by Bob Spitz
“a profound, historic shift”: Ibid., 1003.
“Gorbachev just blinked”: Ibid., p. 1002; “The Soviets blinked”: RR, diary entry, Oct. 27, 1987.
“SDI was not realistic”: Soviet deputy foreign minister to George Shultz, quoted in Reeves, President Reagan, p. 440.
“set the whole process”: Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Memoirs (New York: Doubleday, 1995), p. 443.
A group of conservative senators: Jacob V. Lamar Jr., “How to Wreck the Treaty,” Time, Dec. 21, 1987.
“nothing more than a useful”: Howard Phillips, quoted in unsigned editorial, New York Times, Dec. 11, 1987; Jacob V. Lamar Jr., “An Offer They Can Refuse,” Time, Dec. 14, 1987.
America’s “intellectual disarmament”: George Will column, Washington Post, Dec. 11, 1987.
a time set by Joan Quigley: Selwa Roosevelt, Keeper of the Gate (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), p. 245.
“perhaps with a second car”: AAL, p. 715.
“These are the houses”: RR, quoted in Fred Ryan, interview, MCPA, May 25, 2004, p. 20.
Reagan had always harbored: “I wanted to take him up in a helicopter and show him how Americans lived.” Ibid.; “President Reagan had repeatedly said that he wanted me to see different parts of the United States.” Gorbachev, Memoirs, p. 446.
“a proposal then current”: AAL, p. 698.
“I’m not on trial here”: Mikhail Gorbachev, quoted in Thomas A. Sancton, “The Spirit of Washington,” Time, Dec. 21, 1987; “Mr. President, you are not a prosecutor and I am not on trial here.” Gorbachev, Memoirs, p. 447.
A flush of embarrassment tided: “Gorbachev colored.” Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 1011.
“We can’t let this happen”: Howard Baker, quoted in Don Oberdorfer, The Turn: The United States and the Soviet Union 1983–1988 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), p. 263.
“entering a new phase”: Mikhail Gorbachev, quoted Dec. 8, 1987, in White House Staff and Office Files, Executive Secretariat, NSC System files, 8791384, RRPL.
“Mr. President, do what you”: Mikhail Gorbachev, quoted in Sancton, “Spirit of Washington”; Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 1014.
“meet American people outside”: Gorbachev, Memoirs, p. 446.
“sending out good vibes”: Sancton, “Spirit of Washington.”
“Stop the car!”: Mikhail Gorbachev, quoted in Oberdorfer, The Turn, p. 468.
he said, “World peace”: Maureen Dowd, “The Summit; as Gorby Works the Crowd, Backward Reels the K.G.B.,” New York Times, Dec. 11, 1987.
Reagan now had competition: “The Soviet ‘Great Communicator,’” Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 9, 1987.
Time even named him: “A symbol of hope for a new kind of Soviet Union.” Time, Dec. 27, 1987.
“In the art of deal making”: Dowd, “The Summit.”
sooner if Reagan agreed: “He feels that for them to withdraw, we’ve got to stop helping or arming the Mujahidin.” RR, quoted in MI, Dec. 14, 1987, p. 168.
“it was an evil empire”: RR/AAL, p. 703.
“This is not the time”: RR, news conference, Feb. 24, 1988, quoted in Susan F. Rasky, “Reagan Supports Any Contra Help,” New York Times, Feb. 25, 1988.
“We are afraid”: Stephen Kinzer, “Sandinistas and Rebels Discuss Cease-Fire Details,” New York Times, Mar. 29, 1988.
Only a week earlier: Philip Shenson, “North, Poindexter and 2 Others Indicted in Iran Contra Fraud and Theft Charges,” New York Times, Mar. 17, 1988.
“I have no knowledge”: George Lardner Jr. and Joe Pichirallo, “Poindexter, North 2 Others Indicted in Iran-Contra,” Washington Post, Mar. 17, 1988.
“He just pleaded guilty”: “‘Careless Remark’ Begets Another in Reagan’s Talk with Reporters,” Associated Press, Mar. 17, 1988.
“Panama had been helpful”: John Poindexter, interview with author, Dec. 8, 2014.
“screw[ing] around with the gringo”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 1062.
Reagan promised that: “Reagan Asserts U.S. Won’t Invade Panama,” New York Times, Mar. 25, 1988.
“we should sit back”: George Bush, quoted in Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 1063.
“If we back away”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 1063.
“Reagan is a weakened president”: Paul Weyrich, quoted in Lou Cannon, “More Than Teflon and Tinsel,” Washington Post, Dec. 7, 1987.
“He was the first”: AAL, p. 707.
