The Reagan Diaries

by Ronald Reagan

  Friday, February 25

  An interesting day. Anne (Gorsuch) Burford came in. She’s taken a beating due to a cluster of Demagogs—Dem. Congressmen trying to scare up a “sewer-gate” re the E.P.A. She wants to turn over all papers to the committees on the hill with no regard to what it does to “Executive Privilege.” She may have a point. Aided by the press they’ve created a false image making it look as if there is a scandal cover-up in E.P.A. I’ve set our people & I called Bill Smith to get into this and see if we shouldn’t do as she asks but at the same time, make it publicly clear we are doing it only to head off a lynch mob.

  [Closed-circuit appearance with high school students.]

  Saturday, February 26

  [Radiocast announced deregulation of natural gas, generating controversy over potential for price fluctuation.]

  Since compromise to make documents available to Cong. on E.P.A., the supposed scandal has moved to page 11. Congressional ardor has cooled now that they face about 800,000 documents which turn out to be bland, run of the mill reports with no smoking guns.

  Tomorrow we start trying to convince Congress we must have more money for El Salvador. We have an entire plan for bolstering the govt. forces. This is one we must win.

  Took time off to run slides & sound tape on “Shroud of Turin.” I’m convinced it is the burial cloth of Jesus and it certainly gives credence to the bodily ascension.

  Sunday, February 27

  St. Dinner tonite for Nat. Gov’s. Conf. Watched them this afternoon on TV. A half dozen Dem gov’s. kept sounding off on how our programs were unfair and favored the rich—paralyzed the poor. Their ans? cut defense spending. Our Bud. for H.H.S. is the biggest & highest % of Bud. in history. It is 36.7% of the bud. Defense is only 26.7%. Food stamps are budgeted at $4 bil. more than in 1980 and 3 mil. more people are getting them. As for taxes favoring the rich—they are 25% across the board and indexing the tax brackets does nothing for the rich—they are already in the top tax bracket. I’m host tonight—I’ll try not to get in an argument. Pearl Bailey entertains.

  [Monday, February 28: flew to California, met by Mrs. Reagan. Tuesday, March 1: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited, Mrs. Reagan left with them on the royal yacht, headed for San Francisco. Wednesday, March 2: ranch work. Thursday, March 3: in L.A. for address to Olympic fund-raisers; flew to San Francisco. Friday, March 4: meeting with Shultz, Clark, and Weinberger regarding El Salvador and Middle East, commented, “We’re stepping up the action”; enjoyable formal dinner on royal yacht. Saturday, March 5: flew to Oregon for speech to lumber-business group; met with Republican leaders; returned to W.H. Saturday, March 6: noted speech to San Francisco Commonwealth Club on previous Friday, with many old colleagues present; report that three Secret Service agents were killed in car accident en route to protecting royal entourage; phoned widows.]

  Monday, March 7

  Wash. Post carried leaks on meetings we held in S.F. last Friday. Met with delegation of Mayors—didn’t complain too much but of course want more money. Young high school science winners came in—amazing but majority were Japanese Am. Another meeting was with leaders of groups & org’s. joined in a cause called “Peace Through Strength”—they are (I’m happy to say) a counter lobby to the Nuclear Freeze people.

  Late afternoon met with Repub. Sens. & Reps.—only a few of leadership, & mainly armed services committees. The closest we’ve been to a real split in the ranks. The issue—the defense budget. They want still more cuts. We’ve done our own cutting and are to rock bottom. They say our Repub. Sens. won’t support present budget. I’m going to take our case to the people only this time we are declassifying some of our reports on the Soviets and can tell the people a few frightening facts. The d--n media has propagandized our people against our defense plans more than the Russians have. We are still dangerously behind the Soviets & getting farther behind.

  Tuesday, March 8

  In office early 8:30 for staff & N.S.C. daily meetings then a session with Bi-partisan Congressional leaders before leaving for speeches in Orlando Fla. Naturally, there is division on subject of aid to El Salvador—still I think we gained some points and cleared the air that we aren’t just seeking mil. aid.

  [Flew to Orlando, Florida, for meetings with high school students at Disney World and with Evangelical clergy; political fund-raiser.]

  Back to Wash. where it was raining cats and dogs & lots of lightning which doesn’t reassure you on the helicopter ride to the W.H.

