Buchanan called Regan: Weinraub, “State of the Union Prompts Debate in White House.”
“This speech doesn’t read”: John A. Svahn memo to Ben Elliott, January 17, 1986, WHORM: SP-230-86 (379864), Ronald Reagan Library.
“kudos. You have done”: John A. Svahn memo to Ben Elliott, with Elliott note in the upper-right-hand corner, January 17, 1986, WHORM: SP-230-86 (379864), Ronald Reagan Library.
The two sides “have resorted”: Weinraub, “State of the Union Prompts Debate in White House.”
“the very tone”: Shapiro et al., “Of Mice and Metaphors.”
“where we’re going”: January 17, 1986, 11:00 am draft of State of the Union with presidential edits, WHORM: SP-230-86 (379864), Ronald Reagan Library.
“Sir, the Challenger”: Reeves, 306–07.
Reagan, standing by the fireplace: Author interview with Patrick Buchanan.
“handle the horror”: Noonan, What I Saw, 253–55.
“Did you see”: Ibid., 255.
Noonan was depressed: Ibid., 255–57.
Pollster Richard Wirthlin: Ibid., 282.
Some of the speeches: Author interview with Rohrabacher.
“It was a non sequitur”: Ibid.
“his voice was hot”: Noonan, What I Saw, 284.
“had surfaced on almost all”: “Reagan’s Speechwriter Says He Was Dismissed in Dispute,” New York Times, June 10, 1986.
though one of Regan’s aides: Cannon, 178n.
“Every time Ben fought”: Peggy Noonan, “The Ben Elliott Story: What I Saw at the Funeral,” Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2004.
“There’s no doubt about it”: Author interview with Buchanan.
“Mr. President, it’s a great honor”: Cannon, 177.
He told Noonan: Noonan, What I Saw, 293.
Elliott later told Lou Cannon: Cannon, 177n.
“A photo with the speechwriters”: Reagan Diaries, 413.
In early 2006: Author interview with Parvin.
“The Groundhog saw his shadow!”: Reagan Diaries, 472–73.
He got another phone call: Author interview with Parvin; Cannon, 734.
“There were shades of Watergate”: Author interview with Parvin.
Parvin started consulting: Cannon, 734.
At day’s end: Author interview with Parvin.
“At one point Tower”: Ibid.
Parvin’s biggest problem: Ibid.
“If the President had to add”: Author interview with Rohrabacher.
“That’s just the natural progression”: Author interview with Bakshian.
“Our wedding anniversary”: Reagan Diaries, 480.
Robinson’s first stop: Robinson, How Ronald Reagan, 95–96; Peter Robinson, “Tearing Down That Wall,” Weekly Standard, June 23, 1997.
That night, Robinson dined: Robinson, How Ronald Reagan, 97.
Discussion covered an array: Peter Robinson typed final notes of Berlin Trip, undated, “Remarks: Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin, Germany 06/12/1987 (1)-(3)” folders, Robinson, Peter M.: Files, 1983–1988, Ronald Reagan Library.
“Then one man raised an arm”: Robinson, How Ronald Reagan, 97–98.
“If the Russians are willing”: Peter Robinson typed final notes of Berlin Trip.
“represented a sudden illumination”: Author interview with Robinson.
Dolan held a war council: Author interviews with Dolan and Rohrabacher.
“We knew that there would be”: Author interview with Rohrabacher.
The speechwriters all worked: Author interviews with Robinson and Rohrabacher.
The following Monday: Robinson, How Ronald Reagan, 100.
“Well, there’s that passage”: Ibid.
“One day, this ugly wall”: Robinson, How Ronald Reagan, 101.
“We still believe”: WHORM: SP1150 501964 (1 of 9), Ronald Reagan Library.
They asked: Author interview with Tom Griscom.
the line “unpresidential”: Kenneth T. Walsh, “Seizing the Moment; Memorable presidential speeches are few and far between…” U.S. News & World Report, June 10, 2007.
Progress has been made: Author interview with Griscom.
Reagan could hear anger: Cannon, 774.
“science fiction nightmare”: Author interview with Gilder.
much to the irritation of others: Author interview with Maseng-Will.
a “tone poem aimed at”: Peggy Noonan letter to Ronald Reagan, undated, WHORM: SP-1314 (589277) (8 of 8), Ronald Reagan Library.
“They love you, Mr. President”: Ibid.