Reagan knew as early as: “We wouldn’t be able to sign the START treaty in Moscow.” Ibid., p. 705; “He told me in a February 25 interview . . . ‘the time is too limited.’” Cannon, President Reagan, p. 782.
“We want to build contacts”: Mikhail Gorbachev, quoted in George J. Church, “A Gentle Battle of Images,” Time, June 13, 1988.
“excruciating legal and social limbo”: Jacob V. Lamar Jr., “The Lonely World of a Refusenik,” Time, June 6, 1988.
“the Ziemans would never”: Cannon, President Reagan, p. 784.
“I never expected to be here”: RR, quoted in Hugh Sidey, “Ronald Reagan: Good Chemistry,” Time, June 13, 1988.
“dropped into a grand”: RR, quoted in Lou Cannon and Don Oberdorfer, “The Scripting of the Moscow Summit,” Washington Post, June 9, 1988.
“that if word got out”: Memocon 8890497, White House Staff and Office files, Executive Secretariat, National Security Council, May 29, 1988, p. 3, RRPL.
“This isn’t something”: AAL, p. 706.
“did not want to kick”: Sidey, “Ronald Reagan.”
“There are too many lists”: Mikhail Gorbachev, notes from press corps pool report, quoted in Cannon, President Reagan, p. 783.
The only unscripted event: “Before we left Washington, Ron had said to me, ‘Try to get out, Mom. . . . See the Arbat and get a feel for the people.’” NR/MT, p. 359.
“It was amazing how quickly”: RR, diary entry, May 29, 1988.
“They were generally indistinguishable”: AAL, p. 709.
“appeared out of nowhere”: Church, “A Gentle Battle.”
“I’ve never seen”: AAL, p. 709.
“It’s still a police state”: RR, quoted in Church, “A Gentle Battle.”
“Political leadership in a democracy”: RR, address quoted in Sidey, “Ronald Reagan.”
“tired of living in a fishbowl”: NR, quoted KK/NR, p. 449.
“It rejuvenated him”: Marlin Fitzwater, quoted in KK/NR, p. 451.
“enveloped by influence peddling”: “Panel Charges Pierce Steered Funds to Friends,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 2, 1990.
“More than anything else”: RR, acceptance speech, Republican National Convention, Detroit, July 17, 1980.
“There is a widespread sense”: Charles Fisher, quoted in David S. Broder, “The Decade of Patchy Prosperity,” Washington Post, Dec. 10, 1989.
“the American miracle”: RR, final address to nation, transcript, Jan. 11, 1989, RRPL.
“Reagan was very clear”: Kenneth Duberstein, interview with author, June 16, 2014.
Despite the President’s insistence: “The First Lady opposes a pardon lest it tarnish her husband’s place in history.” “North: A Reprieve for Reagan’s ‘Hero’?” Newsweek, Dec. 5, 1988.
George Steinbrenner was a different: “Guilty Pleas in Campaign Gift Case,” San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 24, 1974.
“She thought he was a boor”: A. B. Culvahouse, interview with author, Sept. 17, 2014.
“virtually all of life’s”: AAL, p. 722.
“today the world is calm”: Colin Powell, quoted in Fred Ryan, interview, MCPA, May 25, 2004, p. 14.
“Here, boys,” Reagan said: Kenneth Duberstein, interview with author, June 16, 2014.
a “nostalgic moment”: RR, quoted in Lee May and Laurie Becklund, “Citizen Reagans Are Home After Bittersweet Farew
ell,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 21, 1989.
“I was trying to keep”: George Bush, quoted in Tom Shales, “The Gaffes, the Glories, and a Short Goodbye,” Washington Post, Jan. 21, 1989.
“There is a man here”: George Bush’s inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1989, transcript, The American Presidency Project, UC–Santa Barbara.
“Look, honey, there’s our little”: Kenneth Duberstein, interview with author, June 16, 2014; Fred Ryan, interview with author, May 13, 2015; RR substitutes word “shack” for “cottage” in AAL, p. 724.
“It was very much”: Fred Ryan, interview, MCPA, May 25, 2004, p. 15.
“Oh, Ronnie—just look”: NR, quoted in Fred Ryan, interview with author, May 13, 2015.
What he looked forward to: Fred Ryan, interview with author, May 13, 2015.
“Four more years!”: Shales, “The Gaffes, the Glories.”
“Then home,” he recorded: RR, diary entry, Jan. 20, 1989.
FORTY-FIVE: AN ORDINARY CITIZEN
“I’m out to pasture now”: “He’d always say ‘I’m out to pasture now’ when asked about issues like the 22nd Amendment.” Fred Ryan, interview with author, May 13, 2015.
