The Reagan Diaries

by Ronald Reagan

  [Saturday, February 1: took walk in snow; read by the fireside. Sunday, February 2: noted clear weather, returned to W.H.]

  Monday, February 3

  Staff meeting & NSC as usual. This time I had an issue I wanted looked into. Last nite on “60 min’s.” they had a segment on homeless welfare recipients in N.Y. being put up in hotels. In one case a woman & three children in a 10 x 12 room for which the govt. was paying $2000 a month. They were blaming it on the Federal govt. I thought I knew the answer but wanted it checked out. I was right—that was a practice of N.Y. City not us. Another question had to do with Scharansky. We have a deal to get him out of Russia. Last nite & this morning it was all over the news. I feared the publicity might queer the deal. Turns out the leak was from Moscow.

  [Addressed several hundred appointees with gratitude.]

  Then it was N.S.P.G. time in the situation room re Gorbachev’s proposal to eliminate nuclear arms. Some wanted to tag it a publicity stunt. I said no. Let’s say we share their overall goals & now want to work out the details. If it is a publicity stunt this will be revealed by them. I also propose that we announce we are going forward with SDI but if research reveals a defense against missiles is possible we’ll work out how it can be used to protect the whole world not just us.

  [Issues lunch; announced commission to investigate shuttle tragedy; received annual Boy Scout report; visit from Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Linda Chavez, leaving to enter political race in Maryland; addressed another group of CEO’s on subject of budget; haircut.]

  Tuesday, February 4

  Some of our very conservative friends & strangely enough some liberals are getting worked up about Chevron Oil having wells in Angola & paying a royalty to the “Bad guys” the govt. of Angola while we’re helping Savimbi who is trying to oust the bad guys. The situation is not as simple as they make it out to be. Chevron owns the oil wells—indeed discovered them. If they shut off the royalties—Angola will expropriate the wells, get Soviets & Cubans to help run them & they’ll keep all the money. Better to pay the royaltys.

  [Interviewed by print media editors.]

  I phoned Widow McNair—her husband the Astronaut had done a musical tape recorded in space. It was something to do with loving our fellow man. She has wanted it played as a message from him. I was able to tell her it was part of the memorial service this morning at the Air & Space Museum. Some desk work & then upstairs to wait for the St. of the U. speech. Dr. Dick & family plus Maureen will be here for it.

  Wednesday, February 5

  A busy day. Short meeting with Don R. then the presentation & signing of the Budget for each of the Cong. leaders—both parties. This was followed by a Cong Repub. leadership meeting for a briefing on the budget & presentation of printed copies of each. It was a good meeting & my pitch that we had to stick together or we’d be hung out to dry was well received. Last night’s speech must have been better than I thought it was. The public reaction is 95% favorable & we’re getting 3 x the response we’ve had previously. Many of the Cong. leaders went out of their way to praise it.

  [A short but pleasant meeting with Johannes Rau, leader of West German Social Democratic party; desk work; addressed Treasury employees, then H.H.S. employees, noted “While at H.H.S. we had a meeting of the Domestic council on the need to study how we can reorganize our welfare & social programs so they can succeed in making people independent of welfare.”

  Thursday, February 6

  At 7:30 on our way to the annual Prayer Brkfst.—about 3,000 in attendance. Billy Graham called me a Pastor to the Nation. I must have said something effective—Nancy was teary when I sat down.

  [Meeting with French Ambassador; signing ceremonies; addressed Executive Forum; noted, “A big surprise when I finished—Nancy & Maureen to my complete surprise wheeled a giant cake out on the stage.”]

  After a lunch with the V.P. & some present opening Dick Wirthlin came by with latest polling re the State of the Union. All in all pretty good.

  Then it was personnel time followed by Roy Brewer, then Edmund Morris for some biography background & finally upstairs laden with homework & gifts. After dinner a lot of gift opening. I don’t want to seem ungrateful—the gifts were beautiful but I feel guilty. I wish they’d give money to a good cause in my name.

  One of our unpublic plans is underway. Sometime after midnight a mil. plane of ours will spirit Baby Doc Duvalier & his coterie of family & friends out of Haiti & on to France. We have another deal underway to get Sahkarov out of the Soviet U. but the date on that one is Feb. 11.