  Lyn N. has evidenced a desire to come back to us. He wants to report directly to me—this, of course, is upsetting to Jim B. I’d like Lyn back but it’s a touchy thing to work out.

  Wednesday, March 9

  Meeting with Repub. Cong. leadership. Discussed strategy for all the major items on the legislative plate—El Salvador, Soc. security, withholding of inc. tax on Int. & dividends, our job bill. They seemed a little more upbeat than they’ve been. An N.S.C. meeting on El Salvador. It looks like we’ll have to redistribute funds from other countries to increase El S’s grant. Other actions such as providing AWAC’s info to them on ammo supply flights from Nicaragua to the rebels are proceeding as scheduled.

  Met with exec. comm. of Nat. Repub. Federated Women. A good but brief time. These ladies are so supportive.

  Ended afternoon by calling Mr. and Mrs. Carl Rossow in Conn. This couple had adopted 12 children—all as deformed or handicapped babies—the kind who usually are victims of infanticide. I talked to them & to all the children. You could feel the love & joy that is in that household. If ever one needed proof that God has a purpose for each one of us, let them meet the Rossows.

  Thursday, March 10

  A really hectic day with a lot of courtesy and ceremonial but I suppose necessary chores. High spot was a speech to the N.A.M. I suppose I fooled them somewhat by talking on El Salvador & why it was necessary that we help. The Soc. Security bill passed both houses with an amendment by Jake Pickle to increase age to 67 in year 2000. Today was the aftermath of an E.P.A. 3rd act curtain last evening. Anne Burford resigned on her own so the agency could get back to work. This whole business has been a lynching by headline hunting Congressmen. I can’t wait to get a question from the Press so I can say that.

  [Met a kidney transplant recipient and his father (the donor); met with publishers of small newspapers.]

  Friday, March 11

  Brkfst. with our Soph. class (my class) of Congressmen. They are a fine young group who’ve been very supportive. I needed them this morning after reading Lou Cannon’s story in the Washington Post. It was a vicious series of falsehoods and I was mad as h--l. An N.S.C. meeting—Phil Habib is back. F.M. Shamir (Israel) is coming as is the F.M. of Lebanon. We have hopes that maybe Israel is softening on the withdrawal—we’ll know by Monday.

  [Reception for National State Legislators conference; press availability.]

  I’m waiting for Nancy—coming in from California and we’ll be off to Camp David. And here she is.

  [Saturday, March 12: recorded strong wind, answered mail. Sunday, March 13: phone calls and mail, returned to W.H.; report from Shultz regarding meetings with two foreign ministers, Israel’s Yitzhak Shamir and Lebanon’s Elie Salem; watched 60 Minutes.]

  Monday, March 14

  [Memorial service for federal law-enforcement agents killed in the line of duty.]

  Meeting with Shamir (F.M. of Israel) and his party. I put in my pitch as best I could. George S. passed me a note telling me I’d been terrific.

  Finished afternoon meeting 150 local and state government people in the East Room. Did Q&A. They seemed very friendly. There were other meetings which kept me busy. Did some phone calling to Senators on the jobs bill. Senator Kasten has hung an amendment on having to do with repealing withholding tax on interest & dividends. I’m trying to get it off—let it stand by itself—so we can get on with the jobs bill.

  Tuesday, March 15

  Met with Pete Domenici & Howard Baker. Howard said he’d failed
to get Pete to delay budget markup in committee until after Easter. We want to delay to see if we can’t find a legitimate defense savings in MX plan when commission reports. Otherwise they’ll go ahead now & slash the budget in a harmful way. I made my pitch that had a possibility of an accepted cut if he’d give us time. He then asked if he could bring the ranking Dem. Senator on the committee in to see me. Howard left. Our Dem. arrived. I made my pitch. Before day was out we’d won—they’ve postponed.

  [Visit from Prime Minister Rudolphus Lubbers of the Netherlands regarding Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF); met with state attorneys general on administration crime package; with congressmen on Zabloski nuclear freeze bill, promoted substitute bill; saw Jerry Falwell—“he is a good friend & highly supportive”; reception for Country Music Association; noted perceived negative reporting on CBS, saying “CBS evening news an almost total attack on our admin. They are beginning to look like a deliberate campaign.”]

