SPIN ONE FOR THE GIPPER.

• Date: 01 November 2019
• Author: Kounalakis, Markos

In the early 2000s, as advanced Alzheimer's disease continued to take its toll on Ronald Reagan's cognitive faculties, a dedicated group of conservative ideologues and anti-tax proselytizers were working overtime to define a cohesive narrative of his presidency and establish a permanent anti-tax Reagan legacy in the collective memory.

Chief among those in the anti-tax priesthood was Grover Norquist, who was preparing an effort to use Reagan's eventual death to canonize him as the religion's patron, Saint Ronnie--the perfect conservative who believed all the diehard orthodoxies of the "Americans for Tax Reform"-type Republicans in the Bush era. The goal? Empower the GOP and justify the anti-tax dogma, which was based more on hagiography than history.

It was around this time that, while working on a Smithsonian Institution First Ladies project, I met Nancy Reagan. In passing, she made it clear that her husband's death was imminent. I mentioned this shortly thereafter in one of my regular calls with Paul Glastris, the editor in...