Ronald Reagan

Chapters 1-6

Reagan thought his name was not tough enough and went by Dutch because his dad said he looked like a fat Dutchman when he was born.

His dad was John but went by Jack, and was an alcoholic with a dream of owning his own shoe store. Jack was a salesman with the gift of blarney.

They moved a lot, but Reagan went to high school in Dixon and then college at Eureka. He played football and swam. He was a cheerleader for the basketball team at Eureka, joined TKE, and became student body president.

His mom was Nelle. She was involved in the church and taught him how to pray and got him to perform in front of the church, which fed his love for acting.

He was a lifeguard during summers. He read a lot, did not drink, and became obsessed with heroes in books and read everything about them.

Chapter 7

He became a football announcer briefly during the Depression. FDR became the 32nd president.

Chapters 8-12

Reagan moved to Hollywood and made it as an actor. He slowly moved up the ladder and became a star. He was appointed to the Screen Actors Guild board of directors to represent the young actors.

They said his head was too small and his neck too short and made him wear wide collars and special shirts to fix it. He was also very blind and could not wear glasses on set. Hollywood people really loved his voice.

He was drafted after Pearl Harbor but could not go abroad because of his eyesight. Because of his movie-industry work, he was appointed to make films documenting the war and training videos for fighter pilots. Fort Roach.

Chapters 13-14

Reagan returned to Hollywood after the war. He was supposed to ride a horse for a movie and bought one named Baby from an Italian count, Nino Pepitone. He loved horses and bought a ranch in the San Fernando Valley where he bred and sold horses with Nino's help.

There was a new union that called a strike, but Reagan and others on the SAG board concluded it was a phony strike aimed at grabbing jurisdictional power, not improving wages or conditions, so Reagan instructed the actors to cross the picket line. That led to threats against Reagan. It was later discovered that Stalin's Russia was behind this as an attempt to control Hollywood as a communist propaganda tool.

Chapter 15

Reagan slowly discovers that lots of groups in Hollywood had been infiltrated and transformed into communist fronts. He adamantly opposed communism and became president of the board of SAG to lead the fight against it. "America faced no more insidious or evil threat than that of Communism."

Chapters 16-18

Reagan met his wife Nancy because she wanted to be cleared of communist accusations since there was another Nancy Davis who was a communist.

The government did not allow studios to both make and show a movie. They had to let independent theater companies show the films, which meant the studios were less willing to take risks telling stories because they were not sure the theaters would show them. Reagan thought this government intervention was responsible for the decline in Hollywood quality.

Reagan gave speeches to GE employees about how government had injected itself into the film industry and could do the same in their industry. These speeches continued to prepare him for politics. He bought another ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Chapter 19

Reagan became a Republican. Mentally he was by 1960 but did not officially register until 1962. He thought the Democratic Party of Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Jefferson had changed. It had become thinly veiled socialism which thought big government was the answer. He campaigned for Nixon when he ran against JFK.

He was fully against big government and relief programs. "Liberty has never come from the government." Relentless government expansion and bureaucrats taking control of American businesses were leading the country down the road to socialism.

Chapters 20-22

Reagan co-chaired the campaign for Barry Goldwater and gave a version of the same speech he had been giving around the country for GE, adapted for Goldwater. It was paid for and aired by major Republican supporters after he gave it at the Coconut Grove. It was a huge success and a milestone in Reagan's life.

The same supporters came to Reagan in 1965 and suggested he run for governor of California. He laughed and refused. Then they kept coming back, and ordinary people kept telling him to run. In 1966 he gave in and ran against Brown.

He was attacked for being an actor. His lack of political experience was supposed to hurt him, but he used it as evidence that politicians had created the mess. He was accused of not writing his own speeches, so to counter that he opened his appearances to questions after a short opening. People were tired of government wasting their money and telling them how to run their lives. Reagan won 58/42.

Chapters 23-26

Now elected, he moved to Sacramento and took advice from Ohio governor Jim Rhodes: ask top businessmen in the state to evaluate the operations of state agencies and suggest ways to improve them. The idea was that a government agency was never run as efficiently as a well-run business.

He also found out California was broke and had been wasting money, and he had to dig the state out of its biggest financial crisis since the Depression. In his first year he struggled to reduce government because of a hostile legislature.

He learned to work with legislators by socializing more and calling them directly to explain why they should vote for something he wanted. He also took cases to the public because once the public was convinced, they could pressure legislators. This was inspired by FDR's fireside chats. He believed that in negotiating you cannot always get everything you want all at once.

