The Reagan Diaries

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The Reagan Diaries Page 105

by Ronald Reagan


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  * At this point in the diary, five lines were crossed out inconsequentionally by President Reagan: it seems that pages were stuck together, and the president started writing on those pages, then realized he was wasting paper, so he crossed out the lines and went back and rewrote them two pages earlier.

  * In 1973, Libyan dictator Mohammar al-Qaddafi declared territorial waters in excess of the internationally recognized twelve-mile limit, such that his claim encompassed the entire Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea. He threatened to attack any planes or ships crossing what he called the “Line of Death.” Previous U.S. presidents had respected the line.

  * On August 19, with the U.S. Sixth Fleet on maneuvers in the gulf, two Libyan jet-fighters attacked and were shot down.

  * Allen was appointed National Security Advisor at the beginning of the Reagan administration. In November 1981, he was accused of taking a $1,000 bribe from a Japanese magazine for arranging an interview with Mrs. Reagan. The charges were never proven, nor did they go away. His resignation was accepted January 4, 1982.

  * Reagan reiterated his impression of the meeting in an insert for the diary written four days later: “Truth is he and his wife are most likeable and very much in love with each other after 40 years of marriage.”

  * The Davis-Bacon Act, signed into law in 1931, ensured the payment of locally prevailing (typically union) wage scales on federal projects.

  * The asterisk is in Reagan’s original.

  * In copy pasted in the diary, the 2:00 pm meeting was circled with a handwritten note from President Reagan stating, “This meeting was well worthwhile. It had to do with Pakistan’s nuclear energy program. They’ve been reluctant to allow inspection to confirm their claim they are not building a weapon. I think the matter is settled.”

  * Ray Donovan resigned as secretary of Labor on March 15. He was charged with larceny and fraud in connection with a New York construction project. He was acquitted in 1987.

  * The note from Vice President Bush is written on a White House notepad stationery and was taped into the diary by the president.

  * Donald Devine had been nominated for a second term as director of the Office of Management and Budget. He was criticized in Congress for the extent of his cuts in the federal workforce.

  * John Anthony Walker Jr., a Navy employee, was the main character in a spy ring that began selling military secrets to the USSR in 1968; he was arrested in May 1985 and received a life sentence.

  * Stockholm syndrome is a mental response to abduction or even abuse in which the victim feels loyalty only to his or her tormentor.

  * The president underwent a colonoscopy, followed by surgery to remove an obstruction from his prostate.

  * Mrs. Gasper, deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was fired for refusing orders to restore funding for Planned Parenthood.

 

 

 


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