Reagan: The Life

by H. W. Brands

  3. “Who the hell”: Scott Eyman, The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926–1930 (1997), 70.

  4. “The making of any animal pictures”: Susan Orlean, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend (2011), 83.

  5. “The motion picture presents”: Harry Warner quoted in Neal Gabler, An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood (1988), 196.

  6. “Where in hell”: Reagan, “The Making of a Movie Star,” Des Moines Register, June 13, 1937, in Reagan, in His Own Hand, 435–36.

  7. “Kid, don’t worry”: American Life, 86.

  8. “Some day when the team’s up against it”: Reagan as George Gipp in Knute Rockne: All American (1940).

  9. “Look”: American Life, 93–94.

  10. “He was such a sunny person”: Edmund Morris, Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (1999), 153–54.

  11. “When Clark Gable”: Ibid., 154.

  12. Hollywood gossip and bits of circumstantial evidence: Ibid., 162–63.

  CHAPTER 4

  1. “When do I fight?”: Stephen Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood: Movies and Politics (1994), 71–72.

  2. “There was Harry Warner”: Ibid., 62.

  3. “If any more stuff”: Ibid., 43.

  4. accepted Hitler’s assurances: Gabler, Empire of Their Own, 338.

  5. “A lot of Jews”: Ibid.

  6. “Are we making it”: Ibid., 340, 343.

  7. “I started preparing”: American Life, 95–96.

  CHAPTER 5

  1. “live in infamy”: Roosevelt address to Congress, Dec. 8, 1941. Unless otherwise noted, public statements by presidents are taken from the Public Papers of the Presidents, hosted by the American Presidency Project, www.presidency.ucsb.edu.

  2. “I didn’t have a burning desire”: American Life, 75.

  3. “any time after that date”: Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, 107.

  4. “Jack, we’ve got enough pilots”: Jack L. Warner, My First Hundred Years in Hollywood, with Dean Jennings (1964), 281–82.

  5. “If we sent you overseas”: Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, 107.

  CHAPTER 6

  1. “At the end of World War II”: American Life, 105.

  2. “I was well fixed”: Rest of Me, 139–41.

  3. “Set Your Clock at U-235”: Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, 122; Paul Lettow, Ronald Reagan and His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (2005), 5.

  4. “I expected great things”: Rest of Me, 165.

  5. “I think your speech”: American Life, 106–7.

  6. “It sounded good to me”: Rest of Me, 166–68.

  CHAPTER 7

  1. “I couldn’t do that”: Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, 140.

  2. “The CSU strike was a phony”: American Life, 108.

  3. “Now!”: Rest of Me, 171–74.

  4. “We wangled a meeting”: Ibid., 148–52.

  CHAPTER 8

  1. “shocking piece of legislation”: Truman radio address, June 20, 1947.

  2. “We went into that meeting”: House of Representatives, 80th Cong., 1st sess., Hearings Before a Special Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor: Jurisdictional Disputes in the Motion-Picture Industry (1948), 349.

  3. “I am no longer neutral”: Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, 142.

  4. “We were scared to death”: Rest of Me, 173.

  5. “Reagan spoke very fast”: Reynold Humphries, Hollywood Blacklists (2008), 70.

  6. “Ronnie Reagan has turned out”: Marc Eliot, Reagan: The Hollywood Years (2008), 192.

  7. “Eddie Arnold and I”: Rest of Me, 175.

  CHAPTER 9

  1. “It is estimated”: Washington Post, Oct. 19, 1947.

  2. “Some of the most flagrant”: Los Angeles Times, Oct. 19, 1947.

  3. “Our committee’s job”: New York Times, Nov. 8, 1947.

  4. “The committee is well aware”: House of Representatives, 80th Cong., 1st sess., Hearings Before the Committee on Un-American Activities (1947), 1.

  5. “Ideological termites”: Ibid., 10–16.

  6. “I think you should tell”: Ibid., 55, 60, 66.

  7. “Communism is so completely opposed”: Ibid., 70–72.

  8. “You really lay it on the line”: Ibid., 68.

  9. “At meetings”: Ibid., 165, 168, 170.

  10. “They are well organized”: Ibid., 205.

