Book World Live

Richard Reeves

"Rich in anecdote yet sparingly written, 'President Reagan' puts us in the room with a president who lived what Reeves calls a 'life imagined.' Like Winston Churchill, Reagan had a remarkable capacity to recast reality to suit his emotional and political purposes." -- "The Great Communicator," Jan. 8).

Biographer Richard Reeves , whose latest work, "President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination," was reviewed in this week's Book World, is online to take questions and comments about the late president, Ronald Reagan.

Richard Reeves is an acclaimed biographer of American presidents, whose work includes "President Kennedy: Profile of Power" and "President Nixon: Alone in the White House."

Join Book World Live each Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET for a discussion based on a story or review in each Sunday's Book World section.

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Anonymous: The quote about how Ronald Reagan had a remarkable ability to "recast reality" is very insightful. Of course, when you're President of the United States, what you do transforms your reality into history. What were Ronald Reagan's realities? Was he easily guided by others into their realities, as has been suggested by those who stated he placed great faith on his aides and on his loving wife (who tranposed his liberal Americans for Democratic Action ideology into conservative Republican views)? Was he more subject to accepting others' realities after a lifetime of acting and taking the roles of others into his livelihood? What does it mean that he "recast reality"?

Richard Reeves: He recast American political reality by redefining populism, changin the enemy fron big business to big government. The Reagan I found was set in his ideas. He was the opposite of the manipulated,passive figure so often described. His wife defended and protected him, but he cast his own ideology. As for aides, they were interchangeable. "He treats us all the same, as hired help" said James Baker. In the final two years of his Presidency, he was more or less on his own forging the Gorbachev relationship that helped changed the word. Aides and other conservatives thought he was either selling out or being tricked by the wily Russian. The opposite turned out to be true.

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Harrisburg, Pa.: You have written about Kennedy and Nixon, two contemporaries who entered Congress at the same time, had some kind of Congressional relationship, and rose to be the leaders of their respective parties and fight each other. If you were to compare them, how would you describe how each viewed the other, and what strikes you most about the differences between the two?

Richard Reeves: Nixon wanted to be Kennedy's friend -- he almost loved him, as did many men (and women). Kennedy had contempt for Nixon because he was such a klutz. The difference was between grace and self-confidence, and clumsiness,envy and bedevilled introversion.

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Hasselt, Belgium: Mr. Reeves,

i've hugely enjoyed this book just like your previous biography of Richard Nixon. Was it difficult to limit this biography of a president like Ronald Reagan to a mere 500 pages and do how much time is taken up by research alone of your subject?

kind regards, Peter Fabry

Richard Reeves: It is harder to write short than long, but publishers are anxious to keep the book price down. Kennedy took me eight years;nixon,seven, and Reagan five. I'm getting better, or at least faster in my old age.

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Baltimore, Md.: Mr.Reeves: I just wanted to say that I remember you as one of the nicer customers we had at Georgetown's late, lamented Savile Book Shop back in the mid-70s. You always seemed to enjoy talking to the staff and simply hanging out, which set you apart from most of the media folk who came in. Best of luck with your latest biography.

Richard Reeves: Those were the days,my friend....

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Portland, Ore.: Mr. Reeves:

I very much enjoyed your earlier books on Kennedy and Nixon, and am anxious to read your profile of Reagan.

One of the lessons I took away from your profile of Kennedy was that his enduring legacy is one of style, not policy. Kennedy changed how we expected our presidents to look and behave, but was more shaped by events than the shaper of events. Can the same be said of Reagan?

After all, Reagan failed to reduce the size of government (and didn't make a great effort to do so), and took few steps to restore so-called traditional American values. Finally, his role in ending the Cold War is still open to debate, but I would call it marginal against such other factors as detente and glasnost, Solidarity and Afghanistan.

However, his comfortable, deceptively open style on camerca and his unbridled (and often unwarranted) optimism, are now basic requirements for any person who wants to be president. And that's what I think he will most be remembered for. Am I being unfair?

Richard Reeves: No, that's not unfair. But I think Reagan did shape his (and our) world. As you hint, he changed the way we think about politics. He was a man who knew that words are often more important than deeds. Hell, he's still President today, in the sense that FDR was running the country long after his death.

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Arlington, Va.: Is there evidence that Reagan's Alzheimer's was setting in while he was still in the White House?

Richard Reeves: No. He had symptoms of dementia in the White House -- most people his age do -- but not Alzheimer's . They are different things. Among the physicians I talked to about was David Owen, former British foreign minister,, who knew Reagan and is publishing a book about illness and leaders.

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Washington DC: How did growing up the child of an alcoholic affect Reagan?

Richard Reeves: Well, they say such children are always mediators trying to calm people. But Reagan was one tough guy who pushed people around when he thought he had to. My work focuses on him as President, what he knew and when he knew it, what he said, what he did in power. His childhood was not a primary interest of mine.

