Chris Matthews Complete Library E-book Box Set: Tip and the Gipper, Jack Kennedy, Hardball, Kennedy & Nixon, Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think, and American

by Matthews, Chris

  Ronald Reagan sought and accomplished a far more subtle positioning. It is important to recall that this enormously popular man came to office facing a grave set of challenges. Starting with Lyndon Johnson, the public had seen four presidencies destroyed within twelve years by Vietnam, Watergate, Iran. Reagan was determined to define the office, not to let it define him.

  Ronald Reagan had witnessed the bitter undoing of a president who had tried to carry too much baggage. Rejecting the role of head of state, Jimmy Carter had made himself entirely a head of government. Having denied himself the grander trappings of office—he ordered that “Hail to the Chief” not be played at his arrivals—he allowed himself to take personal responsibility for everything that went wrong. Faced with double-digit inflation, he created a White House “Office of Inflation.” When fifty Americans were taken hostage in Iran, he allowed the quest for their release to swallow his entire presidency. He carried the burdens of office as he did his own garment bag.

  Ronald Reagan made sure the public knew from the start that he was elected to work in Washington, but he was not of Washington. He would be the country’s head of state, not some national custodian answerable every time the power failed or the toilet overflowed. He had said in his acceptance speech, “Government is not the solution to our problem, it’s the problem.” He would not allow himself to become part of that problem, never let anyone doubt that Ronald Reagan’s home was in California, not Washington, D.C. As late as August 1986, he was able to attend the Illinois State Fair posing as some cowpoke from the West. “One of the great things about being at this state fair,” he told an appreciative crowd, “is that maybe I can tell a joke they wouldn’t understand as well in Washington.”

  In moments like this, Ronald Reagan was not simply setting up a criticism. He was portraying himself as something subtly different from a conventional chief executive. He was placing himself not in government but at some unique point—previously uncharted—between government and us. This gave him valuable distance when disaster struck, when programs failed, when his appointees did embarrassing things.

  It was no accident that Reagan chose the previously overlooked medium of radio to address the nation each week. Each Saturday he chose a different topic, but the message was generally the same. No matter what was ailing the country, those who tuned in at 12:05 P.M. EST heard the same offstage “they” being called on the carpet. Each Saturday, that Iowa-trained radio voice came to us bristling with complaints about government—the dread purveyor of deficits, crime, red tape and other evils. Listening to him, it was easy to forget that this Paul-Harvey-on-the-Potomac was the head of the federal government. As a disembodied voice—the White House refused to allow the broadcast session to be televised—he became a kind of national neighbor, concerned as we all were about the way things were going. The timing was critical. Since Saturday is not a workday, the President was off duty, removed from the Washington power structure.

  The radio addresses presented a perfect opportunity for Reagan to skip town on whatever ticklish issue was hovering above the Oval Office. It was across this back fence that the President was free to denounce the shabby treatment given his good friend James G. Watt at the hands of the media and the far-out environmentalists. Tuning in, one would never know that this indignant commentator was actually the same man who had briskly snapped up the former Interior Secretary’s resignation for having made some insensitive, well-publicized remarks about his appointment of “a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple” to a federal advisory panel.

  As we saw in late 1986, the technique can be badly employed. Faced with undeniable evidence that profits from the Iran arms deal had been funneled to the Nicaraguan contras, Reagan fired Colonel Oliver North from the National Security Council staff. Three days later, he declared the same North a “national hero.” He should have waited a few weeks, as in the case of Jim Watt, before trying to reposition himself as an aggrieved third party to the affair.

  His proven ability to reposition himself a safe distance from official Washington had protected him again and again from the traditional dangers of incumbency. When an American barracks was car-bombed in Beirut, the President stepped aside from the disaster: the Marines could not be blamed, because they were in the process of fortifying the barracks area, but “like a kitchen being refurbished, it’s never done as soon as you would like.” In a subsequent State of the Union message, he gave a pointed reminder that Congress had authorized the placement of troops in Lebanon, ignoring the fact that he had for several months made support of his peacekeeping mission an acid test of patriotism.

