by H. W. Brands
20. “It’s morning again in America”: Reagan campaign commercial, youtube.com.
CHAPTER 70
1. “The press is now trying”: Diary entry for Nov. 7, 1984.
2. “Tip O’Neill told me”: Diary entry for Jan. 21, 1985.
3. “The Soviets are afraid”: Minutes of National Security Planning Group meeting, Nov. 30, 1984, Reagan Library.
4. “We and the Soviet Union”: Minutes of National Security Planning Group meeting, Dec. 5, 1984, Reagan Library.
5. “He could well be”: Diary entry for Dec. 12, 1984.
6. “I hope we’re making them realize”: Diary entry for Jan. 30, 1985.
7. “I believe we’ll have”: Diary entry for March 4, 1985.
8. “Tip surprised me”: Diary entry for March 7, 1985.
CHAPTER 71
1. “Awakened at 4 A.M.”: Diary entry for March 11, 1985.
2. “We knew a lot about him”: Gates, Out of the Shadows, 327–28.
3. “If Gorbachev is chosen”: Ibid., 329.
4. “I think it was Jim Baker”: George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed (1998), 4.
5. “Gorbachev started”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 529.
6. “As you assume your new responsibilities”: Reagan to Gorbachev, March 11, 1985, Reagan Library.
7. “President Reagan told me”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 531–32.
8. “Gorbachev will package”: Bush and Scowcroft, World Transformed, 4.
CHAPTER 72
1. “I reflected”: Regan, For the Record, 236–45. Also Baker, Work Hard, 209–10.
2. “Possible Secretary of State”: Undated notes, Baker Papers, Princeton.
3. “How would we approach”: Regan, For the Record, 249; Baker, Work Hard, 211.
4. “It’s time for a change”: Baker, Work Hard, 211.
5. “In my innocence”: Regan, For the Record, 251.
6. “Mr. President, I’ve brought you”: Ibid., 249–56; Baker, Work Hard, 211–12.
CHAPTER 73
1. “I feel very strongly”: Reagan news conference, March 21, 1985.
2. “President Reagan apparently believes”: New York Times, March 30, 1985.
3. “in a spirit of reconciliation”: New York Times, April 12, 1985.
4. “All it would do”: Reagan remarks to editors and broadcasters, April 18, 1985.
5. “To equate the fate”: New York Times, April 19, 1985.
6. “But, Mr. President”: Wiesel remarks at White House ceremony, April 19, 1985.
7. “The commitment in question”: Regan, For the Record, 287–91.
8. “The press had a field day”: Diary entry for April 5–14, 1985.
9. “Helmut may very well”: Diary entry for April 15, 1985.
10. “The press has the bit”: Diary entry for April 16, 1985.
11. “quite emotional”: Regan notes, April 19, 1985, Donald Regan Papers, Library of Congress.
12. “He told me my remarks”: Diary entry for April 19, 1985.
13. “I was very proud”: Bush to Reagan, undated, included in Reagan diary entry for April 19, 1985.
14. “The uproar about my trip”: Diary entry for April 22, 1985.
15. “Every day seems to begin”: Diary entry for April 24, 1985.
16. “He said I had won the heart”: Diary entry for May 2, 1985.
17. “In all our motoring”: Diary entry for May 3, 1985.
18. “You don’t belong there”: New York Times, May 6, 1985.
19. “For year after year”: Reagan remarks at Bergen-Belsen, May 5, 1985.
CHAPTER 74
1. “Few presidents”: Regan, For the Record, 295.
2. “It was the morally right thing”: Diary entry for May 5, 1985.
3. “They were quite emotional”: Diary entry for May 6, 1985.
4. “I was furious”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, 63.
5. “If, by some miracle”: Ibid., 312.
6. “I enjoy this job”: Regan to Michael McCarthy, Nov. 4, 1986, Regan Papers, Library of Congress.
7. “Instead, Ronald Reagan”: Regan, For the Record, 298–300.
CHAPTER 75
1. “Our options were few”: American Life, 492.
2. “The U.S. at the highest level”: Diary entry for June 17, 1985.
3. “You can’t square that circle”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 656.
