The Reagan Diaries

More from The Reagan Diaries, edited by Douglas Brinkley, which I'm studying carefully (I remember all this stuff--I was in college). Let's see. Again, Reagan always gave the impression publicly that he was committed to tax-cutting--and he was privately, too. April 26, 1982: "A budget meeting--tomorrow the gang goes back at it with the Demos tomorrow. I felt they were tiring a bit and the Demos are holding out for more concessions. The D's are playing games--they want me to rescind the 3rd yr. of the tax cut--Not in a million years!"

Reagan could be tough; and he was smarter than people gave him credit for being. One way to see this is to look at one's ability to boil down complex issues. Reagan could. For example, later in 1982 he wasn't sorry to his first Secretary of State, Al Haig, resign. Haig constantly complained about others in the administration undercutting him. Reagan dismissed this as paranoia. Finally Haig resigned and Reagan accepted it. On June 25, 1982, Reagan watched Haig give his public statement on his resignation: "He gave only one reason and did say there was a disagreement on foreign policy. Actually the only disagreement was over whether I made policy or the Sec. of State did." On another occasion (August 10, 1982), an old conservative supporter, Richard Viguerie, wrote him in supposed "sorrow" on how in the minds of some on the Right, Reagan wasn't being conservative enough. "He used crocodile tears for ink," Reagan mused. On March 16, 1983 an elderly, retired former leader of Lebanon visited Reagan in the White House and lauded him for not retreating in his attempts to get foreign troops out of his country. "I told him I didn't have any reverse gear," Reagan wrote later.

Reagan loved to watch movies in the evenings; sometimes they were old westerns, but usually they were the latest big releases from Hollywood. He thought "9 to 5" was funny but didn't like the scene where Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, and Lily Tomlin were all smoking pot--he thought it glorified drug usage. He looked forward to seeing "E.T." He thought (August 13, 1982) that "An Officer and a Gentleman" was "good", but was "spoiled by language, nudity and sex."

Reagan never indicated this publicly, but privately he could be very critical of his fellow Republicans. On December 7, 1982, the administration lost a key vote in the House on the MX missile (for which Reagan wanted funding) on which 50 Republicans defected to the anti-MX side. "We had rabbits when we needed tigers," Reagan wrote dejectedly. On April 7, 1983, Reagan called the ranking Republican senator on the Senate Budget Committee, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, to urge him to hold off for a few days on voting on the defense budget allocation, which faced a crucial vote before the committee. Reagan wanted more time to discuss a more "reasonable proposal." "He refused & I got mad," Reagan then wrote. "These supposed to be Republicans went ahead and cut in half the increase we'd asked for. The Russians must be very happy tonite."

But at the time, we never knew this. Reagan kept all this kind of stuff in-house (and I suspect quickly got over it).

More often he blasted the Democratic opposition--on February 25, 1983, he called them "Demagogs."

More in coming days...

The Reagan Diaries

So I've begun reading The Reagan Diaries, Ronald Reagan's near-daily diary of his life and times in the White House (edited by the historian Douglas Brinkley). It's fascinating; partly because, as an historian, I love to read and deconstruct these behind-the-scenes accounts from the powerful; and because I was in college and grad school during Reagan's presidency, followed politics and current events closely, and remember a lot of this stuff very well. So as i go through it, I'll give occasional updates on my findings and impressions...

So far I'm through 1981. Impressions: 1] The diary has the smack of authenticity. It sounds like the Reagan I remember from the '80s--now speaking to us through his diary. I remember, for example, that occasionally during his presidency Reagan received criticism on religious grounds. After all, complained the critics, he claims to believe in God, but he almost never attends church! It was reported in response that Reagan wanted to attend church, but believed that the tremendous security he required (especially after Hinckley's assassination attempt on him), his motorcade, etc was too much of a distraction. And so he reports in his diary. Several times he wrote during 1981 that he "felt bad" about not going to church, but hated the trouble he believed his security, entourage, etc caused. He did say that he believed that spending time at Camp David, riding, walking in the woods, was a way to show reverence for and think about "God's world", as he put it. And after he recovered from the assassination attempt, he wrote that he believed God had a special mission for him and that was why he was spared. 2] Reagan worked harder than his critics at the time believed. I well remember his political opponents and others arguing in the '80s that Reagan was a know-nothing who didn't work hard. But in his diary, he repeatedly notes spending many hours--on Saturdays and Sundays especially--"at the desk" as he put it, reading reports, papers, doing other paperwork. 3] He knew who our enemies were. He intended to be tough with them. Examples---entry for Feb. 11, 1981: "Intelligence reports say Castro is very worried about me. I'm very worried that wwe can't come up with something to justify his worrying." May 28, 1981, concerning the Soviet Union's human rights policies, especially their refusal to allow noted political dissident Anatoly Scharansky to leave the country: "Damn those inhuman monsters. [Scharansky] is said to be down to 100 lbs and very ill. I promised I'd do everything I could to obtain his release & I will." On Saddam Hussein, June 11th, 1981: "Saddam Hussein is a 'no good nut' and I think he was trying to build a nuclear weapon. He has called for the destruction of Israel & he wants to be the leader of the Arab world--that's why he invaded Iran." `October 6, 1981---Anwar Sadat, the leader of Egypt, had been assassinated, and Muammar Khadafy was celebrating the event publicly...Reagan's response? "I'm trying not to feel hatred for those who did this foul deed but I can't make it. Khadafy gloating on TV, his people jubilantly celebrating in the streets. He is beneath contempt." More on the Diaries soon.