  [Friday, February 7: greeted high school students sponsored by Hearst Foundation; staff and NSC meetings; met briefly with Foreign Minister of India, noted of Duvalier, “Our Haitian fugitive is out over the Atlantic”; visited high school in Virginia; luncheon in honor of Walter Annenberg; gave medal to longtime W.H. employee; meetings with Shultz and then Casey; large birthday party at W.H. Saturday, February 8: birthday lunch with friends, noted “I called it the 3rd day of my birthday.” Sunday, February 9: Maureen and Dennis continue visit.]

  Monday, February 10

  Dave Packard & 3 of his commission plus Cap W. came by to give me a verbal preview of the report they’ll be presenting to me re the Defense Dept. As I had hoped when I created the Commission they will report all the fine things Cap has achieved over there which will refute the drumbeat of propaganda that has most of the country believing the Dept. is an extravagant spendthrift. There will be recommendations for certain organizational changes but even here they are things Cap would like to see done. Another regional press luncheon & as always a good time. They are all so different from the blasé, adversarial Wash. press.

  Interview with Lou Cannon & Hoffman—Wash. Post. Heaven only knows how that will turn out. Then I spent 2 hrs. in the family theatre rehearsing for tomorrow nite’s press conf.

  At 6:30 Nancy & I go to the St. Dept. & surprise Mermie who is honored guest at a reception. She was surprised & especially so because we brought Dennis with us. She thought he’d gone back to Sacramento & she’d been upset about that.

  Tuesday, February 11

  1st news of the day “Scharansky freed by the Soviets.” After years of imprisonment he was made part of a spy swap & allowed to rejoin his wife. We flew him to our base at Frankfort & an Israeli plane flew to Tel Aviv. Later in day I received a call from P.M. Peres & Scharansky thanking us. I told them Kohl of W. Germany played a big part in putting this together.

  Sen. Lugar & Cong.man Jack Murtha who headed up our observer team in Manila (the election) came in to give me a preliminary report. While they had no hard court room evidence they said the appearance of fraud in the Phil. election was overwhelming. They won’t issue an official report, however until the vote counting stops which probably won’t be for several days.

  Here on TV we’ve seen day after day mobs apparently hating Am. burn me in effigy, the flag etc. According to Dick & Jack this was never more than a small group. The Filipinos love Americans they said & opened their arms to our people & hailed them as protectors.

  We had an ec. council meeting on the need to help our neighbors in the Caribbean. We have a plan to increase their exports to the U.S. by allowing them to export to us clothing without limit—if it is made from fabric woven & cut in the U.S.

  Next item was re the sugar quota which again is hurting these same countries. I agreed to a quota change at the expense of some of the better off countries.

  Last item was to try for change in the farm bill to prevent us from subsidizing grain sales to the Soviet U. Believe it or not Cong. will give us trouble on this.

  [Photo session with heart transplant recipient; attended farewell reception for Jack Block, secretary of Agriculture; meeting with Shultz on reconciling warring factions in Manila, decided to send Philip Habib as envoy.]

  More practice for the Press Conf at 8 tonite. It went O.K. Most of questions were on Philippines & frankly they were all so busy trying to trap me into a
headline maker they didn’t ask very good Q’s. Phone calls first half hour were 57 to 25 in my favor.

  Wednesday, February 12–Sunday, February 15

  [Flew to St. Louis for party fund-raiser; flew on to California.]

  Arriving at Point Mugu we were told we could only “helo” to the Santa Barbara Airport—the ranch was closed in. We drove up—the 1st time in more than 6 yrs. All we can say about the few days there is that 3 Pacific storms nose to tail came through. We never could see the ranch around us—just fog, rain & wind. On one day a let up between showers allowed Barney, Dennis & me to cut up a fallen oak limb for fire wood & haul 2 loads of the brush to the dump. Lucky hasn’t forgotten us—we have muddy prints (paws) on our clothes to prove it.

  There were more birthday & valentine gifts to open—phone calls to make & our new tractor to see.

