Reagan
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“to one of the first”: RR, press conference in Los Angeles, Oct. 14, 1980, quoted in Cannon, Reagan, p. 290.
“dangerous” and “scary”: “The President describes Reagan as ‘dangerous’ and ‘scary.’ ” Peter Goldman, “Two Candidates for Reform,” Newsweek, Oct. 20, 1980.
“first and foremost is”: RR, speech, CBS-TV, transcript, Oct. 18, 1980; Douglas E. Kneeland, “Reagan Calls Peace His First Objective in Address to Nation,” New York Times, Oct. 19, 1980.
But twelve days before: A Harris poll gave Reagan a lead of 4 percent, a Roper poll only 1 percent; Goldman, “Two Candidates for Reform.”
“a narrowing lead”: “New Poll Says Reagan Holds Narrowing Lead,” Associated Press, Oct. 30, 1980.
“Let’s see what the polls are”: Richard Bergholz and Eleanor Randolph, “Carter Challenges Reagan to Debate Him,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 16, 1980.
In his hotel room: “He was very loose in the hotel room. Mike and I brought him a big bottle of red wine.” Ibid.
“I’ve been on the same stage”: RR, quoted in Bill Stall, Los Angeles Times pool report #3, Oct. 28, 1980, LCA.
“extremely dangerous” attitude: “Debate Between President Jimmy Carter and Governor Ronald Reagan,” Oct. 28, 1980, transcript (Cleveland: Fincun-Mancini Court Reporters).
“We doubt that it swung”: Editorial, “A Good Look at the Candidates,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 30, 1980; “Initial polls rated their performance as close to even or gave a modest edge to Mr. Reagan.” Hedrick Smith, “Carter and Reagan Express Confidence on Debate Showing,” New York Times, Oct. 30, 1980.
Reagan “genial, open”: Editorial, “A Good Look at the Candidates.”
at times “very reassuring”: Smith, “Carter and Reagan Express Confidence.”
“intense almost to the point”: Editorial, “A Good Look at the Candidates.”
but “more informed”: Smith, “Carter and Reagan Express Confidence.”
Twelve cities in three days: Reagan & Bush Committee News Release, “Schedule of Governor Ronald Reagan: October 30–November 4, 1980,” Oct. 29, 1980, LCA.
“We were relatively confident”: Ed Meese interview, Dec. 9, 1980.
“I don’t talk like that!”: RR, quoted in Stuart Spencer, interview with author, July 21, 2014.
wryly to “the Meesecase”: “There were piles and piles of material in Ed’s garage.” Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“No, Mike’s a number-two”: RR, quoted in Stuart Spencer, interview with author, July 21, 2014.
When they landed, Nancy prodded: “Ronnie! Jim is getting off the plane. Now is the time to talk to him.” NR, quoted in Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
predicting “a landslide”: “It’s a landslide, don’t worry about it.” Neil Reagan, interview, UCLA Center for Oral History Research, June 25, 1981, p. 55.
offered “Cautiously optimistic”: NR, quoted in “Election Day Pool Report,” Nov. 4, 1980, LCA.
Nancy recalled that: NR/MT, p. 221.
John Chancellor was calling: Theodore H. White, America in Search of Itself (New York: Warner Books, 1982), pp. 407–8.
He reassured Marion Jorgensen: “The minute Ronnie became president, I called him ‘Mr. President.’ And he said . . . ‘Not with you, my friend.’ ” Bob Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy (New York: Warner Bros., 2004), p. 505.
THIRTY-ONE: “THE O AND W”
“The governor of a state”: Tip O’Neill, quoted in Peter Goldman et al., “Hail the Conquering Hero,” Newsweek, Dec. 1, 1980.
“nothing less than a miracle”: RR, inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1981, reprinted in New York Times, Jan. 21, 1981.
Ronald Reagan had been looped: “Carter was pretty honorable, and we got briefings on a regular basis.” Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014; Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“Shitheels!” he muttered: Ken Khachigian, notes, Jan. 18, 1981, Ken Khachigian Papers, 1981, Inaugural, Box 1, p. 2, RRPL.
word drifted in: Haynes Johnson, “Freed Americans Land in W. Germany; Reagan Sworn In as the 40th President,” Washington Post, Jan. 21, 1981.
“[Carter] said hardly”: “It must have been very hard on him.” AAL, pp. 225–26.
Preston Hotchkis, a California land: Mary Lou Loper, “A Favorite Quote Becomes History,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 26, 1981.