  11. “I think there is communism”: Ibid., 211–12.

  12. “with a brief interlude”: Ibid., 213–18.

  CHAPTER 10

  1. “I don’t care to read”: Hearings Before the Committee on Un-American Activities, 290–95.

  2. “With no vested right”: New York Times, Oct. 26, 1947.

  3. “Members of the Association”: Larry Ceplair and Steven Englund, The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930–1960 (1983 ed.), 455.

  CHAPTER 11

  1. “to protect the industry”: Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, 153–54.

  2. He reported having encountered: San Jose Mercury News, Aug. 25, 1986. The basis of the Mercury News article was a newly released FBI file on Reagan.

  3. “I don’t go in for red-baiting”: Rest of Me, 170–71.

  4. “follow the Communist Party line”: San Jose Mercury News, Aug. 25, 1985. The names of the actors Reagan identified were redacted when the FBI file was released, but Seth Rosenfeld successfully appealed the redaction. Seth Rosenfeld, Subversives (2012), 127–28, 559. Rosenfeld’s book provides the fullest account of Reagan’s relationship with the FBI.

  5. “In all the battles”: Rest of Me, 158.

  6. “I think we both measured”: Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter (1989), 55.

  7. Years later Reagan was asked: Morris, Dutch, 267.

  CHAPTER 12

  1. “At the present moment”: Truman address to Congress, March 12, 1947.

  CHAPTER 13

  1. “His wife, Jane Wyman”: Edwards, Early Reagan, 356.

  2. “Reagan was a lonely guy”: Ibid., 357.

  3. “We got along well”: Stephen Michael Shearer, Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life (2006), 78.

  4. “To the finder”: Reagan to Jack Warner, Dec. 1948 (no day given), in Life in Letters, 136–37.

  5. “The president of the United States”: Shearer, Patricia Neal, 78.

  6. “Spence was the most charming”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn (1989), 79.

  7. By at least one account: Edwards, Early Reagan, 394.

  8. “There was a lot of political talk”: Ibid.

  9. “I can’t do that”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, 95–96.

  10. “I wish I could report”: Ibid., 97, 106.

  11. “The truth is”: Rest of Me, 236.

  12. “That hurt”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, 97–99.

  13. “Gradually I came out”: Rest of Me, 237.

  14. “I began to believe”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, 99–100.

  15. “Your letter led me to believe”: Reagan to Florence Yerly, Dec. 17, 1951, in Life in Letters, 139–40.

  16. “Go ahead and count”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, 103.

  17. “I spent the entire day”: Ibid., 101.

  CHAPTER 14

  1. “I don’t feel that strangers”: Reagan to Jack Warner, May 3, 1950, in Life in Letters, 137–38.

  2. “Let me make one thing plain”: Rest of Me, 223.

  3. “conspiracy so immense”: David M. Oshinsky, A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy (2005 ed.), 197.

  4. twenty million viewers: Encyclopedia of Television, edited by Horace Newcomb (2004 ed.), 1:136.

  5. “Have you no sense of decency”: Oshinsky, Conspiracy So Immense, 463.

  CHAPTER 15

  1. “A star doesn’t slip”: Los Angeles Times, Aug. 27, 1950.

  2. “I sat down”: Rest of Me, 245.

  3. “the fattest TV deal”: Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1954.

  4. “In the old days”: Washington Post and Times Herald, Apr
il 3, 1955.

  5. “We have Fred Astaire”: Los Angeles Times, Oct. 27, 1957.

  6. “never suggested”: Rest of Me, 263, 266.

  7. “Suddenly, realization dawned”: Ibid., 269–70.

  8. “Looking back now”: American Life, 128–29.

  9. “The men would all stand”: Earl Dunckel interview, Bancroft Library.

  10. “I still can’t think”: American Life, 128.

  11. “He was interested”: Thomas W. Evans, The Education of Ronald Reagan: The General Electric Years and the Untold Story of His Conversion to Conservatism (2006), 53, 75.

  12. “Ron had the dope”: Edwards, Early Reagan, 171.

  13. “One day I came home”: American Life, 132.

  14. “Well, no, I haven’t”: Ibid., 136.