Chapters 27-29

Reagan ran as a favorite-son candidate for president in 1968 after being convinced by Republican leaders. He insisted he was not a real candidate though. Nixon won.

He had to deal with UC rioters and student leaders who hated the establishment. He gave the first tax rebate in California after a $100 million budget surplus. Legislators hated that because they always wanted to spend surpluses to avoid future cuts.

He ran again for governor and beat Jesse Unruh 53/45. His goal was welfare reform. He believed the government needed to care for people who could not provide for themselves, but he opposed open-ended welfare programs that trapped able-bodied people in dependency. He successfully reduced welfare and gave jobs to many of the people he was taking off welfare, giving them a sense of purpose.

He also got lots of international-relations experience because California's economy was so large and traded like an industrialized nation.

Chapters 30-34

America had drifted away from the Founders' image. Too much power sat in the federal government. Reagan believed the candidate does not make the decision to run for president, the people make it.

He ran for president in 1976 but lost to incumbent Gerald Ford in the primaries, who then lost to Jimmy Carter. Reagan ran again in 1980 after Americans had grown upset at Democratic taxes. The two Republican front-runners were Reagan and George Bush. Reagan had a huge win in New Hampshire and the rest dropped out. He chose Bush as his running mate.

Carter attacked his character and made lots of false accusations. When they finally had a public debate a week before the election, Reagan won many people over. On election night, as Reagan was showering to prepare for the traditional dinner, Jimmy Carter called him to concede. Reagan became the 40th president.

Part Two, Chapters 36-37

He was inaugurated and his speech was about fixing the economy, which he planned to do with tax reform. Less federal tax. People are less incentivized to work if they are only getting a few cents on the dollar after a certain point, as Reagan had experienced in Hollywood. The motivation to work overtime vanishes when Washington takes so much of the extra pay.

Like in Sacramento, he faced Democratic legislative opposition. Politicians used the media to twist stories and make the other party look bad. He again took his case to the people, asking them to pressure legislators. When it came down to it, Reagan prioritized national defense over the federal deficit.

Chapter 38

The hostages from Iran returned. Reagan wrote that whenever one of our citizens, even the least among us, through no fault of his or her own, was denied the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it was up to the rest of us to do everything we could to restore those rights.

Communism had taken over Cuba, and the Soviets were spreading their control around Central America. Cuba was transferring arms to rebel groups in El Salvador. Reagan wanted to stop this without looking like America was imposing its will. He said America would help where needed, but not do it for them.

Chapters 39-41

Nancy redecorated the White House to make it look nice. She got private funding through fundraising, but the media often falsely accused her of spending tax dollars.

Reagan liked to use short sentences in speeches, one-syllable words when possible. He tried to make speeches sound like he was talking to a group of friends.

Japanese cars were being imported at higher rates and American car companies were falling behind. Pressure to impose quotas increased. Reagan supported free trade and thought competition was good, but knew Japan was not playing fair. He did not want to start a trade war, so Bush suggested asking Japan to voluntarily limit exports.

The nuclear arms race ramped up in spring 1981. MAD policy was not enough for Reagan and he hoped to begin the process of peace with a better answer.

Chapter 42

As Reagan was walking to his car after a speech at the Hilton, John Hinckley Jr. tried to assassinate him. He was shot in the chest and a bullet lodged in his lung. When the doctor told him he was going to operate, Reagan said, "I hope you're a Republican," and the doctor replied, "Today, Mr. President, we're all Republicans."

Secret Service head Jerry Parr threw himself on top of Reagan while shoving him into the limo. Agent Tim McCarthy spread himself out as much as possible and was shot in the chest but survived.

Chapters 43-45

Soviet expansionism worried Reagan. He gave speeches critiquing the Soviets and saying there was a new administration in Washington that would not tolerate their behavior. Reagan sent letters trying to begin peacemaking, but got cold replies saying the Soviets would continue to spread communism.

As president, temporary phones were set up wherever he traveled by the White House Signal group. They allowed the president to call anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Chapters 46-50

Qaddafi entered the picture as the leader of Libya trying to unify the Islamic world into a single nation under religious control. He believed any act was justified if it furthered his goals. He also claimed the Gulf of Sidra was legally Libya's.

In 1981, Reagan finally passed the economic recovery program. Budget cuts and tax cuts went into effect. It passed by a landslide thanks to Democrats who voted for it.