“America must win”: RR, inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1981, transcript, the American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara; “An Obscure Hero Gets Big Tribute,” Chicago Tribune, Jan. 21, 1981.
“Since the last one”: Ken Khachigian, interview with author, Nov. 19, 2013.
“It’s too good a story”: Ibid.; “He still wanted to use the name.” “Meeting with Governor Reagan, 1/18/1981, Blair House,” Ken Khachigian Papers, 1981, Inaugural, Box 1, RRPL.
“Ron might be softening”: Ken Khachigian, interview with author, Nov. 19, 2013.
and not just any Bible: “The family Bible . . . bears Mrs. Reagan’s notation for ‘a thought for today,’ reading: ‘You can be too big for God to use, but you cannot be too small.’ ” “Oath on the Bible Used by Reagan’s Mother,” New York Times, Jan. 21, 1981.
Inauspiciously, Frank Sinatra’s seat: Peter McCoy, interview with author, Oct. 23, 2014.
“Wheels up in Tehran”: “I handed him the slip of paper that came from the Sit Room.” Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“Some thirty minutes ago”: Lee Lescaze, “Hostage Release Opens Presidency on a Dramatic High Note,” Washington Post, Jan. 21, 1981.
“You tell those bastards”: Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“I’m the President”: Michael Reagan, On the Outside Looking In (New York: Zebra Books, 1988), p. 188.
Portraits of Thomas Jefferson: Ken Khachigian handwritten notes, first Cabinet meeting, Jan. 22, 1981, Ken Khachigian Papers, Box 1, RRPL.
“When you need some energy”: Lee Lescaze, “The First Full Day in the Oval Office; Concern for the Economy,” Washington Post, Jan. 22, 1981.
“He made no pretense”: Robert McFarlane, interview with author, Sept. 30, 2014.
“had their own ideas”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Mar. 18, 2015.
He knew that Henry Kissinger: “I understand that Kissinger is not under consideration.” Richard Nixon, memo to RR, Nov. 17, 1980, p. 3, RRPL; “Ronald Reagan knew Kissinger was really the architect of foreign policy of the Nixon administration and wanted to go in a different direction.” Edwin Meese, interview with author, Mar. 18, 2015.
“That’d be a big mistake”: Richard Nixon, quoted in Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“a very bright, energetic”: “I didn’t feel Haig was a good choice for State.” Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“Before, Al was unflappable”: John Lehman, interview with author, Sept. 16, 2014.
“Those who oppose him”: “He is intelligent, strong, and generally shares your views on foreign policy.” Nixon, memo to RR, Nov. 17, 1980, p. 3, RRPL.
“The guy came out”: “When [Haig] left, Reagan said, ‘I don’t understand what that was all about.’ ” Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
Reagan had been flirting: “The Kitchen Cabinet included a bunch of ignoramuses who said, ‘What do you do—ask him to leave a Cabinet meeting when you’re discussing domestic policy?’ ” Richard Perle, interview with author, Apr. 25, 2015.
shultz a “candy-ass”: Richard Nixon, quoted in Theodore H. White, Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon (New York: Atheneum, 1975), p. 316.
“I do not believe”: Nixon, memo to RR, Nov. 17, 1980, RRPL, p. 5.
Nixon was “very persuasive”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Mar. 1
8, 2015.
“Why, this memorandum means”: James Baker, quoted in Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
From what he could tell: “He wanted, literally, control of everything.” Baker, quoted in Allen.
The idea that one person: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Mar. 18, 2015.
“A lot of fairly”: Fred Fielding, interview with author, Sept. 30, 2014.
his nomination “disastrous”: Peter Goldman et al., “Reagan’s Finishing Touches,” Newsweek, Jan. 5, 1981.
“Everyone was prepared”: Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“Reagan’s genius was”: Kenneth Duberstein, interview with author, June 16, 2014.
“It was smooth”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Mar. 18, 2015.
“Really, they were always”: Fred Fielding, interview with author, Sept. 30, 2014.
“got totally entranced by power”: “Mike really changed when he came to Washington. Power was of primary importance to him.” Edwin Meese, interview with author, Mar. 18, 2015.
“The Roosevelt Room was a mess”: Peter McCoy, interview with author, Oct. 23, 2014.
“It’s not like we left”: Jody Powell, quoted in Sheila Tate, interview with author, Oct. 3, 2014.