  CHAPTER 16

  1. “dime store New Deal”: Goldwater obituary, Washington Post, May 30, 1998.

  2. “Sometimes I think this country”: Ibid.

  3. “you have too often”: Ibid.

  4. “I needn’t remind you”: Goldwater acceptance speech, July 16, 1964, American Presidency Project.

  5. “The stakes are too high”: Gary Donaldson, Liberalism’s Last Hurrah: The Presidential Campaign of 1964 (2003), 247.

  CHAPTER 17

  1. “I’ve never had a mail reaction”: Los Angeles Times, Nov. 29, 1964.

  2. “It’s 14 months away”: Ibid.

  3. “The conservative philosophy”: Los Angeles Times, Nov. 11, 1964.

  4. “I hope I could turn it down”: Los Angeles Times, Nov. 15, 1964.

  5. “I have some other thoughts”: Washington Post, Nov. 26, 1964.

  6. “I have a dream”: Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream,” Aug. 28, 1963, americanrhetoric.com.

  7. “Because, Bill”: Randall B. Woods, LBJ: Architect of American Ambition (2006), 480.

  8. “I, too, learned to shout”: Los Angeles Times, Aug. 14 and 15, 1965.

  CHAPTER 18

  1. “Each individual”: Los Angeles Times, Jan. 13, 1965.

  2. “I don’t believe”: Los Angeles Times, April 24, 1965.

  3. “I’m all for it”: Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1965.

  4. “socialized medicine”: Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1965.

  5. “The most startling fact”: Washington Post, June 17, 1965.

  6. “He is developing”: Buckley syndicated column in Los Angeles Times, Dec. 17, 1965.

  7. “citizen politician”: Los Angeles Times and New York Times, Jan. 5, 1966.

  8. “Of course, the chairman”: Lyn Nofziger interview, Miller Center.

  9. “I will have no word of criticism”: Los Angeles Times, Jan. 5, 1966.

  10. “blanket indictments”: Los Angeles Times, April 8 and Sept. 24, 1965.

  11. “I resent”: Los Angeles Times, March 7, 1966.

  12. “I believe”: Los Angeles Times, March 12 and June 2, 1966.

  13. “I was not a big fan”: Michael Deaver interview, Miller Center.

  14. “The California primary results”: Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1966.

  15. “Pat is a nice man”: Lyn Nofziger interview, Bancroft Library.

  16. “Boy, I dream”: Los Angeles Times, July 3 and Sept. 24, 1966.

  CHAPTER 19

  1. Warren Weaver Jr.: New York Times, Nov. 10, 1966.

  2. “I am honored and flattered”: Washington Post, Nov. 21, 1966.

  3. “This is the document”: New York Times, Dec. 29, 1966.

  4. “Government is the people’s business”: Reagan inaugural address as governor, Jan. 5, 1967, Reagan Library.

  5. “He had the underlying philosophy”: William Clark interview, Miller Center.

  6. “My father was a very private person”: Ron Reagan interview with author.

  7. “All of those guys”: Deaver interview.

  8. “RECORD TAX HIKE”: Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1967.

  9. “I’m willing to take”: Lou Cannon, Governor Reagan (2003), 200.

  10. “It is a very profound”: Los Angeles Times, May 10, 1967.

  11. “I am satisfied”: Los Angeles Times, May 24, 1967.

  12. “I am confident”: Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1967.

  CHAPTER 20

  1. “noncandidate”: New York Times, April 3, 1968.

  2. “Naturally I was interested”: Los Angeles Times, April 17, 1968.

  3. “I’ll wait till such a thing happens”: Reagan press conference notes, March 5, 1968, Reagan Library.

  4. “At close range”: New York Times, April 28, 1968.

  5. “The nation is totally out of control”: Los Angeles Times, May 19, 1968.

  6. “I do not believe”: Washington Post, July 6, 1968.

  7. “I have not solicited”: Los Angeles Times, July 25, 1968.

  8. “I won’t be a reluctant candidate”: Cannon, Governor Reagan, 266.

  9. “Young man”: Nofziger interview, Miller Center.

  10. “At that point”: New York Times, July 28, 1968.

  11. “This nation cannot survive”: New York Times, Aug. 8, 1968.