Libyan aircraft shot at American F-14s over the Gulf of Sidra, which Reagan regarded as international waters. Per Reagan's orders, the F-14s turned and shot down the attacking aircraft. Intelligence then informed Reagan that there were plans to assassinate him after this, so security tightened.

Shortly after, Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt and ally of the US, was assassinated. Qaddafi then called for a holy war on behalf of Islamic fundamentalism.

Reagan wanted to reduce the risk of nuclear war but knew he had to approach the table from a position of strength, so he had more weapons built. "Zero-zero" meant no missiles aimed at Europe or Russia. Brezhnev interfered in Poland and Reagan cut trade with Poland and Russia. NATO allies did not follow suit because of the trans-Siberian pipeline. A recession worsened and people blamed Reagan.

Part Three, Chapters 51-56

The recession made people doubt him. There were lots of fights over tax cuts and his economic recovery program. But the economy came booming back roughly a year after the program started. He beat Walter Mondale in 1984 in a 49-state landslide, 59/41. "I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience."

The government was run wildly inefficiently, so Reagan asked J. Peter Grace, CEO of W.R. Grace & Company, to establish a panel of top businessmen to study federal operations and recommend improvements. They published 2,478 recommendations and about 800 were implemented. Government growth was slowed and lots of money was saved.

The recession forced American businesses to become more efficient. "Adversity made us tougher. New competition made us work harder." The White House Office of Private Sector Initiatives was meant to revitalize the American spirit of neighbor helping neighbor.

At an annual economic summit, the German chancellor asked Reagan to explain the American miracle, how the US had reversed both inflation and unemployment. Reagan explained that excessive tax rates destroy incentives to produce and that less regulation is better. Other countries listened and many adopted similar policies. Margaret Thatcher especially brought a lot of prosperity to Britain.

At the summit they all addressed each other by first name. Reagan went by Ron. He loved the idea because it broke the diplomatic ice.

He describes some foreign-policy episodes: the Falklands War, and the Philippines, where stolen elections forced him to not support but still show respect to an old ally who had become corrupt.

In 1984 he visited China and saw that they had just implemented the first free-enterprise system where farmers could grow more than quota and sell the extra for profit. He also visited Germany and caught flak for visiting the Bitburg cemetery after accepting Chancellor Helmut Kohl's invitation, not knowing until later that 49 of the 2,000 soldiers buried there were Nazis. He believed he was morally in the right and did not think all Germans deserved to bear Hitler's stigma forever.

He reminisces on the perks of being president, like fixing problems for the little guy. He started the tradition of returning salutes. Presidents used to not do that because they were in civilian clothes. He said that as commander in chief, his uniform was civilian clothes and he ought to salute back.

As president, anonymity and freedom of movement basically disappeared. Camp David was the one place where he could walk around freely, often reading about foreign affairs and responding to letters. The Challenger explosion in 1986 was a tragedy. Reagan was often accused of being racist, which infuriated him.

Part Four, Chapters 57-62

The Middle East becomes central. The Carter administration had agreed to sell AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia just before leaving office. Reagan reviewed the deal and still supported it, which infuriated Israelis. He adamantly supported Israel's security but also wanted to establish good faith with the Arabs.

Israel attacked Beirut and Lebanon to eradicate PLO strongholds. The PLO refused to leave Beirut and terrorists were goading Israel to attack so that a wider religious war would break out. Three weeks after the US proposed a peace plan, which Israel rejected, a terrorist bomb killed the president-elect of Lebanon. The US sent Marines to Beirut.

Both Israel and Palestine claimed the West Bank by ancestral rights. Israel refused to leave Lebanon, which inflamed the Arab world. Prime Minister Begin ignored repeated requests to withdraw. Marines were supposed to stay until foreign troops withdrew. Then a terrorist car bomb killed Americans at the US embassy in Beirut. Shiite Muslim fundamentalists took credit.

During all of this, the Soviets were sending arms to Syria. Just as an agreement for all foreign troops to leave Lebanon seemed close, Syria decided it now had enough firepower to stay. A religious civil war between Muslim and Christian Lebanese groups also broke out. Beirut turned into total chaos and snipers started shooting everyone, including Marines. Iranian Shiites, Syrian forces, and radicals from the PLO all became involved.

A suicide bomber then drove into Marine barracks and killed more than 200 Americans in Beirut. Reagan later regretted ever sending the Marines there. The mission had been too half-hearted and unclear.