“a sort of Jim Cagney”: Author interview with Maseng-Will.
She spent a week working: Peggy Noonan handwritten note to Mari Maseng, January 1, 1989, WHORM: SP-1314 (589277) (8 of 8), Ronald Reagan Library.
“The attempt to elicit”: Noonan, What I Saw, 334.
As technicians bustled around: Author interview with Maseng-Will.
“What is he doing?”: Peggy Noonan, When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan New York: Viking Penguin, 2001), 313.
“Reagan at the time shared”: Cannon, 90.
“When I look back now”: Author interview with Elliott.
The true believers “help Reagan”: Robinson, How Ronald Reagan, 216.
10. “I’M NOT GOING TO DANCE ON THE BERLIN WALL”
“Know where I want to go”: Peggy Noonan. What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era (New York: Random House, 2003), 299–300.
He sent a list of words: Ibid., 304.
Senior campaign officials resisted: Ibid., 314.
Darman had his own reasons: Richard Darman, Who’s in Control? Polar Politics and the Sensible Center (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 191–92.
He met with his speechwriters: Marlin Fitzwater places this meeting on Bush’s first full day in office, but Bush’s daily diary has no such meeting; other participants place the meeting later in the term. (Martin J. Medhurst, ed., The Rhetorical Presidency of George Bush [College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2006], 5.)
He gave the writers: Craig D’Ooge, “History’s Wordsmiths; LC’s New CD Introduced by Presidential Speechwriters,” Library of Congress, Information Bulletin, January 22, 1996; author interview with Mary Kate Cary.
I would rather quote Yogi: Author interview with Curt Smith.
Eisenhower, he said, and Mark Twain: Author interview with Cary.
“The president detested anything”: Author interview with Mark Davis.
Bush told them a story: Author interviews with Smith and Cary.
“No problem”: Fitzwater quoted in Medhurst, ed., Rhetorical Presidency, 5–6.
“He felt that he would be judged”: Author interview with David Demarest.
Davis asked Bush once: Author interview with Davis.
Demarest had concluded that: Author interview with Demarest.
A foreign policy speech would often: Author interview with Davis.
Davis’s turn of mind: Author interview with Chriss Winston.
“I’m not going to have”: Ibid.
“the guy you want to be captain”: Author interview with Ken Askew.
“He had a real writing gift”: Author interview with Demarest.
“a bunch of bullshit”: Ibid.
“very important because”: Author interview with Mari Maseng-Will.
Similarly, Bush’s writers’ access: Author interview with Davis; David Demarest memo to Rose Zamaria, April 11, 1989, “Memos—Rose Zamaria 2/89–8/92” folder, Speechwriting, White House Office of, Administrative Files, George Bush Library.
“There never seems to be enough”: Demarest memo to Rose Zamaria, April 11, 1989, “Memos—Rose Zamaria 2/89–8/92” folder, Speechwriting, White House Office of, Administrative Files, George Bush Library.
“It was a signal”: Author interview with Davis.
“Are they important”: Bernard Weinraub, “Washington Talk; White House,” New York Times, April 7, 1989.
But Bush kept editin
g that section: Author interviews with Winston and Davis.
Chriss Winston watched the speech: Author interview with Winston.
He swallowed hard: Bernard Weinraub, “Bush Joins in the Grief Over Iowa,” New York Times, April 25, 1989.
“I kept rehearsing”: George Bush, All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings (New York, Scribner, 1999), 423.
Davis worked on the speech: Author interviews with Davis and Demarest.
“The President is speaking”: Bob Simon memo to Ed McNally, June 26, 1989, “Documents 6201–6250” folder, Open P2/P5 documents, George Bush Library.
Solidarity leader Lech Walesa: George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed (New York: Vintage Books, 1999), 122.
The crowd started a chant in Polish: Author interview with Winston.
At that moment he was sitting: Author interview with Smith.
There was concern: Author interview with Davis.
College basketball star Len Bias’s: Author interview with Demarest.
a Washington Post–ABC News poll: “The President’s Paradox; Survey Finds Bush Well-Liked But Public Uneasy About Slow Start,” The Washington Post, May 29, 1989.
The speechwriters and Demarest were: Author interviews with Davis, Winston, and Demarest.
The drug prop first appeared: Rough draft of drug speech, fifth draft, August 17, 1989, “Presidential Address on Drugs 9/5/89 [3]” folder, Speechwriting, White House Office of, Speech File Backup Files, Chron. Files, 1989–1993, George Bush Library.
