Last Act

by Craig Shirley

  While governor, he was meeting with a group of young Californians, including hippies and anti-war protestors. One of them stormed to Reagan, “Governor, it’s impossible for you to understand us, to understand our generation.” To which Reagan smartly replied, “Well, I know more about being young than you do about being old.”85

  The Missouri Republicans honored Reagan with a moment of silence at their state convention. They’d already named their headquarters in Jefferson City after him.86 The chairman of the Alabama GOP, Marty Connors, offered some of the most interesting and insightful observations on Reagan. “Ronald Reagan taught us how to win—taught us how to articulate our conservative thinking. He taught us to have confidence in ourselves, not just as Republicans, but as Americans.” But even better, Connors said, “My 12-year-old daughter has no idea what an air raid drill is, and the reason she doesn’t know this is because she doesn’t have to practice dying in a nuclear disaster. She is ignorant of air raids and that’s Ronald Reagan’s fault.”87

  Newt Gingrich, first a Rockefeller Republican who later evolved into a Reagan conservative, would become an important foot soldier and leader in the Reagan Revolution. Having ascended to the speakership, he articulated what the fortieth president had gone through. “President Ronald Reagan proved that an American, raised in difficult family circumstances, in a small town, with no personal money, not only could succeed but could rise to lead the cause of freedom and declare victory over the tyranny of the former Soviet Union.”88

  Few of the men around Reagan had been approached by the national media as of yet, and only Ed Meese showed up initially on an obscure cable system, CTV, to talk about his old boss. An effusive quote by Bob Dole was buried in the papers. Some news outlets began reporting “man on the street” comments about Reagan, most of which were praiseworthy in an unsophisticated and sweet sort of way. There was also more criticism, though, which was highlighted. Said one, “But when you evaluated what he did during his presidency, he was all talk.”89

  Leading the charge for the establishment media, New York Daily News then went even further saying that under Reagan, “Poverty increased, jobs vanished and more homeless began appearing as Reagan gutted more than 50 years of social programs. Thousands died before Reagan acknowledged there was an AIDS crisis.” The piece, by liberals Tom DeFrank and Maggie Haberman, was formulaic and hostile, had a deep unprofessional bias, and contained serious factual errors, including the charge that Reagan tried to “dismantle the liberal legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt” when he did no such thing.90 Even the limited praise from the liberal media, such as from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was faint when it compared Eisenhower and Reagan. “Both were two-term Republican presidents; both were older men whose credentials drew snickers from the elites.”91

  Few Reagan defenders were included in the harsh piece.

  Paul Laxalt, former governor of and senator from Nevada, was devastated by the news of the president’s death. “I feel lower than a snake’s belly . . . it hurts,” he told reporters.92 Laxalt and Reagan had been warm friends since the 1960s, when both were governors of their bordering states. They went riding together, camping together, and campaigning together. Laxalt was the chairman of the 1976 Reagan campaign when everybody else in the party was supporting Gerald Ford. He was the chairman in 1980 when everybody secretly thought Reagan would go down to a crashing defeat to President Carter. He’d placed Reagan’s name in nomination in Kansas City in 1976 and Detroit in 1980. He truly was one of the original Reaganites and one of the most important. But he hadn’t seen his friend in years, urged not to by Nancy, who wanted Paul to remember Ronnie the way he’d been.93

  Of all his friends over the years, Laxalt may have been the closest. In private, he called Reagan “Ron” and Reagan called the senator “Paul.” Nevada and California shared hundreds of miles of border and many issues involving water, timber, parks, and tourism. Through it all they worked together, two sunny and irrepressibly happy men from humble beginnings. Laxalt called the Gipper a “citizen-politician,”94 something Reagan had always called himself. Nancy Reagan utterly adored Laxalt and actually fought for him to go on the ticket in 1980 with her husband.

  Former president Gerald Ford also made a statement later that day. “Betty and I are deeply saddened by the passing of our longtime friend President Reagan. Ronald Reagan was an excellent leader of our nation during challenging times at home and abroad. We extend our deepest condolences and prayers to Nancy and his family.”95 Every part of Ford’s statement was utterly accurate except the part about being “longtime” friends.

  On Sunday evening, a group of Washingtonians held a candlelight vigil for Reagan in Lafayette Park, which sits across the street from the White House. Grover Norquist, who’d worked on the 1980 campaign, spoke to the group that included conservative activist Kay Daly, who came to the gathering with her one-year-old child.96

  After initially remaining silent, a few Democrats were now coming forward with statements of condolence. Some expressions were warmer than Establishment Republicans and certainly warmer than most of the media. “On foreign policy he will be honored as the president who won the Cold War,” said Ted Kennedy. The Democratic governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm was also effusive. So, too, was Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota.97 Former president Bill Clinton called him “a true American original.” The soon-to-be nominee of the Democratic Party, John Kerry of Massachusetts, was fulsome, as was Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. As the Clinton Library had yet to be completed, officials in Little Rock announced that a “Reagan bereavement display” would be erected downtown. Skip Rutherford, head of the Clinton Library, said, “It was customary for other presidential libraries to take note of the passing of a former president.”98

  The Washington State Democrats, who were holding their convention, paused for a moment of silence to honor Reagan. “A collective gasp was heard” from the crowd when Reagan’s death was announced. The chairman of the Democrats in the Evergreen State, Paul Berendt, paid Reagan a compliment of sorts, saying that he’d helped reenergize the liberals in the state because of the opposition to Reagan’s conservative policies.99

  An interesting dichotomy was emerging on the Left. Elected Democrats, having faced voters, knew how many of their own supporters felt about Reagan, so they were cautious and even complimentary toward the Gipper. But reporters, who’d never faced anything other than an angry editor or bartender, could be more cavalier about Reagan.