  Wednesday, March 16

  Meeting with our team, Phil Habib et al, and F.M. Salem & former P.M. and now elder statesman Salem of Lebanon. I assured them we’d stay in there helping to get foreign forces out of Lebanon. The old gentleman told me I was much loved in Lebanon. He said previous experience with Am. Presidents was that they advanced so far and then retreated. I told him I didn’t have any reverse gear.

  Met with Repub. Congressmen regarding Sen. Roth’s proposal for a new Cabinet dept. of Trade. This is a sticky one. Dropped in on a meeting with several dept. heads from E.P.A. We’re trying to boost their morale.

  Took the afternoon off & rode in Rock Creek Park. First time on horseback in a long time—not since last Fall.

  Tonite Constitution Hall for the Country Music Assn. anniversary. A great show & a wonderful warm evening. Minnie Pearl. Roy Acuff, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Gene Autry—well on and on. High spot—a piano & signing duet—Ray Charles and a young (also blind) artist who said Ray had been his inspiration. They drew a standing ovation that came from the heart.

  Thursday, March 17

  St. Patrick’s Day. A shamrock tie from Margaret Heckler & one from Tip O’Neil. Lunch on Capitol Hill as Tips guest. About 30 people including F.M. Barry and Ambass. O’Sullivan of Ireland. Tip is a true pol. He can really like you personally & be a friend while politically trying to beat your head in. After lunch—to the Irish Embassy for a reception. I’m talking with a brogue already. From all that to a meeting with Al Seigle and Max Fisher on Israel problems and our own Jewish community. Max is a regular visitor to the Middle East. I’ve arranged for him to report to me on return from those trips.

  [Ambassadorial formalities and photo sessions.]

  Friday, March 18

  Interview with Henry Brandon—his swan song with the London Times. Met with House Repubs. re the Dem. budget that came out of comm. on a party line vote. Our guys were all gung ho & ready to do battle. The Dems. must know they can’t get their budget but Tip said it was a moral statement of Dem. beliefs. I think they’ve handed us an issue. They would reduce or repeal everything we have done. They’d cut defense more than $100 bil. over 5 yrs. but they’d increase social spending $181 bil. and increase taxes $315 bil. On Mon. Commerce will announce G.N.P. growth for 1st Quarter ’83 as 4%—highest since 1st Q. of 81. Our program is working even better than we expected 2 months ago.

  An N.S.P.G. meeting on I.N.F. and Lebanon. I’m of the mind we should tell Nitze to offer an interim missile reduction plan to the Soviets while still claiming zero is our ultimate goal. On Lebanon it’s still Israel dragging their feet.

  [Met with small-businessmen’s group; signed annual report; made plan to recruit William Ruckelshaus, senior vice president of Weyerhaeuser, as head of EPA.]

  Saturday, March 19–Sunday, March 20

  Camp David—rain until noon today (Sunday) then it became beautiful just as we had to leave. Ron came down for a talk at the W.H. Same old problem—his itchiness at having S.S. protection. Wants to sign off for a week trip to L.A. I wish he’d be more thoughtful of what it means to me to have him do that.

  Monday, March 21

  [Noted constantly changing weather; staff and NSC meetings, recorded opinion that Moshe Ahrens as Defense Minister of Israel was an improvement over Ariel Sharon; radio taping for Afghanistan Day; speeches at Department of Agriculture.]

  They had a Hereford calf in a small pen in the room by the dais. It was the 4H. project of 2 small boys. About ? of the way through my talk the 2 boys entered the pen. Suddenly I was talking to an audience of profiles. Everyone was watching the boys & their calf.

  I couldn’t resist—I said—“You know I once learned you should never do a scene with kids or an animal.” It got a laugh—and the audience back. Back to the W.H.

  The usual issues lunch—then a meeting with some top business people hosted by Charles Wick. Propose to enlist the pvt. sector in our campaign to sell democracy worldwide. Later Charles told me he had contributions of $3 mil. to help in the effort.

  Phyllis Schafley came by. She’s darned effective. Her plan to counter the new E.R.A. campaign in Cong. is brilliant. The women’s groups backing E.R.A. are really only trying again as a fundraising Dem. party gimmick. They will also use it to embarrass Repub. candidates in ’84. Her idea is to say that if Cong. is going to put that Const. Amendment on the floor, we want other amendments to also be given a chance—abortion, bussing, prayer in schools etc. I think it would give Tip et al fits.

