo!” James Kuhn, interview with author, Nov. 20, 2013.
“fake pearls and real family”: Marjorie Williams, “Barbara’s Backlash,” Vanity Fair, Jan. 1, 2007.
“I think women like me”: Barbara Bush, quoted in Ibid.
“On the face of it”: Sheila Tate, interview with author, Oct. 3, 2014.
“close to $12 million”: Wayne King, “Reagan Is Buoyed by His Victory as His Campaign Enters a Difficult Period,” New York Times, Jan. 28, 1980.
“Every night, when we returned”: NR/MT, p. 206.
“He was never one”: Jim Lake, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“Things started to unravel fast”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“It’s like a Civil War”: Peter Hannaford, interview with author, July 18, 2014.
“Sears became impatient”: Jeffrey Bell, interview with author, Dec. 19, 2013.
“The chemistry between”: NR/MT, p. 205.
“He’s a smart guy”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“You got Lyn Nofziger”: Ibid.; Peter Hannaford, interview with author, July 18, 2014; NR/MT, p. 206.
“I was sure he was going”: Ibid.
“It’s not a matter of whether”: Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014; Jim Lake, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“If Reagan lost”: Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“We have to do that”: NR, quoted in Jim Lake, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“You can’t do this”: Bruce Rounds, quoted in Ibid.
“No way you’re taking”: “George Bush told me himself.” Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
Bob Dole was livid: “He was furious! Really irate.” Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014; Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014; Jim Lake, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014.
“Mr. Breen says that if”: Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014; Peter Hannaford, interview, MCPA, Jan. 10, 2003, p. 71.
“Just a minute here”: RR, quoted in Peter Goldman, “Reagan Is Back in the Saddle,” Newsweek, Mar. 10, 1980.
“Bring
them chairs!”: Peter Hannaford, interview with author, July 18, 2014; Peter Hannaford, The Reagans: A Political Portrait (New York: Coward-McCann, 1983), p. 238.
He’d heard Spencer Tracy: Tracy shouted: “Don’t you shut me off. I’m paying for this broadcast.” State of the Union, Liberty Films—MGM, 1948.
“thoroughly embarrassed himself”: Goldman, “Reagan Is Back in the Saddle.”
“Looking back on it”: Lou Cannon, “Bush Reagan Even as New Hampshire Finish Line Nears,” Washington Post, Feb. 25, 1980.
Reagan “handily defeated”: “At 7:09 p.m., CBS News said that Reagan had ‘handily defeated’ Bush.” Lou Cannon, “Reagan Leading GOP Field in N.H. As Bush Stumbles,” Washington Post, Feb. 27, 1980.
“the engine of his revival”: Goldman, “Reagan Is Back in the Saddle.”
“We can’t go on like this”: NR, quoted in Richard Allen, reading from his diary, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014; “It was felt they were a package.” Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“Don’t bother—I quit!”: Charlie Black, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014; Jim Lake, interview with author, Feb. 25, 2014; John Sears, interview with author, Jan. 30, 2014.
When he didn’t want: “He did that on purpose.” Ed Meese interview, Dec. 9, 2014.
“They would ask him questions,”: Peter Hannaford, Miller Center interview, Jan. 10, 2003. p. 74.
recent Gallup polls showed Ford: “The GOP’s Hamlet,” Newsweek, Mar. 10, 1980.
“Carter would lose to Ford”: Ernest Conine, “President Reagan: How Does That Sound?” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 17, 1980.
“should pack his long johns”: RR, quoted in Hannaford, The Reagans, p. 244.
“She was a nervous wreck”: James Kuhn, interview with author, Nov. 20, 2013.
“Ford was dismissive of Reagan”: “He felt Reagan cost him the election in ’76.” Tom Reed, interview with author, Oct. 11, 2014.
“Why Ronald Reagan Will Be”: Richard J. Whalen, “Why Ronald Reagan Will Be the Next President,” Washington Post, Mar. 23, 1980.
“Nancy and I were just”: Gary F. Schuster, “Reagan Is Quiet on His Choice for a Running Mate,” Detroit News, Convention section, July 15, 1980.