  Previous presidents have held tight to the trappings of office, but Ronald Reagan had fought hard to keep free. His role as author of the federal budget is one example. The President who never submitted a balanced budget went twice to Capitol Hill during 1982 to lead balance-the-budget rallies. Standing at the head of the angry crowd, he presented himself simply as an average citizen, concerned, just like everybody else, at the rising flood of red ink. Two years later, the man who had presided over a doubling of the national debt stood comfortably at his alma mater, Eureka College, and demanded, “Politicians at the national level must no longer be permitted to mortgage your future.”

  Reagan’s mastery of positioning has to be envied by his predecessors, one in particular.

  Think back to the 1968 Republican national convention. The party’s nominee for president was giving the speech of his life. Having finished with the main body of his address, he shifted pace, becoming uncharacteristically intimate with the national audience. Switching to the third person, he began to narrate the story of a boy growing up with limited prospects in a small town in southern California. His voice began to quake. “He hears the train go by at night, and he dreams of faraway places he would like to go. It seems like an impossible dream . . .”

  Now the climax. That boy with his head on the pillow at night listening to the Western Pacific rush by, that dreamer of the “impossible dream,” was now standing before the thousands of delegates. “Tonight he stands before you nominated for President of the United States of America. You can see now why I believe so deeply in the American dream.” Even Nixon-haters were impressed.

  It seemed totally spontaneous, but behind the scenes there was craft. In a hotel room later that night Nixon allowed himself some credit for the speech’s great close. “I’d like to see Rocky or Romney or Lindsay do a moving thing like that ‘impossible dream’ part, where I changed my voice, he said to aide William Safire. Reagan’s an actor, but I’d like to see him do it.”

  Twelve years later he did, at the 1980 Republican national convention. The words with which Reagan accepted the nomination may not claim many lines in the history books, but the music of the speech was soaring.

  The climactic moment came as Reagan appeared to end his prepared remarks. He paused on the platform, looked out to the convention floor and to the millions at home, and announced that, in the best Hollywood tradition, he was throwing away the script.

  “I have just thought of something that is not part of my speech,” Reagan said in his best husky-intimate voice, “and I am worried whether I should do it.”

  He paused again, and followed through with a beautifully composed tribute to America as the refuge of those “who yearn to breathe freely.” Then the clincher: “I’ll confess that I’m a little afraid to suggest what I am going to suggest. I’m more afraid not to.”

  He then asked for a moment of silent prayer for the great “crusade” he was now beginning.

  Reagan’s finale was the hit of the convention. It had drama, suspense, even a Hitchcockian twist at the end, all of which dynamized the politics of the occasion. It allowed Reagan to do what he likes to do most: portray himself as an amateur among professionals, a citizen among politicians. Only later would it get out that the finale had been written well ahead of time. The closing remarks, which had been purposefully deleted from the texts given to the press, were on his thr
ee-by-five cards all the time.

  Perspective

  In 1999, Vice President Al Gore was challenged for the 2000 Democratic presidential nomination by former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley. At a black-tie “roast” of Bradley held years before, Gore had teased his future rival with the following tale:

  Senator Bradley came to the Senate with his reputation as Princeton All-American and National Basketball Association star preceding him. Invited to make a speech at a large banquet, the confident legislator sat at the head table waiting to make his address.

  When the waiter came around and put a pat of butter on his plate, Bradley stopped him. “Excuse me. Can I have two pats of butter?”

  “Sorry,” the waiter said, “one pat to a person.”

  “I don’t think you know who I am,” Bradley said, “I’m BILL BRADLEY, the Rhodes scholar, professional basketball player, world champion, United States senator.”

  The waiter said, “Well, maybe you don’t know who I am.”

  “Well, as a matter of fact I don’t,” Bradley said. “Who are you?”

  “I’m the guy,” the waiter said, “who’s in charge of the butter.”

  In the world of power, there’s always someone in charge of the butter.