The request had meanwhile reached: Michael Isikoff, “Drug Buy Set Up for Bush Speech,” The Washington Post, September 22, 1989.
“Any possibility of you moving”: Ibid.; “Youth Is Arrested for Selling Crack That Bush Displayed,” Associated Press in New York Times, September 27, 1989.
That same day, Davis produced: Drafts 10 and 10A of the drug speech, September 1, 1989, “Presidential Address on drugs 9/5/89 [2]” folder, Speechwriting, White House Office of, Speech File Backup Files, Chron. Files, 1989–1993, George Bush Library.
“Jim: Isn’t this a small response”: Shirley Green memo to Jim Cicconi, September 7, 1989, “Case No. 02138 to No. 048329c4” folder, with September 7 Cicconi note to the president and September 6 Cicconi memo to the president, WHORM: SP series, George Bush Library.
“White House speech-writers”: Isikoff, “Drug Buy Set Up for Bush Speech.”
“I keep hearing the critics”: Bush, All the Best, 441–442.
He was at his desk: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, 148–49.
“Listen, Marlin”: Marlin Fitzwater, Call the Briefing! Reagan and Bush, Sam and Helen: A Decade with Presidents and the Press (New York: Times Books, 1995), 261–62.
They settled on an informal press: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, 149.
“Set forth below is a five-point plan”: Edward McNally memo to David Demarest, November 10, 1989, “Documents 6251–6300” folder, Open P2/P5 documents, George Bush Library.
The speechwriters would keep on urging: Author interviews with Davis and Lange.
“has the atmosphere of”: “Memorandum of Telephone Conversation” between President Bush and Chancellor Helmut Kohl, November 10, 1989, 3:29–3:47 pm, available online at http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/pdfs/telcon11-10-89.pdf.
Days passed with little: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, 149.
House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt: CNN interview of Bush in September and October 1997, available online at www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/23/inter views/bush/.
“In spite of the Congressional posturing”: “Memorandum of Telephone Conversation” between President Bush and Chancellor Helmut Kohl, November 17, 1989, 7:55–8:15 am, Box FOIA 99-0393-F Box 1/1, George Bush Library.
“they didn’t buy it for a minute”: Author interview with Davis.
“Please re-do”: President Bush note to Curt Smith, November 29, 1989, private papers of Curt Smith.
“An old Indian proverb says”: Draft five of Bush speech on the USS Forrestal, November 29, 1989, private papers of Curt Smith.
Winston got a call: Author interview with Winston.
The speechwriters and Bush: The account of the speechwriters’ cocktails with Bush comes from author interviews with Winston, Smith, and Davis, and from Curt Smith, Windows on the White House: The Story of Presidential Libraries (South Bend: Diamond Communications, 1997), 206.
On the morning of June 26: Darman, Who’s in Control?, 261–62.
Darman wrote a two-sentence statement: Ibid.
Fitzwater was given the statement: Doro Bush Koch, My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George Bush (New York: Warner Books, 2006), 325–26; author interview with Demarest.
Demarest was in the West Wing: Author interview with Demarest.
“I wish I had never said”: Koch, My Father, 327.
“I was appalled”: Medhurst, Bully Pulpit, 8.
Bush hit a bucket: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, 302.
Some time after 8 pm: Author interview with Lange.
The speechwriters wanted to compare: Author interview with Winston.
the “speech should be about”: Richard G. Darman note for President and speech outline, August 31, 1990, “Address to Joint Session of Congress 9/11/90 [2]” folder, Speechwriting, White House Office of, Speech File Draft Files, George Bush Library.
the phrase “new world order”: Ibid.
“William Safire traces”: Safire, Safire’s New Political Dictionary, 495–96.
“If he’s not Winston Churchill”: Author interview with Davis.
Bush’s edits on the speech: Draft 3 of September 11, 1990, joint session speech, undated, “9/11/90 Address to the Nation on Persian Gulf Crisis, D.C., Case No. 172735SS [1]” folder, WHORM [c.f.] SP717, George Bush Library.
Watching Bush deliver the speech: Author interview with Davis.
“The U.N. speech also”: Edward E. McNally memo to the President and speech draft, September 28, 1990, “United Nations General Assembly Address 10/1/90 [1]” folder, Speechwriting, White House Office of, Speech File Draft Files, George Bush Library.