One of the contenders: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“Reagan’s people have given him”: Lowell Caulfield, “Campaign Notebook,” Detroit News, July 1, 1980.
Laxalt wanted the job—badly: “Paul really wanted it.” Stuart Spencer, interview with author, July 21, 2014; “Laxalt really wanted it.” Stuart Spencer, interview, MCPA, Nov. 15–16, 2001, p. 52.
“was the governor of”: Stuart Spencer, interview, MCPA, Nov. 15–16, 2001, p. 52; “You’re not a senator or a governor in that state unless you do business with Moe [Dalitz] and the boys.” Spencer, interview, MCPA, Nov. 15–16, 2001, p. 53.
“voodoo economics”: George Bush, speech, Carnegie Mellon University, April 10, 1980.
“Doesn’t matter,” Stu Spencer advised: “He spent twenty minutes dumping all over George H. W. Bush. He didn’t like all those attacks, the voodoo economics.” Stuart Spencer, interview with author, July 21, 2014.
Ford attempted to nip: Adam Clymer, “A State of Some Confusion: Reagan’s Search for Vice-Presidential Candidate Is Vital, Crucial and Highly Important—Or Is It?” New York Times, July 14, 1980; “The former President (and vice president) is not interested in being the bottom half of the 1980 ticket.” J. F. terHorst, “Reagan’s Choice Sure to Be an Issue,” Detroit News, July 4, 1980.
“There were a sufficient number”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“Ron said that he”: Gerald Ford, quoted in Carl S. Anthony and Anna McCollister, “Ronald Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime,” George, Feb. 1999.
“was surprised when Ford”: Edwin Meese III, With Reagan: The Inside Story (Washington, DC: Regnery Gateway, 1992), p. 43.
“The ideal Reagan running mate”: J. F. terHorst, “Reagan’s Choice.”
“the President would be”: Theodore H. White, America in Search of Itself (New York: Warner Books, 1982), pp. 321–22.
“It was a bad idea”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
Deaver, Nofziger, and Allen: “I vigorously opposed the Ford gesture.” Michael K. Deaver with Mickey Herskowitz, Behind the Scenes (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1987), p. 93; Lyn Nofziger, Nofziger (Washington, DC: Regnery, 1991), p. 242; Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“Ford wants Kissinger”: RR, quoted in Richard V. Allen, “George Herbert Walker Bush: The Accidental Vice President,” New York Times Magazine, July 30, 2000.
“I thought the whole thing”: “But he didn’t see it that way.” NR/MT, p. 211.
“If I go to Washington”: Adam Clymer, “Reagan Says Bush Backs Platform; Ford Was Offered Major Authority,” New York Times, July 17, 1980.
“Get Kissinger on the phone”: RR, quoted in Deaver, Behind the Scenes, p. 96; Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
Meanwhile, the networks were reporting: At 9:30 p.m., Sam Donaldson reported on ABC-TV that Reagan and Ford would appear together later that night; at 9:45, CBS’s Walter Cronkite announced that Reagan and Ford were meeting to confirm; Chris Wallace reported the Reagan-Ford ticket from the floor of the convention for NBC.
“realize there is no way”: RR, quoted in Allen, “George Herbert Walker Bush.”
“Governor,” Meese reported back: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“The television was on”: James Kuhn, interview with author, Nov. 20, 2013.
George Bush was in the bar: James Leach, email to author, May 18, 2013.
Ronald Reagan was on the phone: “He said, ‘I need to get George Bush on the phone,’ and had Dick Wirthlin put the call through.” Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“George,” he said: Allen, “George Herbert Walker Bush.”
THIRTY: “A REFERENDUM ON UNHAPPINESS”
“A Referendum on Unhappiness”: Patrick Cadell, quoted in James David Barber, “Reagan’s Sheer Personal Likability Faces Its Sternest Test,” Washington Post, Jan. 20, 1981.
“Politics is just like show business”: RR to Stuart Spencer, quoted in Gerald C. Lubenow, et al., “Ronald Reagan Up Close; Off and Running,” Newsweek, July 21, 1980.