  Index

  ABC, 45, 211

  Adams, John Quincy, 86

  AFL-CIO contributors, 68

  African nationalism, 146

  Agnew, Spiro T., 217

  Agronsky, Martin, 33–34, 88

  Ailes, Roger, 46, 118, 119

  Albert, Carl, 110–11

  American Revolution, 91

  anti-Communism:

  in 1950 Senate elections, 121–22

  Nixon’s China policy and, 207–8

  in Nixon’s congressional campaigns, 124–25, 171–72

  in Texas congressional election of 1952, 130

  in Wisconsin elections of 1950s, 70

  see also McCarthy, Joseph R.

  antismoking campaign, 99, 101, 102

  Arab League, 40

  Arlington National Cemetery, 142

  arms reduction issue, 148–49

  Army Corps of Engineers, U.S., 53

  Arnold, Benedict, 78

  Aronson, Bernard, 151

  Aspin, Les, 149

  Associated Press, 57

  Atlantic Monthly, 176

  Atwater, Lee, 118, 120, 157–58, 201

  Bailey, John, 111–13

  Baker, Howard H., Jr., 34, 157, 204

  Baker, James A., III, 94–96

  as Secretary of State, 39

  as White House chief of staff, 95–96, 101, 157, 177, 195

  Baker, Robert G. “Bobby,” 23–24, 27–28

  Baker, Russell, 31–32

  Baltimore Sun, 158

  Barkley, Alben W., 84–85

  Battle of Saratoga, 91–92

  Bayh, Birch, 156

  Bay of Pigs, 142, 165

  Beckel, Robert, 169–71

  Beirut, bombing of U.S. barracks in, 219–20

  Bennet, Douglas, 163–64

  Bennett, Arnold, 129

  Bennett, Bill, 168

  Benson, Ezra Taft, 205

  Benton, William, 111–12

  Berkman, Eric, 196

  Berlin Wall, 47

  Bernstein, Carl, 187, 189

  Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The (King), 29

  Biden, Joseph R., Jr., 138

  Boggs, Hale, 110

  Bolster, Bill, 46

  Bond, Julian, 156

  Bono, Sonny, 186

  Boone, Pat, 186

  Boston, Mass., Kennedy supporters in, 67–68

  Boston Globe, 52, 57

  Bowles, Chester, 111, 112

  Bradley, Bill, 179–80, 223–24

  Breaux, John, 51

  British imperialism, 146

  Brooks, Jack, 29, 130

  Brown, Edmund G. “Pat,” 200, 212

  Brown, Jerry, 156, 181

  Brown, John, 97

  Bruno, Jerry, 170

  Buchanan, Patrick, 150, 151

  Budget Control Act of 1974, 137

  “budget summit” of 1982, 194–95, 220

  Bulwer-Lytton, Edward, 146

  Bumiller, Elisabeth, 36

  Burgoyne, John, 91, 92

  Burke, James A., 86

  Bush, George, 37, 72

  global diplomacy of, 39–40

  1980 presidential campaign of, 79, 95, 204

  1988 presidential campaign of, 76, 117–20

  busing of school children, 129–30

  Butz, Earl, 186

  Byrd, Robert C., 56–57, 162–63

  Byrne, William “Digger,” 77

  Califano, Joseph A., 98–103

  California:

  Nixon’s and Reagan’s homes in, 216, 218

  Nixon’s 1950 Senate campaign in, 58–59

  Reagan elected Governor of, 212

  Cambridge, Mass., 67, 68, 69

  campaign contributors, 71–72

  Capitol, U.S.:

  cloakrooms of, 17, 27

  Rayburn Room of, 121

  subway between Senate office buildings and, 41

  see also House of Representatives, U.S.; Senate, U.S.