  There was also homework—a statement on the Philippine election—stolen by Marcos. I ordered Admiral Poindexter to contact our friends in Japan, Korea & Singapore about what course we might follow together. Then a call came re the Shuttle tragedy. Apparently the representative of the company that makes the rocket boosters refused to sign the certificate for launch & someone in Florida got 2 Nasa officials to sign off without telling them of the negative report on the booster.

  [Returned to Washington; Mrs. Reagan went to Texas until Wednesday, noted “Rex & I are lonesome.” Sunday, February 16: desk work.]

  Monday, February 17

  A holiday so Rex & I are roommates again. Finished up the homework—including a 7 page handwritten letter to Gen. Sec. Gorbachev.

  Only a haircut & a lot of desk work.

  Tuesday, February 18

  Back to work. Met with GOP Congressional leadership—subject Nicaragua. We’re starting our campaign to get approval from Cong. for Covert aid to the “Contras.” It isn’t going to be easy. The Sandinistas have a disinformation program that has fooled a lot of people—some want to be fooled.

  [NSC meeting regarding upcoming visit by Prime Minister Mulroney of Canada, commented, “He’s had some bad times & we will send him home with some good news for his people”; lunched off-the-record with journalists Jack Kilpatrick, Bob Novak, and Arnaud de Borchgrave; photo with new appointee; visited doctor as part of preparations for Grenada trip; long meeting with Domestic Policy Council regarding “Report on Acid Rain”; met with members of Congress; ambassadorial formalities.]

  Upstairs for another lonely night—just me & Rex. Nancy will be home tomorrow.

  Wednesday, February 19

  Watched two short films—one on my unfavorite actor, Quadafy & one on how C.I.A. agents are made. […]

  [Met with Governor Martha Collins (D-KY) to discuss mining regulation.]

  Dick Wirthlin came in with more polling figures. Mainly the news was good but it also revealed where the drum beat of press propaganda has it’s effect such as on defense spending & such. A great majority believe we are now stronger militarily then the Soviets: also no support for our helping the freedom fighters in Nicaragua.

  George S. came by with some advance reports by Phil Habib in Manila. The situation with Marcos has worsened. The question really is whether he can continue to govern.

  [Addressed gathering of industrial leaders to elicit support on budget; Mrs. Reagan returned home. Thursday, February 20: visited Grenada to commemorate war and meet with regional leaders.]

  Friday, February 21

  Most important part of day—addressed the House Repub. Conf at the Capitol Hill Club. It went well. I took Q’s. which revealed some of what troubled them. I think their greatest prob. is that they see us dealing with the Repub. leadership of the Sen. & the Dem. leadership of the House. Well there is some truth to this but it’s because the Dems. are the majority in the House & we can’t get anything done if they don’t go along. However, I think we could have done more to communicate with our Repubs. & go to the Dem. leadership with Repub. support already in line.

  Had to motor to Camp David.

  Saturday, February 22–Sunday, February 23

  It started snowing Sat. afternoon & by Sunday morning we had several inches of new snow. I got some homework done but also had conf. calls re the Philippine situation. On Sun. morning I approved a letter from me to Marcos begging him not to resort to force. His Defense Minister & acting Chief of the Army have resigned & taken some troops with them. At one point Marcos ordered troops & tanks to go to where the rebels were based but 100’s of 1000’s of civilians blocked them & the tanks turned back.

  Back in Wash. I met with Cap, John, George & Don in the situation room—well the room was full with reps. from St., Defense, Sec. Treasury, V.P., etc. & of course Phil Habib—just back. It was a long meeting with no disagreement but lots of frustration. Pres. Marcos is stubborn & refuses to admit he can no longer govern. I made the point that a message from me must appeal to him on the grounds that if there is violence I’ll be helpless to continue support for the Philippines. We must not try to lay down the law. All we can do now is send the message by way of NSC staffer Sigure [Sigur] who is in Japan & pray.

  [Attended Governors Conference dinner, entertainment by Rich Little.]

  Monday, February 24

  The day started at 5:30 A.M. with a call from John P. & Don R. The situation in the Philippines is deteriorating. The Marcos family & the Vers left the palace & went to the airport. Then Gen. Ver apparently talked them out of leaving. Back in the Palace they went on TV. The Pres. & the Gen. They got in an argument. The Gen. wanted to launch an attack on the military that has gone over to the anti-Marcos people. The Pres. said no. Well all of this ended sleep for me.