Coming out of the conventions: “Reagan’s own polls . . . show him with a 15-point lead over Carter.” Frank B. Merrick, “The G.O.P. Gets Its Act Together,” Time, July 28, 1980; Peter Goldman, “Now for the Hard Part,” Newsweek, Aug. 25, 1980.
“Carter is expected to portray”: Merrick, “The G.O.P. Gets Its Act Together.”
“men of narrow vision”: Jimmy Carter, speech in Miami, FL, July 1980, quoted in Ibid.
Carter of “economic failures”: RR, speech to International Business Council, Chicago, Sept. 7, 1980.
“I told him I didn’t want”: RR, comments at Renaissance Center, July 14, 1980, quoted in Hedrick Smith, “Reagan Is Promising a Crusade to Make Nation ‘Great Again,’ ” by New York Times, July 15, 1980.
“intention to reestablish official government”: Los Angeles Times, Aug. 23, 1980.
Chinese “hopping mad”: NBC Nightly News, transcript, Aug. 19, 1980.
“retrogression . . . [that] would be detrimental”: Huang Hua, Chinese foreign minister, quoted in Howell Raines, “Reagan Abandons Plan on Taiwan Office,” Sept. 26, 1980; “[The Chinese] are hopping mad.” NBC Nightly News, Aug. 19, 1980.
“a noble cause”: RR, speech to Veterans of Foreign Wars: “Peace: Restoring the Margin of Safety.” “Reagan Defends Viet War,” Chicago Tribune, Aug. 17, 1980; Lou Cannon requoted “noble cause” in Stu Spencer’s interview with him, Nov. 18, 1980, LCA, p. 5.
“a great many questions”: RR, speech in Dallas, Aug. 22, 19
80, quoted in Robert G. Kaiser, “Reagan’s First 10 Days,” Washington Post, Aug. 28, 1980.
plants and trees caused: “He said some dumb things in speeches.” Stuart Spencer, interview with author, July 21, 2014.
“Now, I’m happy”: RR, speech at Michigan State Fair, Sept. 1, 1980, RRPL.
“I blew it”: RR, quoted in Lou Cannon, Reagan (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1982), p. 274.
“This was the first week”: Stu Spencer interview, July. 21, 2014.
“The level of campaigning”: Stuart Spencer, interview with Lou Cannon, Nov. 18, 1980, LCA, p. 8.
“If we have an uptight ship”: Ibid., p. 19.
“From that day on”: Stuart Spencer, interview with author, July 21, 2014.
“We may have a surprise”: Dick Wirthlin, quoted in Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“We have heard that”: Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
For years afterward, rumors: Nightline, ABC-TV, June 20, 1991, transcript (Chevy Chase, MD: Radio TV Reports, Inc., declassified May 11, 2012).
“the only loser”: “For Many in Iowa, Carter Lost Debate,” New York Times, Sept. 23, 1980.
“an articulate fellow”: Al Pinder, publisher of The Grinnell Herald Register, quoted. Ibid.
at the Waldorf-Astoria: “We went around the room and everybody gave their opinion about whether he should debate [Carter] or not.” Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“I can beat that guy”: NR/MT, p. 218.
She thought not: “She was against any kind of debate. . . . She’s just afraid Ron was going to screw up.” Cannon, Stuart Spencer, interview with Lou Cannon, Nov. 18, 1980, LCA, p. 25.
“Hell, yes!” Spencer exclaimed: Stuart Spencer, interview with author, July 21, 2014.
Reagan’s positions on social issues: “All of these factors . . . have combined to produce a clear sense of uneasiness among women.” Edward Walsh, “Reagan Is Still the Women’s Second Choice,” Washington Post, undated clipping, LCA.
“Jimmy Carter has been”: Betty Heitman, quoted in Ibid.
He was still going: “He must have heard me 100 times say, ‘Ladies?’ Goddamn it, Governor!” Stuart Spencer, interview with Lou Cannon, Nov. 18, 1980, LCA, p. 31.