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Los Angeles, Calif.: I'm curious about the relationship between DCI William Casey and Regan. Regan, after all, had to sign off on Presidential Findings to allow Casey's shenanigans. Did Casey con Regan? Or was it easy to get the president's cooperation?

Richard Reeves: Don Regan was in over his head,easy to fool for a canny fellow like Casey. Also, the longer Reagan knew people the more he trusted them -- and I doubt he ever trusted anyone completely -- most presidents don't

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Washington, DC: There was once a picture of Ronald sitting on a park bench with a little boy. This was after he went into hiding. Do you know the story behind that picture? Did Ronald and Mrs. Reagan take trips to the park and mingle out in the open with people?

Richard Reeves: Yes, I do know the photo. Reagan was avery sick man by then. "The air will do him good," as they say. He apparently did not make much sense in talking with the kid. It was over.

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Katy, Texas: What credit does Reagan deserve for the reformation in Europe after he came to office and later after he was out of politics? Where does he rank in your opinion on Presidential performance?

Richard Reeves: I lived in Europe during those years and realized that he was much more respected there than one would guess reading our press and the European press. Leaders -- particularly Thatcher, Mitterand, Schmidt and Kohl -- wanted a strong and consistent president. The one they didn't like or trust was Carter. The Pope was also a factor in thos relationships. The press (TV) showed Reagan dozing in a meeting with John Paul. That was in public. In private, he used satellite photos to persuade the Pope not to back the "Nuclear Freeze" movement then sweeping the continent. I think Reagan will be seen in the "near-great" category --UNLESS the debt he (and Bush) ran up does damage to the economy shared by our children and grandchilren, who must pay off his military spending. Reagan won by attacking tax-and-spend Democrats, but he was a spend and borrow conservative.

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Munich, Germany: Almost 20 years ago, I watched a TV satire called, "Spitting Images" while staying in London with friends. In this episode, Reagan was caricatured as a bumbler surrounded by White House staff with protruding eyeteeth.

My British host informed me at this point that most Britons felt that Reagan didn't know what was going on and that his secretaries ran the U.S. government.

True or not, the example in the review of your book, regarding Deaver not wanting to leave Reagan alone in a conference with Haig, indicates that Reagan was malleable.

Reagan may have had a vision, but this vision was modified and perhaps shaped by his aids and senior White House staff. Your thoughts?

Richard Reeves: I think the British were wrong. And so was Deaver. Haig,Shultz,Weinberger and the gang could not have changed America and the world Reagan did. I noticed that the Post's review of my book began with a conversation I had with Regan who said everyone in the White House thought they were smarter than the President. They were wrong,too.

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Boston, Mass.: If memory serves me, George W. Bush was not the first president to declare war on terror -- that honor goes to Reagan. How did the public react at the time, and did Regan use his war on terror as a political cudgel?

Richard Reeves: You're right. But it was all talk. Before 9/11 was the killing of 241 Marines by a truckbomber in Beirut. Reagan's response was to talk tough and "re-deploy" the Marines to ships at sea.

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Alexandria, Va.: Can you talk more about the relationship between Reagan and his Vice President?

Richard Reeves: There wasn't much of a relationship. Bush occasionally provided Reagan with information or context that Reagan was ignorant of, but the Bushs were rarely invited upstairs and still resent the fact that Reagan was a guy who almost never said "Thank you". Kennedy was the same. Leaders use people but keep their distance,it comes with the job. Picture a naked John Kennedy in the bathtub while his assistants, in suits, sitting on toilets and sinks take orders from the boss.

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Reston, Va.: Did Reagan lie about his knowledge of Iran-Contra?

Richard Reeves: Yes.

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Silver Spring, Md.: What can President Bush learn from how Reagan handled his 2nd term in office?

Richard Reeves: See if Russia will collapse in the manner of the Soviet Union.

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Louisville, Ky: Was Reagan any closer to members of the Democratic Party -- consulting them, meeting with them etc. -- than George W. Bush is today?

Richard Reeves: Much,much closer. Reagan spent the better part of his rather short workdays, calling or calling in Democrats from states he carried. Conservative democratic senators and congressmen were a key to his success. The man understood how to be President. He talked with more members of Congress in his first 30 days than Carter had in four years. And that paid off in one close House vote after another.

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Columbia, Md.: Who was the aide closest to him? Meese?

Richard Reeves: No one was really close to Reagan. Meese may have known him best,but that is a different thing.

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Bethesda, Md.: Who was closer to Reagan -- Brady or Regan?

Richard Reeves: Again, neither of them was actually close to him. They served him.

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Reston Va. RE: Lying about Iran-Contra: Can you expand on this? I realize he had to have known more but were there further specifics you found?