4. “Sir, can this be negotiated?”: Reagan exchange with reporters, June 16, 1985.
5. “America will never make concessions”: Reagan news conference, June 18, 1985.
6. “The Israelis are not”: Diary entry for June 20, 1985.
7. “loused things up”: Diary entry for June 21, 1985.
8. “It has been the position”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 664.
9. “It was a nice homecoming”: Diary entry for July 2, 1985.
CHAPTER 76
1. “I sat in the waiting room”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, 271–73.
2. “Nancy Reagan stammers”: Regan, For the Record, 3.
3. “I meant, of course”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, 275.
4. “I feared two things”: Regan, For the Record, 3–5.
5. “Rumsfeld’s Rules”: Undated memo [late 1980], Baker Papers, Princeton.
6. “Nobody elected you”: Baker interview with author.
7. “President Reagan’s chief of staff”: New York Times, July 15, 1985.
8. “For the first few months”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, 312–13.
9. “The Russians have dropped”: Regan, For the Record, 10–15.
CHAPTER 77
1. “Let it mature”: Regan notes of meeting with Kissinger, March 13, 1985, Regan Papers, Library of Congress.
2. “They will spring a surprise”: Regan notes of meeting with Brzezinski, July 23, 1985, Regan Papers, Library of Congress.
3. “Caspar Weinberger was utterly convinced”: Jack F. Matlock Jr., Reagan and Gorbachev (2004), 114–15.
4. “While some Soviet officials”: Gates, From the Shadows, 331–32.
5. “I’m fed up”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 564–66.
6. “Our guest sang”: Diary entry for May 26, 1985.
7. “Bill, I think Gorbachev”: Gates to Casey, Sept. 3, 1985, in Gates, From the Shadows, 342.
8. “Even before it was decided”: Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev, 132–33.
9. “I want the best minds”: McFarlane interview.
10. “He would devour them”: Ibid.
11. “He was interested mainly”: Jack Matlock interview with author.
12. “Very, very quick”: McFarlane interview.
13. “In many ways”: Matlock interview.
14. “I described for Reagan”: Gates, From the Shadows, 343–44.
CHAPTER 78
1. “I believe Gorbachev”: Reagan memo, undated [Nov. 1985], in Anderson and Anderson, Reagan’s Secret War, 223–27.
2. “The Soviet violations”: Weinberger to Reagan, Nov. 13, 1985, in New York Times, Nov. 16, 1985.
3. “Shultz detested Weinberger”: Gates interview.
4. “Weinberger’s letter”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 598.
5. “I was surprised”: Shultz interview with author.
6. “Sure it was”: Washington Post, Nov. 17, 1985; Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 598; McFarlane interview.
7. “It was written to be leaked”: Matlock interview; Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev, 150.
8. “Reagan himself was pretty calm”: Matlock interview.
9. “I think Reagan wanted conflict”: Gates interview.
10. “Reagan was going to do”: Ken Adelman interview with author.
11. “No”: New York Times, Nov. 18, 1985.
CHAPTER 79
1. “Lord I hope I’m ready”: Diary entry for Nov. 18, 1985.
2. “President Reagan began”: Memo of conversation of first private meeting at Geneva, Nov. 19, 1985, Reagan Library.
3. “We did an hour”:
Diary entry for Nov. 19, 1985.
4. “Are you out of your mind?”: Shultz interview, Miller Center.
5. “If the two of us”: Memo of conversation of first plenary meeting at Geneva, Nov. 19, 1985, Reagan Library.
6. “Twenty years ago”: Memo of conversation of second plenary meeting, Nov. 19, 1985, Reagan Library.
7. Reagan presented a written outline: Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev, 158–59.
8. “He’s adamant”: Diary entry for Nov. 19, 1985.
9. “You sure are wrong”: Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev, 161–62.
10. “The stuff really hit the fan”: Diary entry for Nov. 20, 1985.
11. “As we flew home”: American Life, 640–41.
CHAPTER 80
1. “As I reread the minutes”: Mikhail Gorbachev, Memoirs (1996), 405–9.
2. “Our people”: Reagan to Gorbachev, Nov. 28, 1985, Reagan Library.