  CHAPTER 21

  1. “The overwhelming majority”: Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1966.

  2. “Don’t Loot the Colleges”: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 12, 1967.

  3. “I wouldn’t miss this”: Clark interview, Miller Center.

  4. “A funny thing happened”: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 12, 1967.

  5. “You are a hero to some”: Cannon, Governor Reagan, 290.

  6. “extreme emergency”: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 6, 1969.

  7. “After the property was cleared”: Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1969.

  8. “In the past eleven months”: Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1969.

  9. “I remember one”: Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1969.

  CHAPTER 22

  1. “cowardly little bums”: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 1970.

  2. “Appeasement is not the answer”: Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1970.

  3. “There comes a time”: Ibid.

  4. “It isn’t very important”: Los Angeles Times, April 22, 1970.

  5. “That sound you hear”: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 8, 1970.

  CHAPTER 23

  1. “Mandated by statute”: Reagan’s second inaugural address, Jan. 4, 1971, governors.library.ca.gov.

  2. “I believe that the government”: Cannon, Governor Reagan, 352–53.

  3. “Nixon sent several people”: Deaver interview.

  4. “I remember”: Cannon, Governor Reagan, 356.

  5. “the most significant foreign policy achievement”: Robert Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power (2007), 293.

  6. “Seize the day”: Nixon toast, Feb. 21, 1972.

  7. “sovereignty, equality, non-interference”: Raymond L. Garthoff, Détente and Confrontation: American-Soviet Relations from Nixon to Reagan (1994 ed.), 327.

  CHAPTER 24

  1. “Walter Cronkite”: Deaver interview.

  2. “Finally, one day”: Ibid.

  3. “When we withdrew”: Reagan radio commentary, April 1975 (no day given), in Reagan, in His Own Hand, 48–49.

  4. “The Russians want”: Reagan radio commentary, Oct. 1975, in Reagan, in His Own Hand, 26–31.

  5. “some activities”: Report to the President by the Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States, June 1975, 10.

  6. “In any bureaucracy”: Washington Post, June 3, 1975.

  CHAPTER 25

  1. “We were on a plane”: Deaver interview.

  2. “Our nation’s capital”: New York Times, Nov. 21, 1975.

  3. “I was trembling”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, 183.

  CHAPTER 26

  1. “For thirty-five years”: Michael Reagan, On the Outside Looking In (1988), 30, 33, 96, 122–24.

  2. “He looked at me quizzically”: Ibid., 142–43.

  3. “The consultants were very nervous”: Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter, 146–47.

  4. “They felt we m
ade Dad”: Michael Reagan, On the Outside, 142–43, 147.

  CHAPTER 27

  1. A Gallup survey: New York Times, Dec. 12, 1975.

  2. “We’ve got to go out there”: Nofziger interview, Miller Center.

  3. “The press could see it”: Deaver interview.

  4. “That was the start”: Nofziger interview, Miller Center.

  5. “Nancy was most unhappy”: Ibid.

  6. “What Sears thought”: Ibid.

  7. “The Southern Reagan thing”: Deaver interview.

  8. “The Republican party needs to lose”: Washington Post, Aug. 19, 1976.

  9. “You know, Mr. President”: James A. Baker III, “Work Hard, Study … and Keep Out of Politics!”: Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life (2006), 2–3.

  10. “Sure, there’s disappointment”: New York Times, Aug. 20, 1976.

  11. “He damn near took us down”: James Baker interview with author.

  CHAPTER 28

  1. “We might never have lost to Carter”: Baker interview with author.

  2. “Once upon a time”: Radio script, Nov. 16, 1976, in Reagan, in His Own Hand, 262–63.

  3. “The campaign goes on”: Radio script, July 6, 1977, in Reagan, in His Own Hand, 366–67.

  4. “They interviewed a product”: Radio script, Nov. 16, 1976, in Reagan, in His Own Hand, 342–43.

  5. “How much do you miss dinosaurs?”: Radio script, July 6, 1977, in Reagan, in His Own Hand, 329.

  6. “The EPA back in 1972”: Radio script, May 15, 1978, in Reagan, in His Own Hand, 333–34.