  John Cochran of ABC recounted how he’d been stationed in Europe during the Reagan presidency and how they would accost him and say, “How could you elect a stupid cowboy actor?”100 Of Reagan, CNN’s Candy Crowley had her own take, and it was a good one. “He made conservative cool again.”101 But again, the elite media’s praise for Reagan was often faint.

  Another old Reagan friend, former Pennsylvania senator Dick Schweiker, said, “Here’s a guy that lost the presidency and yet he found time to write personal notes to my children . . .”102 In 1976, Schweiker had risked the wrath of Republicans everywhere when he made the decision to go on the ticket with Reagan, even as they trailed Gerald Ford in the delegate count. While Reagan-Schweiker did not prevail in Kansas City, they came close enough that it could be said they had won the daring gamble. That and Reagan’s off-the-cuff and off-the-chart comments on the last night of the convention in Kansas City.

  Dick and Claire Schweiker had performed so well in the weeks leading up to the convention and had become so close to the Reagans that a few hoped that Reagan would choose the Pennsylvanian again in 1980. He would choose then-ambassador George Bush, whom the Reagans were, at best, ambivalent about at the time. Schweiker did join the cabinet, though, as secretary of HHS. The Schweikers were scheduled to share a private dinner with the Reagans the night the president was shot in March 1981.103 Georg
e and Barbara Bush were never invited to the Reagans’ private quarters during the eight years spent in the White House.104

  Iran-Contra was popping up often in stories and commentaries on the passing of Reagan. The investigation had lasted well past his presidency, when he was forced to testify before a grand jury in a performance that some thought halting and disjointed. But in the final report, Reagan was completely cleared by the special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh.

  Sourly, Danny Glover, the popular movie actor, said, “We all know Reagan’s legacy, from the Iran-Contra affair to the funding of the Nicaraguan military in which over 200,000 people died.”105 Bill Plante was on the air at CBS continuing his hard-nosed criticism of Reagan. He had been on a liberal warpath for years and claimed Reagan had spent “so much there was . . . no money left.”106 The AP wire service also kept up a steady drumbeat of criticism. “He was a notably hands-off president. He kept aides at bay . . . He left almost everything . . . to underlings.” As usual, the myth that Reagan was “detached” was often thrown in for good measure. Even after so many years, the story also dug up the goofy rumors about Reagan dying his hair!107

  If possible, Bill Schneider at CNN was even more ruthless. “Ronald Reagan frightened people. They were concerned that he was a dangerous man who said often very radical things, too extreme, too right wing, too old.”108 Later in his monologue, he did warm up a bit about Reagan but even so, there were plenty of double entendres. He then reverted back to more Reagan bashing, saying, “In 1982, his economic program had never worked.”109 Also at CNN, Bruce Morton acidly said, “To a country haunted by Vietnam, he offered easy wins, Grenada.” And then he poured it on. “It didn’t always work, of course. Marines died in Lebanon. And the president who cared deeply about the hostages there traded arms for them.”110

  Haynes Johnson of the Washington Post appeared on NPR to derisively call Reagan “the first celebrity actor,” and he also disputed the notion that Reagan could be considered a great president.111 The lead epitaphic on the front page of the Washington Post opened, “A movie actor . . .”112 Yet another Post story, this one by David Hoffman, scoffed at his role in defeating the Soviet Empire, saying the “events are larger than Reagan . . .”113 A headline in the Post simply called Reagan “A Master Political Performer.”114

  Yet another Associated Press story roughly reviewed his years as governor. The AP argued that his term of office was simplistic, stumblebum, marked by sloganeering and jingoistic pronouncements, although there was also some grudging praise for some of his actions.115 The first sentence of the New York Times obituary called him “a former film star” and proceeded to call him America’s “oldest” president. Iran-Contra naturally was prominently mentioned again, and the story pitched the idea that the victory over communism was simply “Reagan’s good fortune that . . . the Soviet Union was undergoing profound change, eventually to collapse . . .”116

  The self-aware Reagan was always aware of the media and what he could do and what they thought of him. During his presidency, the press was constantly hounding him about misstatements. When White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater asked Reagan about challenging some of the accusations, Reagan said, “No, Marlin, don’t even waste your time. First of all, they won’t believe you. Secondly, the American people, they don’t need it because they know me.”117