There was also a covert operation to evacuate American students from Grenada. It went well, aside from confusion caused by switched flags. Soviet colonialism in Central America increased through Nicaragua, Cuba, and Grenada. The Sandinistas were in control.

Part Five, Chapters 63-78

The National Security Council illegally aided the Contras, who were fighting the Sandinistas, without telling Reagan. Reagan wanted to support the Contras anyway and the NSC knew Congress was being difficult and voting against aid.

Reagan believed the key to peace in the Middle East was to get moderate Arab countries besides Egypt to accept Israel's right to exist. In June 1985, terrorists hijacked a plane taking off from Athens, filled mostly with American tourists, and took it to Beirut. They demanded the release of Shiites held in Israeli jails or they'd execute passengers. They killed one hostage and dumped his body on the runway. After 17 days the US got all 39 hostages back without making a deal.

Reagan had some surgeries to remove cancerous cells.

Israel reached out to the US on behalf of moderate Iranians who were expected to take over after the very ill ayatollah died. These moderates were allegedly opposed to terrorism and authoritarian rule. Israel wanted the US to waive the rule preventing Israel from sending American weapons to Iran. During the Iran-Iraq war, the moderates wanted to buy a few TOW antitank missiles.

At the same time, terrorists opened fire in Rome and Vienna with assault rifles, killing 20, and Qaddafi immediately praised them as noble. Qaddafi also claimed the Gulf of Sidra as Libyan territory, "Qaddafi's Lake." The US challenged that claim with naval maneuvers. Libya fired missiles at American planes and missed; the Americans responded by destroying the attackers. A month later, a disco bombing in West Berlin was traced to Libya. A month after that, the US bombed Libya's intelligence headquarters in Tripoli. Two crewmen were shot down, but the strike was considered a success. Qaddafi quieted down after that.

Then the Iranian initiative leaked in Beirut and got twisted into a story that the US was dealing directly with the ayatollah and trading arms for hostages. The press ran with it. Later a memo was discovered showing that Oliver North had diverted part of the money Iran paid for the weapons and sent it to the Contras in Nicaragua, and that John Poindexter knew about it. Reagan says he did not know and immediately disclosed everything once he found out.

The Strategic Defense Initiative aimed to find a defense against nuclear weapons, a nuclear shield around America that would offer more assurance than MAD. Reagan continued pushing military modernization so America could catch up with the Soviets and negotiate from strength. "Peace through strength."

The nuclear-freeze movement was catchy and opposed America's rearmament, saying Reagan was trying to start nuclear war. He thought it would merely lock the US into military inferiority. This issue also helped wreck his relationship with his daughter Patti.

A Korean Air Lines jumbo jet was shot down by the Soviets after accidentally straying into Soviet airspace, killing more than 250 people. The Soviets claimed they thought it was an American spy plane. Reagan called it barbarous. A Russian general said, "You know, I liked the arms race better when there was only one of us in it."

There were lots of letters between Reagan and successive Soviet leaders. He kept establishing a relationship with them and then they died. The letters were always about arms talks and the goal of parity by reduction. The Soviets did not trust SDI and thought it was a cover for an offensive system. Both sides acknowledged that preventing nuclear war was paramount. Both blamed the other for the arms race.

Finally Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet leader. At Geneva, Reagan and Gorbachev sat down face to face and talked about arms negotiations. Gorbachev was very likable and the conversation went well. It was the start of a friendship. Russians feared America because of decades of propaganda.

George Shultz, Reagan's secretary of state, was invaluable. The US even said it would openly share SDI once complete to protect the world from nuclear weapons. The idea was to shoot missiles from space as they left the silo.

Reagan and Gorbachev then sent many letters back and forth about arms control and setting up summits. They met for four summits in the three years they were both leaders. The summits were wildly successful and resulted in the INF Treaty, the first actual reduction of nuclear arms.

At Reykjavik, they agreed on a bunch of reductions after days of meetings and then, at the very end, Gorbachev said only if Reagan gave up SDI. Reagan had already decided SDI was not a bargaining chip, so he walked away. Still, many of those reduction ideas were later realized.

Gorbachev and Reagan were friendly and told each other jokes about each other's countries. They were both patriots and accepted that they could not change each other's minds on certain topics but could still find mutually beneficial actions.

The Soviets also played dirty. After the US caught a Soviet spy, Russia essentially kidnapped a reporter, falsely accused him of being a spy, and demanded a swap.