3. “I would like”: Gorbachev to Reagan, Dec. 24, 1985 (translation by State Department), Reagan Library.
4. “We can have a real reduction”: Diary entry for March 24, 1986.
5. “Given this situation”: Reagan statement, May 27, 1986.
6. “It’s a hell of a propaganda move”: Diary entry for Jan. 15, 1986.
7. “My feeling is”: Diary entry for April 8, 1986.
8. “mountain of lies”: Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev, 189.
9. “The tragedy of Chernobyl”: Gorbachev, Memoirs, 412.
10. “The Americans continued”: Ibid., 412–13.
CHAPTER 81
1. “It was just a very traumatic experience”: Peggy Noonan, What I Saw at the Revolution (1990), 254–55.
2. “Today is a day”: Reagan remarks, Jan. 28, 1986.
3. “When the president finished”: Noonan, What I Saw, 257–58.
CHAPTER 82
1. “He’s a madman”: Diary entry for June 1, 1981.
2. “There’s been a lot of talk”: Reagan remarks and question-and-answer session, Aug. 20, 1981.
3. “It’s a strange feeling”: Diary entry for Aug. 6–Sept. 3, 1981.
4. “In other words”: Diary entry for Oct. 6, 1981.
5. “Terror is Libya’s second largest industry”: Minutes of NSC meeting, Dec. 8, 1981, Reagan Library.
6. “The press is beginning to charge”: Diary entry for Dec. 8, 1981.
7. “If Mr. Q. decides”: Diary entry for Jan. 7, 1986.
8. “U.S. forces will continue”: Reagan to speaker of the House and president pro tem of the Senate, March 26, 1986.
9. “We learned that in response”: Gates, From the Shadows, 353.
10. “On March 25th”: Reagan address, April 14, 1986.
CHAPTER 83
1. “immoral, evil and totally un-Christian”: New York Times, Dec. 5, 1984.
2. “It’s a nostalgic occasion”: Reagan toast, Sept. 16, 1982.
3. “I know there are things”: Reagan-Mondale debate, Oct. 21, 1984.
4. “I went through all of these matters”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 613.
5. “I suspect an element”: Diary entry for Oct. 22, 1985.
6. “This was a complete graveyard trip”: Laxalt interview.
7. “He was telling me”: Ibid.
8. “It’s a touchy mess”: Diary entry for Nov. 14, 1985.
9. “This election”: Reagan statement, Jan. 30, 1986.
10. “Mr. President, will the U.S.”: Reagan exchange with reporters, Feb. 7, 1986.
11. “You called for”: Reagan interview, Feb. 10, 1986.
12. “The determination of the government”: Reagan news conference, Feb. 11, 1986.
13. “Although our observation delegation”: Reagan statement, Feb. 15, 1986.
14. “The dominant view”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 630–31.
15. “He called in panic”: Laxalt interview.
16. “There were long silences”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 637; Laxalt interview.
17. “I phoned President Marcos”: Diary entry for April 26, 1986.
18. “She’s quite something”: New York Times, Nov. 16, 1988.
CHAPTER 84
1. “His daily schedule”: Regan, For the Record, 303–5, 309–12.
2. “When you open up the whole code”: Ibid., 14.
3. “We have made one great dramatic step”: Reagan address, May 28, 1985.
4. “Here the arguments”: Reagan remarks in Williamsburg, May 30, 1985.
5. “Do the people of Oshkosh”: Reagan remarks, May 30, 1985.
6. “Someone might say”: Reagan remarks at Northside High School, Atlanta, June 6, 1985.
7. “His indecisiveness”: Baker interview with author.
8. “The president was humiliated”: Baker, Work Hard, 229.
9. “Tax reform”: Baker to Reagan, Dec. 2, 1985, Baker Papers, Princeton.
10. “It was a straight talk session”: Diary entry for Dec. 16, 1985.
11. “We assembled a team”: Baker, Work Hard, 230.
12. “Let the bill take effect”: New York Times, Oct. 23, 1986.
13. “I think this bill”: Washington Post, Oct. 23, 1986.
14. “The journey’s been long”: Reagan remarks, Oct. 22, 1986.
15. “velvet-hammered charm”: Greg Leo interview with author.