Richard Reeves: Yes, there are conversations and memos cited in the book that could not have happened if Reagan was in the dark. He wanted those hostages home and was willing to do whatever it took, including sending Bibles to ayatollahs and meeting with rich civilians financing the contras when Congress cut off the money.

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Philadelphia, Pa.: What was so unique about the Iceland summit? Was it really a crossing point for Reagan and Gorby?

Richard Reeves: I am quoting Jack Matlock, then the NSC's Soviet guy,later ambassador to Moscow: "We saw each other's bottom line." What happened at Reykjavik was not any agreement, but great understanding and dialogue at a level never before schieved. As mad as they were then, Reagan and Gorbachev saw each other differently after that. They were able to work together despite the opposition of their staffs and handlers.

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New York: Was Nancy's role in the White House greater than presumed, or less than the media hype?

Richard Reeves: I believe Mrs. Reagan's role has been greatly exaggerated. Like all spouses, she was the single person who had no personal agenda. But she desperately tried to prevent his from running for a second term. And the fact that she worked through people like Deaver and Shultz was because her husband had already told her: "That's enough Nancy! I get it."

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Reston, Va.: Not even Deaver knew him? If you read Deaver's biography he made it seem like they had warm relations even though Reagan was on a certain level distant with all, even intimate family members (except for Nancy).

Richard Reeves: All the president's men, -- all presidents -- write books saying, "And then I told the President..." They know what they see and hear, but that's only part of the elephant,

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Philadelphia, Pa.: Do you talk about Reagan's positive relationship with Tip O'Neill? As I understand it, they were quite good friends after business hours. I wish our current President demonstrated this non-partisanship.

Richard Reeves: That was an up and down thing. We can learn together whenever I'm on Hardball. Chris Matthews was O'Neill's number one guy in those days and I'll ask him to answer that one.

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Washington, D.C.: Just wondering -- do you see parallels between the Reagan-Thatcher relationship and the Bush-Blair one?

Richard Reeves: That's an interesting question, but I don't know enough about what Blair actually thinks. I do know and write about Reagan and Thatcher's fights over the Falklands and Grenada. In all, I think they saw each other ideological soulmates trying to persuade and slow-witted world.

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Los Angeles, Calif.: To piggy back on the question from Munich, a Saturday Night Live skit comes to mind. It was called "Ronald Reagan: Mastermind," and it featured Phil Hartman as the president. When the cameras were around, he was a bumbling, jellybean-giving grampa. But when the press left, he shifted into high gear, harshly ordering aides around, speaking in Farsi on the phone, ect...

So was the jellybean grandfather bit really an act?

Richard Reeves: I didn't know about the "Mastermind" bit, but I think the reality was something like that -- not that Reagan raised his voice, but that his people were afraid of him. There is a wonderful story in the book -- from Leslie Stahl of CBS -- of baker running out of his office and out to the lawn to make sure Reagan saw hih waving goodbye and knew he was on the job.

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Paris, France: During your research on Kennedy did you discover anything

that made you suspect that the president's father had been

one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's inspiration for the character of

the great Gatsby, a notorious bootlegger who would have

done great things for the country with his illegally won

fortune?

Richard Reeves: That's a new one for me.

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Washington DC: Mr. Reeves: I have read elsewhere that one of the unusual things about Reagan was that he had no truly close friends--he had, as you have put it, people who served him. And he had a few old pals from Hollywood, but no deep personal friendships. Is that true. And do you think it is characteristic of politicians in general?

Richard Reeves: Yes, I believe that and it is characteristic of the most successful politicians. It certainly was a hallmark of the presidentsx in my little trilogy. As his friend, Charles Bartlett said of JFK: " No one ever really knew all of him."

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Anonymous: Ronald Reagan believed in international cooperation in American foreign policy decisions. He further supported Iraq, which admittedly had a tyrant as a leader, as a counterbalance against Iraq which was viewed not only as a worst threat to our interests than Iran posed but was a nation that had legally invaded American soil when Iranians took our embassy and held Americans hostage. How do you think Reagan would view the current Administration's tendancy to "go it alone" foreign policies and their retilting of the Iran-Iraq balance?

Richard Reeves: Reagan liked to talk tough -- and avoid tough fights. Or, have other people fight our fights. It is incoceivable to me that he would do what Bush has done in Iraq.

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Washington, DC: Among those hostages was William Buckley the CIA agent (not the columnist-friend) who Reagan believed was being tortured. did that increase his sense of obligation to get the hostages out?

Richard Reeves: Bill Casey, CIA director, cranked Reagan up by showing him a video of a tortured Buckley to Reagan. Reagan was obsessed with that, but it was wrong to do that. The Presidency is not about saving one life.

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San Francisco, Calif.: Will your next book profile another president? And how much interviewing do you do, relative to archival/library research?

Richard Reeves: I'm leaving the President business and writing a book about the experiments of Ernest Rutherford, the British physicist who gave us the first picture of what atoms really were....Thank you all....

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