Someone came up came up with: Author interview with Winston.
“There’s a story”: Bush, All the Best, 480.
“We had a total mixed message”: Author interview with Demarest.
The speechwriters wrote a half-dozen: Author interview with Winston; William Safire, “Mr. Bush Hires a Writer,” New York Times, February 11, 1991.
F-15 Eagle fighter jets: Andrew Rosenthal, “Visiting U.S. Troops in the Desert, President Talks Tough About Iraq,” New York Times, November 23, 1990.
With the day’s remarks: Author interview with Demarest.
“Dave, what are you trying”: Ibid.
“I think of Lt. Mary Danko”: Reading cards for speech to Air Force personnel, SP740-04, TR090 [3], Thanksgiving Greeting to Air Force, Dhahran Airport, Saudi Arabia, 11/22/90, Case No. 195607SS Scanned, George Bush Library.
Once again, he cut more: Author interview with Demarest.
“You all bring back thoughts”: Reading cards for speech on USS Nassau, SP740-01, TR090, Thanksgiving Day Church Service, USS Nassau, Saudi Arabia, 11/22/90, Case No. 195467SS Scanned, George Bush Library.
“It started to dawn on me”: Author interview with Demarest.
“The debate has become simplified”: Bush, All the Best, 503.
“There is no way to describe”: Ibid., 503–04.
And he had McGroarty sitting: Koch, My Father, 349.
“As a young man”: McGroarty 4:40 pm draft of Gulf War speech, January 15, 1991, “1/16/91 Address to the Nation—Persian Gulf War, (War Began), Case No. 207102 to Case No. 22916” folder, WHORM: SP747, George Bush Library.
“I am about to go to bed”: Bush, All the Best, 504.
The University of Michigan had been one: Neil A. Lewis, “Friends of Free Speech Now Consider Its Limits,” New York T
imes, June 29, 1990.
“The speech to Michigan graduates”: Maureen Dowd, “Bush Sees Threat to Flow of Ideas on U.S. Campuses,” New York Times, May 5, 1991.
“People were concerned about the PC bit”: Aileen Hefferren, “Putting Words in the President’s Mouth,” Washington City Paper, June 21, 1991.
“George Bush and his people”: Ibid.
Snow brought energy and good cheer: John Podhoretz, Hell of a Ride: Backstage at the White House Follies, 1989–1993 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), 71.
“It went too far”: John E. Yang, “For Bush’s Speech, a New Word Order,” Washington Post, June 22, 1991.
“Prodded by a new chief”: Kenneth T. Walsh and David Gergen, “Bush’s Campaign Tuneup,” U.S. News & World Report, June 24, 1991.
There were ominous signs: Podhoretz, Hell, 71–72.
“Chicken Kiev”: William Safire, “Putin’s Chicken Kiev,” New York Times, December 6, 2004.
The paper devoted: John E. Yang, “President Assails Silencing of Unpopular Views,” Washington Post, May 5, 1991.
“President Bush today hailed”: John E. Yang, “Bush Hails ‘Power of Free Enterprise,’” Washington Post, May 5, 1991.
The speechwriters lunched with Bush: The account of the luncheon comes from “Meeting with the President; November 20, 1991, 12 Noon–1:20 P.M.,” a memo to file by a speechwriting intern, private papers of Curt Smith.
The next day, November 21: American Presidency Project, adapted from the Gallup Poll by Gerhard Peters. Bush’s is available at www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/popularity.php? pres=41&sort=time&direct=ASC&Submit=DISPLAY.
“I know many of you”: Tony Snow memo to Speechwriters and Researchers, November 27, 1991, “Memorandum Economic,” folder, Speech Writing, Office of, Snow, Tony: Files, George Bush Library.
“Now, look, I have to be careful”: Smith, Windows, 209.
“Because that’s the Bush”: Author interview with Smith.
When Grant and Demarest met: Author interview with Cary.
“I remember seeing the look”: Ibid.
Demarest meanwhile: Author interview with Demarest.
Bush did not cry: Smith, Windows, 210.
“chaos”: Author interview with Andrew Ferguson.
“French Breakfast Roll Man”: Podhoretz, Hell, 71.
“a significant number of things”: Ann Devroy, “Skinner May Seek Shake-Up; Communications Office Seen as Failing Bush,” Washington Post, January 8, 1992.
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