  In the office at 9—the staff meeting & NSC were on the same subject. I was approving statements for delivery to the Pres.—pleading for no violence.

  Later Gov. Lamar Alexander came by—he’s a fine Gov. & a true gentleman. If Ambas. Mike Mansfield (Japan) retires, Lamar would like the post—he’s no longer Gov. as of next year.

  [Addressed the governors at W.H.; issues lunch; dropped by gathering of O.M.B. employees who work on budget; interviewed by associate of Jack Anderson; met with new Deputy Secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs, noted “He’s a Cherokee Chief but looks like a lawyer from the East.”]

  Then a call from Nancy—what to say to Imelda Marcos who was calling her? At same time I’m told Paul Laxalt, Geo. S., John Poindexter & Don R. were coming in about Paul’s call to Marcos. We’ve agreed that he should be told I’m recommending he step down & we’ll take the lead in negotiating his safety & offering him sanctuary in the U.S. He says he wants to live out his life in the Philippines. Well we’ll try to negotiate that. Wound up the day in the dentist’s chair—time for inspection—I passed.

  Tuesday, February 25

  The call this morning was at 6:45. Pres. Marcos & his family & close circle I was told are in our Clark Air base. We don’t know yet his destination but he’s said he wants to stay in the Philippines. He has a home in Northern Luzon. In the office I was met by George S. & the V.P., Cap, John, Don etc. We are ordering our Ambas. & others to contact Aquino to see if we could persuade her to accept his staying in the Islands with a promise of security. As the day went on we learned she wasn’t going to do that. He incidentally is quite ill & is bed ridden at Clark. By evening we learned his party had left by medi-vac plane for Guam. He was carried to the plane on a stretcher. It was a day of bill signings & a luncheon with exec. committee of our library fund.

  The big deal here was an hour interview with Barbara Walters—then another with Nancy on the 3rd floor. There will be more tomorrow. It’s for a special to precede the Academy Awards.

  [Report during meeting with Domestic Policy Council indicates progress in management.]

  Wednesday, February 26

  Pres. Marcos & his party departed Guam & are now at Hickam Field Hawaii. They will stay at the base possibly 72 hrs. then he will go to his home on Diamond Head—Yes, he has one there, too. The deal at Hickam is because of the larg
e Filipino pop.—there might be demonstrations. We’re going to provide S.S. protection for a limited time. So—no civil war & we’ve proceeded to recognize the new Philippine govt.

  Had a group of Congressmen in for a pitch on aid to Nicaragua. Then met with Board of Dir’s. of Nat. Peace Institute. After lunch a meeting with Geo. S. We’re having some trouble with the lobby (Jewish Cong.) pro Israel about our A.W.A.C.’s sale to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are the stabilizing force in the Persian Gulf & we’re determined to lend them mil. support such as sale of arms. The lobby opposes on the grounds of possible renewal of the Arab-Israeli war. We’ve pledged to Israel we’ll never let them be outgunned.

  Geo. is going to lean hard on the Lobby.

  Some more filming for Barbara Walters special & then upstairs—Well there was one more Cong. briefing on Nicaragua, this time Sen’s. Dem. & Repub.

  Then 8 P.M. my TV address from the Oval office—on Defense. We got more calls & wires than on any other speech on defense & the favorable ran 91.4%. ABC put a Soviet commentator on the air to reply to my speech.

  Thursday, February 27

  A meeting with bi-partisan Reps. & Senators. They were warm in their praise for our handling of the Philippine crisis. Then we moved onto defense & Nicaragua. I threw my best pitch. We’ll have to wait to see if we scored.

  [Meeting with President Paul Biya of Cameroon, found common ground on free-enterprise approach; visit with Casey regarding selection of new deputy; met with Council of Economic Advisors; received list of new appointees; Regan reported record closing for Dow Jones Industrial Average and split in Federal Reserve Board attitude to economy; greeted Easter Seal poster child, then Hubbard family, broadcasting entrepreneurs, then Congressman James Santini, former Democrat, switching to GOP; reception for contributors to conservative causes.]

  Friday, February 28