16. “Al Simpson came by”: Diary entry for Oct. 16, 1986.
17. “It will remove”: Reagan signing statement, Nov. 6, 1986.
18. “It enables millions”: United Press International, Nov. 7, 1986.
19. “It turns a personnel manager”: Crain’s Chicago Business, Oct. 27, 1986.
20. “I think the only people”: Associated Press, Oct. 30, 1986.
21. “It is another disappointing chapter”: United Press International, Oct. 17, 1986.
22. “The act will undoubtedly exacerbate”: New York Times, Nov. 13, 1986.
CHAPTER 85
1. “He worried about them personally”: John Poindexter interview with author.
2. “Reagan was agonized”: Shultz interview with author.
3. “It just drove him crazy”: Shultz interview, Miller Center.
4. “Some strange soundings”: Diary entry for July 17, 1985.
5. “To reverse our present policy”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 793–94.
6. “This is almost too absurd”: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair (1988), 148.
7. “Under no circumstances”: Weinberger, Fighting for Peace, 363–64.
8. “a new, international version”: Reagan remarks, July 8, 1985.
9. “America will never make concessions”: Reagan news conference, June 18, 1985.
10. “McFarlane is a man”: Weinberger, Fighting for Peace, 360, 364.
11. “Middle East/hostage release/problem”: Regan, For the Record, 22–23.
12. “Yes, go ahead”: Tower Commission Report (New York Times ed., 1987), 26.
13. “Bud came by”: Diary entry for July 18, 1985.
14. “I thought that the president agreed”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 796.
15. “I received a ‘secret’ phone call”: Diary entry for Aug. 11–Sept. 1, 1985.
16. delivered some five hundred TOW missiles: Ibid.
17. “A call from Bud M.”: Diary entry for Sept. 15, 1985.
18. “Rev. Weir and his family”: Diary entry for Sept. 17, 1985.
19. “Word came”: Diary entry for Oct. 9, 1985.
20. “The big news”: Diary entry for Oct. 11, 1985.
21. “I called Mrs. Klinghoffer”: Diary entry for Oct. 12–14, 1985.
22. He judged: Tower Commission Report, 158.
23. “Subject was our hostages”: Diary entry for Nov. 22, 1985.
24. “We’re still sweating”: Diary entry for Nov. 23, 1985.
25. “Subject was our undercover effort”: Diary entry for Dec. 5, 1985.
26. “H-hr: 1 707”: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the
Iran-Contra Affair, 171.
27. “We are now so far”: Ibid.
28. “The president was profoundly concerned”: Ibid.
29. “I don’t think I could forgive myself”: Poindexter interview.
30. “This was a day”: Diary entry for Jan. 7, 1986.
31. “Some time ago”: Poindexter to Reagan, Jan. 17, 1986, National Security Archive.
32. “The USG”: “Finding Pursuant to Section 662 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961,” Jan. 17, 1986, National Security Archive.
33. “Only thing waiting”: Diary entry for Jan. 17, 1986.
34. One thousand TOW missiles were delivered: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, 185.
35. “This morning more word”: Diary entry for Feb. 28, 1986.
36. “We still don’t know”: Diary entry for May 27, 1986.
37. “And that’s just what we did”: Diary entry for May 28, 1986.
38. “Saturday good word”: Diary entry for July 26–27, 1986.
39. “The high spot of the day”: Diary entry for Aug. 1, 1986.
CHAPTER 86
1. “No funds available”: Boland Amendment, Oct. 12, 1984, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, 51.
2. “In NSC we’re putting”: Diary entry for April 3, 1985.
3. “Tip O’Neill and his cohorts”: Diary entry for April 4, 1985.
4. “Tip has engineered”: Diary entry for April 24, 1985.
5. “The United States has a clear”: Reagan report to Congress, April 10, 1985, Reagan Library.
6. “Met with Repub. Leadership”: Diary entry for May 21, 1985.
7. “Over to EOB … to address”: Diary entry for March 5, 1986.
8. “Over to EOB for a pitch”: Diary entry for March 10, 1986.
9. “Over to the Mayflower Hotel”: Diary entry for June 9, 1986.
