by H. W. Brands
negotiation with Soviets as viewed by, 77.1, 77.2, 77.3, 78.1, 78.2
pardoning of
RR lectured on Geneva summit by
RR’s shooting and
on SALT II restraints
on SDI, 63.1, 70.1, 70.2
Shultz disliked by, 78.1, 88.1, 104.1
solidarity with Poland urged by, 51.1, 51.2, 51.3
Weir, Benjamin, 85.1, 95.1
Welch, Joseph
Welch, Robert
West Bank, 58.1, 58.2
West Beirut
West Germany, 16.1, 68.1, 111.1
Westward in Bataan
Wexley, John
WHO, 1.1, 3.1
Wicker, Tom
Wiesel, Elie
Will, George, 51.1, 88.1
William Morris Agency
Williamson, Edwin
Wilson, Woodrow
Winning Team, The
Winning Your Wings
Winthrop, John
WOC, 2.1, 2.2
Wojtyła, Karol, see John Paul II, Pope
women’s rights
Wong, Linda
Wood, Sam, 9.1, 9.2
World War I, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 12.1, 105.1
postwar congressional investigations of, 9.1, 9.2
World War II, 5.1, 5.2, 8.1, 14.1, 15.1, 34.1, 36.1
big government in
troubled peace after
Wright, Jim, 45.1, 54.1
briefed on Grenada invasion
Wyman, Jane, 6.1, 7.1, 11.1, 13.1, 15.1, 26.1
marriages of
marriage troubles and divorce of, 11.1, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3
Nancy Reagan’s disputes with
Wyszyński, Stefan
Xi’an, China
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Yemen
Young, Andrew
Young Republicans
Zakharov, Gennadi, 87.1, 87.2, 87.3, 88.1, 95.1
Zanatta, Lisa
Zanatta, Peter Robert
Zhao Ziyang
Zhou Enlai
Kissinger’s meeting with
Zukor, Adolph
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
H. W. Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. A New York Times best-selling author, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography for The First American and again for Traitor to His Class. His Web site is www.hwbrands.com.
Ronald Reagan got his good looks and his knack for telling stories from his father, Jack Reagan. But Jack was an alcoholic and utterly unreliable.
Little “Dutch” (in the eponymous haircut) is smiling in this Christmas photo, with Jack; elder brother Neil; and mother, Nelle. But he learned to dread the holidays, because that was when Jack fell off the wagon.
As a teenager he was a lifeguard in Dixon, Illinois. He took pride in the number of rescues he made, although some observers suspected that the pretty girls weren’t really drowning.
Reagan’s fondest hope at Eureka College was to become a football hero. He would have succeeded, if determination had sufficed. But at least he looked the part.
Radio was his first career, one that capitalized on his pleasing voice but didn’t do justice to his face.
This was more like it: a promo still from Warner Brothers, where he realized his dream of acting in movies.
World War II gave Reagan new roles to play. Here he is a flier in a training film.
His first family seemed happy enough for ABC to feature it in a story about home lives of Hollywood stars. Daughter Maureen is between the reporter and her mother, Jane Wyman, who is holding son Michael. Jane appears distracted; perhaps she is reflecting that things are not what they seem.
As audiences found other favorites, Reagan turned to the politics of the film industry. In 1947 he testified at the HUAC hearings on communists in Hollywood.
It took him a while to realize that Nancy was his true love, but she gradually convinced him, and their wedding ensued. The love affair lasted the rest of his life.
A secret of his success was his persistent optimism. He should have been disappointed at being demoted from film to television, but he appears delighted to be host of The General Electric Theater.
Reagan’s GE job required meeting company employees. The female workers usually outnumbered the males in the get-to-know-you sessions.
His breakthrough to the political world occurred when he campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964. Goldwater lost the election, but Reagan won conservative hearts.
He proved a natural, easily winning his first race, for California governor. Nancy joins him at the inaugural ball.
His children sometimes felt forgotten amid their father’s celebrity, but they knew how to smile for the camera. From left: Patti, Nancy, Reagan, Michael, Maureen, Ron.
On January 20, 1981, Reagan stepped onto his largest stage. Here he is about to address the world for the first time as president of the United States.
The new president disappointed Edwin Meese, here at his right hand, by giving the job of White House chief of staff to James Baker, at his immediate left. Meese grudgingly became counselor to the president. Michael Deaver, who had a special bond with both Reagan and Nancy, became Baker’s deputy.
Secretary of State Alexander Haig, at the far left, is not sharing the laugh; he rarely did, for he often thought the laughs were at his expense. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger is pointing to something the president likes. James Baker is closely monitoring what Weinberger is telling Reagan; he always did.
CIA director William Casey mumbled, and Reagan was hard of hearing. It was a wonder they communicated. Sometimes they didn’t; Casey kept certain secrets to himself.
David Stockman, who managed the budget, was smart, self-confident, and unable to hold his tongue. His conversations with one reporter reflected badly on the president. But Reagan, who found it hard to fire people, forgave him.
White House relations with the State Department calmed down after George Shultz replaced Al Haig. Shultz had a thin skin but won and held the president’s confidence.
Nancy Reagan watched her husband’s back; Michael Deaver kept Nancy’s secrets, especially the one about Nancy’s astrologer.
Donald Regan and Nancy did not get along at all. They had few dealings during the first term, when Regan was Treasury secretary. But after Regan became chief of staff, they clashed constantly. She finally had him fired. He retaliated by telling the world about her astrologer.
Reagan exits a Washington hotel following a rare speech that left his audience cold. In seconds he will be shot and nearly killed. March 30, 1981.
He charmed almost everyone except Tip O’Neill, the Democratic speaker of the House. Vice President George Bush prepares to separate them if necessary.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s “Iron Lady,” was the only person who sometimes intimidated him. But he loved her politics and determination, and she reciprocated.
They should have been the oddest couple in world affairs: the American president who denounced the Soviet Union as an “evil empire,” and Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of that very empire. But they developed a close working relationship and a personal friendship. Here the much older Reagan, coatless and hatless in the Geneva cold, greets the bundled Gorbachev.
They came very close at Reykjavik to an agreement that might have led to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Their faces show their disappointment.
The Iran-contra scandal was the darkest blot on the Reagan administration’s record. The president gets the embarrassing investigative report from Tower Commission chairman John Tower and member Edmund Muskie.
It wasn’t the world-changing pact he and Gorbachev wanted, but the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was still a big deal.
Reagan bids the American people farewell on his last day as president: January 20, 1989.
From the complexities of politics to the simple pleasures: at Rancho del Cielo.
Also by H
. W. Brands
The Reckless Decade
T.R.
The First American
The Age of Gold
Lone Star Nation
Andrew Jackson
Traitor to His Class
American Colossus
The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield
The Man Who Saved the Union