  Stories about Reagan’s passing and observations about him would not be complete without an elitist college professor calling Reagan a racist, and sure enough, Professor William Stewart played to type. He claimed that Reagan and George Wallace were essentially the same and that Reagan “introduced the new face of the GOP, one that seemed more ’legitimate’ than the racist characteristics associated with . . . Wallace.”118

  The usual refrain about “guns and butter” was brought up again and again. Also resurrected were myths about the gap between the rich and the poor being created in the 1980s. Many on the Left in America were trapped in a Keynesian past, unable to break out of their anti-intellectual ghetto and see the world anew. They were incapable (or unwilling) to believe in an ever-growing pie. Instead, they remained in a static world in which the population grew and resources remained constant, a world that would be forced to deal with less and less. Reagan offered his own New Deal in 1980, plainly telling Americans they did not have to go on sharing in scarcity.119

  Nearly twenty million new jobs later,120 along with the eradication of “stagflation” and high interest rates, the expansion of the private economy grew at a rate six times faster than the growth of the government (thus diminishing the influence of Washington over the private sector). Yet the professional critics on the Left and in the establishment still were not happy with Reagan. But they never would be. All of a sudden, Keynesians who never cared a whit about deficit spending were now wringing their hands like J. P. Morgan. They lamented that the growth in defense spending had led to this hole in the budget. Again, they saw little benefit in the holes blown through corrupt walls dividing cities or corrupt ideologies imprisoning millions as a meritorious return on the investment.

  Some saw the assassination attempt and the firing of the air traffic controllers as the two most important events of the eight years of the Reagan presidency. The attempt on Reagan’s life probably did create a bond between him and the American people in a way that few understood. The strength and robustness of the way he dealt with the illegally striking controllers union PATCO, which was one of the few unions to endorse him in 1980, did send a message to his political opponents and international adversaries. George Will, who had begun his writing career as a Reagan skeptic but later was often a Reagan admirer, said of how he dealt with the strike, “But this was a moment that people noticed . . . that he was decisive.”121

  From the time he arrived in Washington until the day he left, the national media gave him and Mrs. Reagan a rough ride. Herblock, who some regarded as a mediocre political cartoonist (but he had the favor of the powers that be at the Washington Post), must have awoken each day with the notion of tormenting the Reagans with some new cheap shot, including one infamous cartoon in which he mocked Reagan for his deafness. Even Herblock had to grudgingly apologize for that one. Most political aficionados thought the Post should have had the superior Mike Peters or Pat Oliphant, both of whom were sharper wits and better artists.

  When the attacks and disinformation got too much, grassroots conservatives could and did fight back. CBS had created a horrific mini-series called The Reagans in which Reagan was depicted as an out-of-touch and doddering old fool, while Mrs. Reagan a kind of Dragon Lady. The series did not use a single reliable individual, such as biographer Lou Cannon, and did not bring on key Reagan aides as consultants. As the word spread, conservatives across the land rose up in revolt. The executives at CBS were astonished and taken aback. The network broadcast was cancelled and was only aired on an insignificant Viacom-owned cable system with an insignificant audience.122

  Hollywood remained nearly silent about Reagan’s passing, except for those who went public in order to trash him. The man who had done so much for so many—including devising the “royalty” system that allowed actors and actresses to collect money from the studios each time their old TV shows and movies were rebroadcast, saving hundreds of actors from destitution—was otherwise mostly ignored. Reagan’s successor as president of the Screen Actors Guild, Melissa Gilbert, did, however, issue a statement of appreciation for his work impacting “the compensation and working conditions for the nation’s screen actors.”123 American television viewers remembered Gilbert best for her role in the 1970s show Little House on the Prairie.

  Inside the GOP, the Reagan legacy had been debated for years. The outsiders to Washington and the GOP, who embraced federalism and individuality—American conservatism—said Reaganism was an ideology for the ages; a healthy skepticism of centralized authority
or, even worse, a police state, yet without the anarchy of the absence of government. Maximum “freedom consistent with law and order,” as Reagan said in 1964.124

  The insiders, often dismissed as “country club Republicans” by the conservatives, were just as convinced that skepticism about government was unhealthy for the country and that the GOP should not be so chary about Washington or government’s ability or desire to move or entice the citizenry in a more watered-down collectivist direction. But “at the time of Reagan’s retirement, his very name suggested a populist brand of conservative politics that still inspires the Republican Party.”125

  Some liberal editorialists knocked Reagan for cutting government too much, while others knocked Reagan for promising to have cut government more than he did. Others bashed him for suggesting that some homeless were on the streets “by choice.” Despite the booming economy he left behind, some economists like Alan Greenspan were dubious of his economic policies that had been productive.126 Greenspan had once been a member of the Reagan economic team.

  On the Left, it depended on who you talked to and when as to their opinions about Reagan. Democratic politicians who did not represent safe seats or states knew it was best to not criticize the deceased Reagan too harshly or unfairly. The more liberal officials from liberal districts tended to be harsher, and the leftist tenured academics who reported or were responsible to no one (other than their own consciences) reviled him with impunity in his lifetime. Across the nation, some of the seats of higher learning lowered their rhetoric when it came to the Gipper. But not all. “His policies infuriated the left and . . . his simple verities made him the butt of jokes.”127