“California was the only place”: Joe Frisco, quoted in WTROM, p. 70.
“temporary custody of the United States”: RR, speech at LAX, transcript, Jan. 20, 1989, RRPL.
“If I could do this”: AAL, p. 119.
There were a lot of lovely: Joanne Drake, interview with author, Feb. 23, 2015.
“But it had incredible views”: Fred Ryan, interview with author, May 13, 2015.
“Any time you want”: Ibid.
the line-item veto: “He drove us nuts with the line-item veto.” Joanne Drake, interview with author, Feb. 23, 2015.
“I want to see”: RR, quoted in Ibid.
“We were preparing the office”: Joanne Drake, interview with author, Mar. 30, 2015.
“Every day on the way”: Jon Hall, interview with author, Feb. 8, 2016.
“We didn’t know what to do”: Mark Weinberg, interview with author, Apr. 28, 2015.
“We had a roomful of sacks”: Joanne Drake, interview with author, Feb. 23, 2015.
“A book is the last thing”: RR, quoted in KK/NR, p. 459.
“getting the monkey off”: RR, quoted in Mark Weinberg, interview with author, July 8, 2014.
“He was of that generation”: Joanne Drake, interview with author, Feb. 23, 2015.
Virginia Mayo and Eddie Bracken: Mark Weinberg, interview with author, July 8, 2014.
“I once saw him”: Doug Wick, interview with author, Feb. 9, 2015.
“There are an awful lot”: “More than once I heard him say in the Oval Office . . . ” Mark Weinberg, interview with author, Apr. 28, 2015.
“He felt as if”: Joanne Drake, interview with author, Feb. 23, 2015.
Reagan planned to resist: David Johnston, “Reagan Objects to Appearing as Witness for North,” New York Times, Mar. 30, 1989.
“Just answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’”: Fred Ryan, interview, MCPA, May 25, 2004, p. 20.
Bud McFarlane had already testified: “Reagan made the call and the ammunition reached the rebels.” Also, “The memo [for the air-drop], from North to McFarlane, was marked ‘President approves.’” Both quotes in Ed Magnuson, “Did He Lie?” Time, Mar. 27, 1989.
North’s defense suggested the president: David Johnston, “North Trial Challenges Image of Aloof Reagan,” New York Times, Mar. 20, 1989.
“This is where I restore”: Robert Ajemian, “Where the Skies Are Not Cloudy,” Time, Jan. 5, 1981.
“the wildness of the place”: Ibid.
“Reagan loved to drive”: John Barletta, interview with author, Apr. 1, 2015.
whose “attractive honorarium”: Charles Wick, quoted in Steven R. Weisman, “Japan Bids Welcome (in 7 Figures) to Reagan,” New York Times, May 10, 1989, p. 7.
“bucked wildly several times”: Mark Weinberg, quoted in “Reagan Is Injured in Fall Off Horse,” Robert Pear, New York Times, July 5, 1989.
“He landed quite hard”: Carl Janisch, interview with author, Oct. 13, 2014.
“The one thing he made”: Fred Ryan, interview with author, May 13, 2015.
“he was not quite himself”: “People who saw him there said he was not quite himself.” Mark Weinberg, interview with author, July 8, 2014.
“How good it is”: Vin Scully, quoted in Dave Anderson, “Reagan ‘Uptight’ in Booth,” New York Times, July 12, 1989.
“There is something wrong”: NR, quoted in Joanne Drake, interview with author, Mar. 30, 2015.
“one burr hole roughly”: Lawrence K. Altman, “Reagan Faces Added Risk of Clot,” New York Times, Sept. 12, 1989.
“Nothing is without risk”: Mayo Clinic doctor, quoted in Mark Weinberg, interview with author, July 8, 2014.
“I want to be able”: NR, quoted in Mark Weinberg, interview with author, July 8, 2014.
“bring back decency”: RR, quoted in Steven R. Weisman, “Reagan Sees Virtue in Sale of Studio to Sony,” New York Times, Nov. 26, 1989.
“Former Presidents haven’t”: “Ronald Reagan, Still Hiding,” New York Times, Feb. 7, 1990, p. A24.
the Victory Lap: “That was the one we internally dubbed . . . ” Fred Ryan, interview with author, May 13, 2015.
“We furnished him with a chisel”: Ibid.
“It’s just plain common sense”: RR, address, George Washington University, Mar. 30, 1991.
“He had given Jim”: Mark Weinberg, interview with author, Apr. 28, 2015.
“He was very moved”: Doug Wick, interview with author, Feb. 9, 2015.
“I’m not interested in”: Elizabeth Glaser, quoted in Mark Weinberg, interview with author, Apr. 28, 2015.