  [Shultz concerned about insert (unidentified in diary) planned for upcoming speech on defense; decided to rewrite section.]

  Then 2 meetings with different Repub. Congress. groups. Same subject for both—the ridiculous Dem. bud. passed out of committee. It cancels most of the savings we’ve made in the last 2 yrs.—raising taxes, cuts defense spending, increases domestic spending by bils. of dollars and ends up adding $8 bil. to the deficit. They’ve called it a return to Dem. tradition. And it is—all the things that messed up our economy to begin with. And today the Dept. of Commerce released the fig. on growth of G.N.P. for the 1st Q. of ’83—up 4%. We ourselves had only dared predict 1½ %.

  [Reception for the National Republican Congressional Leadership Council, contributors group.]

  Called Chuck Percy about holding off a vote tomorrow in his committee re the El Salvador funding we want. He’s going to stall because the appropriations comm. is voting on it and we think we’ll get it. His Foreign relations comm. could louse that up if the voted no first.

  Tuesday, March 22

  Another day that shouldn’t happen. On my desk was a draft of the speech on defense to be delivered tomorrow night on TV. This was one hassled over by NSC, State & Defense. Finally I have a crack at it. I did a lot of re-writing. Much of it was to change bureaucratic into people talk. But all day there were meetings—with Congress, with our volunteer leaders from the business world, unscheduled meetings having to do with problems & finally a trip to the Capital Club to address a few hundred Repub. donors, Congressmen etc. Finally back to the W.H. to catch up with all the memos & reports that had piled up on my desk since early morning.

  During the day speaking to our Cong. Repub. leadership & I blasted the Dem. budget with the press in attendance. It was a good pitch exposing the ridiculous irresponsibility of the phony budget—but on the evening news they showed a quick 20 seconds in which I wasn’t saying anything about the tax increase, the increase in spending etc.

  Wednesday, March 23

  The big thing today was the 8 P.M. TV speech on all networks about the Nat. Security. We’ve been working on the speech for about 72 hours & right down to deadline. We had a group in for dinner at the W.H. I didn’t join them except before dinner a few words of welcome. Nancy & I then dined early upstairs. The group included several former Secs. of State, Nat. Security Advisors, distinguished Nuclear scientists, the Chiefs of Staff etc. I did the speech from the Oval office at 8 & then joined the party for coffee. I guess it was O.K.—they all praised it to the sky & seemed t
o think it would be a source of debate for some time to come. I did the bulk of the speech on why our arms build up was necessary & then finished with a call to the Science community to join me in research starting now to develop a defensive weapon that would render nuclear missiles obsolete. I made no optimistic forecasts—said it might take 20 yrs. or more but we had to do it. I felt good.

  Thursday, March 24

  [Called widow of Barney Clark, recipient of first artificial heart.]

  Our women representatives (Repub.) in the House came over for a meeting on womens legislation. We (our admin.) have already done more to correct inequities than any other admin. before us. A couple of the gals are pretty aggressive sounding.

  [Messages to W.H. indicate positive response to speech; heads of Hispanic organization pledge support for ’84 campaign; met young boy representing Easter Seals.]

  This evening we went out to the Library of Cong., for the Cowboy Exhibit. It was interesting & we enjoyed it. Then we went to the Hilton not to stay for the dinner of the TV & Radio Correspondents, but to make remarks—supposed to be funny. Finally home.

  [Friday, March 25: NSC briefing; met with speechwriters regarding Saturday radiocast; new poll numbers indicate improvement in job approval rating on economy, but reduction in regard to foreign policy, blamed dip on “the drumbeat of anti-defense propaganda”; discussed upcoming Williamsburg summit; lunch with Vice President Bush, Shultz, and New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs “Punch” Sulzberger; met with high school students; visit from Governor Lamar Alexander (R-TN) pledging support in ’84; met with Young Republicans; hour-long meeting with Shultz—“just the 2 of us to talk about our quiet diplomacy efforts with Dobrynin”; expressed hope of freeing Pentecostals from U.S. Embassy in Moscow.]

  Saturday, March 26