“This place needs everything”: NR, quoted in Peter McCoy, interview with author, Oct. 23, 2014.
the “O and W”: Phil McCombs, “Sunshine and Reign in Reagan Country,” Washington Post, Dec. 30, 1980.
“The country is in the worst”: “Transcript of Reagan Address Reporting on the State of the Nation’s Economy,” New York Times, Feb. 6, 1981.
In the past two years: Leonard Silk, “A Look at Reagan Economics ‘Lesson,’ ” New York Times, Feb. 7, 1981.
“a quarter, a dime, and a penny”: “Transcript of Reagan Address,” New York Times.
The prime bank rate: George J. Church, “The Biggest Challenge,” Time, Jan. 18, 1981.
the Dow Jones Industrial Average: Vartanig G. Vartan, “Dow Falls 15.10 Points to 932.17,” New York Times, Feb. 3, 1981.
“We’ve got to get control”: Lee Lescaze, “The First Full Day in the Oval Office,” Washington Post, Jan. 22, 1981.
The deficit for fiscal 1981: Peter Behr and Lee Lescaze, “Reagan Economists Urge Swift Spending, Tax Cuts,” Washington Post, Jan. 8, 1981.
He ordered a federal: Church, “The Biggest Challenge.”
“let the people flourish”: “Here we are, a country bursting with economic promise.” Ronald Reagan, Speaking My Mind (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989), p. 75.
“A tax cut not only increases”: Jude Wanniski, “It’s Time to Cut Taxes,” Wall Street Journal, Dec. 11, 1974.
From Keynesian John: Galbraith and Feldstein are both quoted in Charles Alexander and David Beckwith, “Making It Work,” Time, Nov. 21, 1981.
“This tax program is not”: RR, Cabinet meeting, Feb. 10, 1981, transcript, p. 2, Speechwriting Papers, White House Office, 1981–89, Box 3, RRPL.
All told, analysts projected: Lou Cannon, Reagan (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1982), p. 337.
“We were not headed toward”: David Stockman, The Triumph of Politics: How the Reagan Revolution Failed(New York: Harper & Row, 1986), p. 396.
“Virtually everything I did”: NR/MT, p. 23.
$25,000 beaded gowns: KK/NR, p. 273.
One of the hottest-selling: Donnie Radcliffe, “Queen Nancy,” Washington Post, Sept. 8, 1981.
“We had a huge”: Sheila Tate, interview with author, Oct. 3, 2014.
“She was a target”: Peter McCoy, interview with author, Oct. 23, 2014.
“There are times when”: Sheila Tate, interview with author, Oct. 3, 2014: NR/MT, p. 23.
“a bum rap”: AAL, p. 244.
“Dammit,” he fumed: “I never understood or got used to the sniping at her.” AAL, p. 389.
“Helen von Damm, explained”: Helene von Damm, At Reagan’s Side: Twenty Years in the Political Mainstream (New York: Doubleday, 1989), p. 71.
“she is tougher on people”: Michael K. Deaver with Mickey Herskowitz, Behind the Scenes (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1987), p. 110.
“as the Invisible Hand”: Ibid., p. 113.
In the Troika: “In the White House, it was always Baker and Deaver against Meese.” Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014; “Unfortunately, I think that was the case. Jim’s people would be leaking stuff negative to me during the first term.” Edwin Meese, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“Ronnie’s biggest mistake”: “If Ronnie had given him the green light, Haig would have bombed everybody and everything.” NR/MT, p. 242.
variously “the beasts”: “He’d say ‘the beasts’ were keeping him from the president.” Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014.
“second-rate hambones”: Al Haig, quoted in Lou Cannon, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), p. 195.
“Al would come back”: Robert McFarlane, interview with author, Sept. 30, 2014.
“And he considered Reagan”: Richard Allen, interview with author, Aug. 14, 2014; “Deep down inside, he always thought he was smarter than RR. That was his fatal conceit.” Edwin Meese interview with author, Mar. 18, 2015.
He’d returned from a Cabinet: Edwin Meese interview with author, Mar. 18, 2015.
“He was very upset”: AAL, p. 254.
was “utterly paranoid”: Ibid., p. 361.
“The man is dangerous”: Gainesville Sun, blind-quoted in Richard Reeves, President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), p. 32.
“Right after the inauguration”: Robert McFarlane, interview with author, Nov. 11, 2014.
Jim Baker and Ed Meese: “He alienated Baker and Meese in the process.” Robert McFarlane, interview with author, Oct. 15, 2014.