“It was surreal”: Joanne Drake, interview with author, Mar. 30, 2015.
“a political prophet”: George Bush, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library dedication, Nov. 4, 1991, quoted in Robert Reinhold, “4 Presidents Join Reagan in Dedicating His Library,” New York Times, Nov. 5, 1991; George Skelton and Bill Stall, “Nostalgic Ceremony Opens Reagan Library,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 5, 1991.
“our best hope to build”: RR, dinner address to New Hampshire Conservative Political Victory Fund, Feb. 8, 1992, quoted in Steven V. Holmes, “Reagan Endorses Bush as ‘Best Hope’ for Nation,” New York Times, Feb. 9, 1992.
“[Bush] doesn’t seem to stand”: “The former president later denied ever making the remark.” RR, quoted, “Reagan and Bush: Call It a Snub,” Newsweek, Mar. 9, 1992.
“personally and very hard”: Joanne Drake, interview with author, Mar. 30, 2015.
“intrigued, even fascinated”: Fred Ryan, interview with author, May 13, 2015; “President Reagan was actually a little bit fascinated, almost intrigued.” Fred Ryan, interview, MCPA, May 25, 2004, p. 22.
“throwing a snappy ‘high ball’”: Charles Doe, “After a Ragged Start, President Bill Clinton Has Finally . . . ” UPI, Apr. 2, 1993.
Still, Reagan encouraged him: “He stood up and showed him how to salute. ‘You’ll never go wrong,’ he told Clinton.” Joanne Drake, interview with author, Mar. 30, 2015.
“the hand had to come up”: Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, “Secrets of the Presidents’ Club: How Bill Clinton Learned to Salute,” Time, Apr. 17, 2012.
FORTY-SIX: “THE SUNSET”
“He was seated in the chair”: Richard V. Allen, interview, MCPA, May 28, 2002, p. 68.
“He always knew when”: Joanne Drake, interview with author, Mar. 30, 2015.
the president’s annual checkup: “Five of his doctors said the diagnosis had become apparent from checkups during the last year.” Lawrence K. Altman, “Reagan’s Illness Afflicts Millions in Varying Ways,” New York Times, Nov. 7, 1994.
“for a few years before”: RR, quoted in Ibid.<
br />
“he expected them to check”: Lawrence K. Altman, “While Known for Being Forgetful, Reagan Was Mentally Sound in Office, Doctors Say,” New York Times, Oct. 5, 1997.
he raised his glass: Edmund Morris, Dutch (New York: Random House, 1999), p. 656.
“He couldn’t acclimate”: Fred Ryan, interview with author, May 13, 2015.
“something didn’t seem quite right”: Fred Ryan, interview, MCPA, May 25, 2004, p. 28.
“Which way are we leaving”: Ibid.
He related how Nixon: Hugh Sidey, “Richard Nixon: Fanfare for an Uncommon Man,” Time, May 9, 1994.
“George Bush told friends”: Hugh Sidey, “Ronald Reagan: The Sunset of my Life,” Time, Nov. 14, 1994.
“We’re seeing memory loss”: Ibid.
“now forgets the punch lines”: Lawrence K. Altman, “Reagan Discloses His Alzheimer’s,” New York Times, Nov. 13, 1994.
“I have this condition”: RR, quoted in Patti Davis, “The Faces of Alzheimer’s,” Time, Sept. 26, 2002.
“She was quite upset”: Fred Ryan, interview with author, May 13, 2015.
“He made it clear”: Fred Ryan, interview, MCPA, May 25, 2004, p. 30.
He called up the image: Ibid.
“for my own self amusement”: Maureen Dowd, “Reagan Burnishes Image with Soulful Harmonica,” New York Times, Apr. 3, 1994.
“He was really taken”: Joanne Drake, interview with author, Mar. 30, 2015.
“still fairly coherent”: Edward Rowney, interview, MCPA, May 17, 2006, p. 19.
“final letting go”: Morris, Dutch, p. 666; “Dad seemed to relinquish himself to the disease.” Ron Reagan, My Father at 100 (New York: Viking, 2011), p. 220.
In any case, John Barletta: John Barletta, interview with author, Apr. 1, 2015.
“She ached for him”: Doug Wick, interview with author, Feb. 9, 2015.
“was often wandering somewhere”: Reagan, My Father at 100, p. 8.
“There’s a game”: Ibid., p. 141.
Friends were no longer invited: “Well, now we don’t have visitors.” NR, quoted in “Reagan’s Condition Worsening, Wife Says,” New York Times, Dec. 19, 1999.
“He was sort of there”: Ron Reagan, interview with Larry King, Larry King Live, June 23, 2004, transcript.