  Capitol Hill, 24–25, 26, 41, 45, 136

  Carey, Hugh L., 156

  Carson, Johnny, 80, 166, 167

  Carter, Jimmy, 19, 72

  Administration of, 35–36, 84, 97–103, 218

  anti-Washington campaign of, 34–35

  Califano as HEW Secretary for, 98–103

  congressional leaders neglected socially by, 35–36, 37

  economic measures of, 84

  Education Department proposed by, 99–100

  Iran hostage release efforts of, 199, 201–2, 218

  Johnson compared with, 101, 103

  Mondale and, 169

  1976 election strategy of, 34–35, 63–65, 155–56

  1980 reelection campaign of, 73, 198–200

  Powell as press secretary for, 164

  presidential credentials of, 155–56

  presidential image of, 35–36

  Reagan compared with, 93, 101, 214, 218

  speechwriters for, 44, 73, 151

  CBS, 33–34, 139

  CBS News, 113

  Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 138

  Chamberlain, Neville, 54, 141

  Chamberlain, Wilt, 197

  Chandler, A. B. “Happy,” 84–85

  Chase, Salmon P., 97

  Chicago, Ill., 1968 Democratic convention in, 109–10

  Chiles, Lawton, 50–51

  China, 207–8

  Chotiner, Murray, 59, 173

  Chou En-Lai, 208

  Church, Frank, 50

  Churchill, Winston, 141–42, 200–201

  cigarette smoking, campaign against, 99, 101, 102

  civil rights enforcement, 99

  civil rights legislation, 32

  Civil War, U.S., 97

  Clark, Tom, 122

  Clean Air Act of 1977, 137, 139

  Clean Water Act of 1972, 137, 139

  Clinton, Bill, 14, 19

  Bobby Baker and, 24

  as “Comeback Kid,” 19, 168

  at Georgetown University, 40

  Gingrich and, 114–15

  health care issue mishandled by, 209

  Kerrey and, 181–82

  1974 congressional campaign of, 41

  1988 Democratic convention speech of, 19, 166–67

  in 1992 New Hampshire primary, 19, 168–69

  1996 reelection of, 209–10

  political networking by, 40–41

  Stephanopoulos and, 116, 120

  “triangulation” strategy of, 209

  war room for response to attacks on, 116, 120

  Clinton, Hillary Rodham, 60–61

  CNBC, 46

  Coelho, Tony, 44

  Cohen, Bruno, 46

  college students, advice to, 59

  Collins, James M., 42–43

  Colson, Charles W.,
48–49

  commandments, creation of, 202–4

  Communism:

  in Europe, 48

  in Nicaragua, 150–52

  see also anti-Communism

  Congress, U.S., see House of Representatives, U.S.; Senate, U.S.

  congressional elections:

  of 1946, 67, 113, 171–72

  of 1950, 58–59, 121–25, 171–72

  of 1952, 130

  of 1960, 30

  of 1962, 160–61

  of 1974, 41, 63, 65, 143

  of 1981, 77

  of 1982, 51–53, 125–27

  of 1986, 127

  of 1991, 60

  of 1994, 193–94, 209

  Connally, John B., 80–81, 204

  Connecticut, Democratic leaders in, 111–12

  contributors’ lists, 71

  Corbin, Paul, 69–70, 143

  Corpus Christi, City of, 38–39

  Corvo, David, 45, 46

  Costanza, Midge, 65

  Crane, Phil, 204

  Cranston, Alan, 138

  crime issue, in 1988 presidential campaign, 118–20

  C-Span, 181

  Cuban Missile Crisis, 142, 158

  Daley, Richard, 193

  Daley, Richard J., 110

  Dallas, Tex., 51–52

  deal making in Washington, 78

  legislative, 138

  Dean, John, 186

  Deaver, Michael K., 38–39, 93, 94

  defense budget, 94, 176, 206

  deficit reduction issue, 176–77, 194–95

  Democratic Campaign Committee, 63

  Democratic National Committee, 55, 73, 98, 112, 128

  Democratic national conventions:

  of 1940, 55

  of 1968, 109–10, 111

  of 1984, 84

  of 1988, 166

  Democratic presidential nominations:

  of 1960, 68–69

  of 1968, 197–98

  of 1972, 81, 136, 217

  of 1980, 198–99

  of 1984, 169, 217

  of 1988, 117

  of 2000, 223

  Dewey, Thomas E., 127, 128, 172–73

  Dingell, John D., 139

  Dirksen, Everett M., 109

  Dodge Hotel, 24–25, 46

  Johnson’s residence at, 26, 32, 41, 45

  Dole, Bob, 75, 138, 204

  Donaldson, Sam, 211

  Donilon, Tom, 73