“Give me the word”: Michael Deaver, interview with Lou Cannon, Nov. 15, 1988, LCA; NR/MT, p. 242.
“We could pave”: RR, quoted in Ronnie Dugger, On Reagan: The Man and His Presidency (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983), p. 344.
“one is the smooth-talking”: Lou Cannon, “The Haig Problem,” Washington Post, July 7, 1981.
“not only once, but twice”: Al Haig, quoted in Cannon, Reagan, p. 395.
THIRTY-TWO: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
Those damn House Democrats: Edward Cowan, “Split Grows in House on Tax Cuts,” New York Times, Mar. 30, 1981.
National business bankruptcies: “The Economy,” New York Times, Mar. 30, 1981.
Leaders of the nation’s colleges: Edward B. Fiske, “College Officials Push for Alternatives to Student-Aid Cuts Asked by Reagan,” New York Times, Mar. 20, 1981.
And the Soviets: Anthony Austin, “Soviet Accuses Union of Seeking Control of Poland,” New York Times, Mar. 30, 1981.
“This was going to be”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, Mar. 18, 2015.
Even Jim Brady: “Larry Speakes was supposed to go.” David Prosperi, interview with author, Sept. 24, 2014.
The weather was overcast: Weather for Mar. 30, 1981, wunderground.com.
“Look, buster, you lay”: RR, speech, Mar. 30, 1981, quoted in Richard Reeves, President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), p. 33.
The crowd, about two hundred: “Report on the Performance of the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury in Connection with the March 30, 1981, Assassination Attempt on President Ronald Reagan,” July 2, 1981, p. 9, RRPA, Edwin Meese files, Box 1.
“I grabbed Jim Brady”: Michael Deaver, interview, MCPA, Sept. 12, 2002, p. 51.
Not to be upstaged: “Judy Woodruff came up to me and said, ‘Can you escort me up to talk to Jim?’ ” David Prosperi, interview with author, Sept. 24, 2014.
“I sort of knew”: Liam Stack, “Jerry Parr, Secret
Service Agent Who Helped Save Reagan, Dies at 85,” New York Times, Oct. 10, 2015.
“What the hell’s that?”: RR, quoted by Jerry Parr, in Reeves, President Reagan, p. 34.
“Jerry,” he begged: AAL, pp. 259–60.
“No matter how hard”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries: January 1981–October 1985, ed. Douglas Brinkley (New York: Harper, 2009), pp. 30–31.
But when he saw: “There was blood coming from his mouth and it was bright red.” Jerry Parr, quoted in “Agent Says He Knew Reagan Had a Lung Wound,” New York Times, Apr. 3, 1981.
“Jim was in bad shape”: David Prosperi, interview with author, Sept. 24, 2014.
“The presidential motorcade”: John Pekkanen, “The Saving of the President,” The Washingtonian, Aug. 5, 2014.
“I’ll walk in”: Reeves, President Reagan, p. 35.
“Reagan had a habit”: Michael Deaver, interview, MCPA, Sept. 12, 2002, p. 51.
He cut a strapping figure: “I put on a brand-new blue suit for my speech.” AAL, p. 259.
As he pushed through: Susan Okie, “Reagan’s Risk May Have Been Much Greater Than Believed,” Washington Post, Apr. 2, 1981.
“Trauma team to the emergency room”: Joanne Bell, interview with author, June 19, 2015.
“I feel so bad”: Pekkanen, “The Saving of the President.”
“You’re ruining my suit!”: RR, quoted in Lyn Nofziger, interview, MCPA, Mar. 6, 2003, p. 42.
lying naked as a jaybird: “By the time we got to the emergency room he didn’t have a stitch of clothing on him.” Michael Deaver, interview, MCPA, Sept. 12, 2002, p. 51.
“It was an unforgettable sight”: Robert Roubik, interview with author, June 2, 2015.
She left the affair early: “Something had been bothering Mrs. Reagan—she didn’t seem sick, just anxious and unsettled.” Del Quentin Wilber, Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan (New York: Henry Holt, 2011), p. 102.
“The police radio is saying”: Sheila Tate, interview with author, Oct. 3, 2014.
One of the Secret Service: Peter McCoy, interview with author, Oct. 23, 2014.
“I’m going to that hospital!”: NR/MT, p. 3; italics added based on Sheila Tate, interview with author, Oct. 23, 2014.