In 2010, researchers at the Reagan Library discovered a box of index cards containing jokes, literary quotes, and excerpts from speeches written in Reagan's own hand and arranged under rubrics such as "On Liberty," "On War," and "On the People." Rice University history professor Brinkley, who also edited The Reagan Diaries, suggests Reagan began collecting these as spokesman for General Electric beginning in 1954 and continuing until his death in 2004. Readers uncertain if Reagan hated taxes ("Justice O. W. Holmes: "Keep govt. poor and remain free") and communism (Pravda: the communist program is "all embracing & all bloodsoaked reality"), or if he loved God, liberty, and the Constitution (Daniel Webster: "if the const. shall fail there will be anarchy throughout the world") will find answers here. Even the jokes show a conservative bent. The squibs are from sources as far-ranging as Dale Carnegie, Solzhenitsyn, G.K. Chesterton, and even Chairman Mao (on marriage). Admirers will find plenty to admire in these jottings and nothing to change their view of Reagan, but rather confirmation of the vision they already have. 9 b&w photos. (May)
Now with the discovery of his note cards, we can better appreciate just how hard Reagan himself labored to be clear and convincing—and, yes, sometimes funny—to his many audiences.
The chief executive who emerges from these pages has a capacious attention to and knowledge of this country and the world. . . . Reagan the diarist is at home with himself, unself-consciously comfortable. . . . Two things run through the diaries like a thread: One is a kind of gee-whiz everyman’s delight in finding himself in such interesting and enjoyable circumstances; the other is his love for and reliance on Nancy.
These are amusing and enlightening diaries. . . . I quite simply couldn’t put them down.
Reading these diaries, Americans will find it easier to understand how Reagan did what he did for so long: by steady work, and a steadfast commitment to the job at hand. . . . They paint a portrait of a president who was engaged by his job and had a healthy perspective on power.
It’s amazing what nuggets of information you can unearth deep within a book as jampacked as The Reagan Diaries.
This is a book to return to often and sample the collected wisdom found there that buttressed a remarkable man’s vision.
This volume provides an illuminating glimpse into Reagan’s mind. . . . The entries show the directness of Reagan’s thought and his uncanny ability to make a point.
These notes are wonderful things. . . . Although a few recent books have proclaimed to have finally uncovered the real Reagan, there’s a chance we’ll never get any closer than in these scribbles, which reveal so much.
The book offers a window into the mind of the nation’s 40th president and displays the effort he made behind the scenes to hone his performance as a speechmaker and storyteller driving home a conservative political philosophy.
This is a book to return to often and sample the collected wisdom found there that buttressed a remarkable man’s vision.
This volume provides an illuminating glimpse into Reagan’s mind. . . . The entries show the directness of Reagan’s thought and his uncanny ability to make a point.
The book offers a window into the mind of the nation’s 40th president and displays the effort he made behind the scenes to hone his performance as a speechmaker and storyteller driving home a conservative political philosophy.
Now with the discovery of his note cards, we can better appreciate just how hard Reagan himself labored to be clear and convincing—and, yes, sometimes funny—to his many audiences.
