The Reagan Diaries.

• Author: Kreyche, Gerald F.
• Position: Book review

THE REAGAN DIARIES BY RONALD REAGAN EDITED BY DOUGLAS BRINKLEY HARPER COLLINS 2007, 767 PAGES, $35.00

Ronald Reagan was known as the Teflon President as well as the Great Communicator. He was a master speech-giver and usually wrote his own orations. A Hollywood B-movie star, his acting ability was put to good use during his two terms in the White House. He was the only president to keep a daily diary, missing entries only during his hospital stay while recovering from an assassination attempt on his life.

A Democrat who turned Republican, he railed against high taxes and bureaucracy. While he did not engender a personality cult, he was much admired as a genuine American. He came across as an earnest, humble, and God-fearing man who believed in the power and consolation of prayer. Tall, ruggedly good-looking, and usually sporting a warm and winning smile, Reagan was the image of the mythic Man of the American West. He exuded optimism and the voters looked for his Administration to right all the perceived wrongs of the Jimmy Carter presidency.

This book is a judiciously edited work selected from the five volumes of diaries housed in the Reagan Presidential Library. It provides insight into the man and his presidency, comments on other world leaders, momentous historical events, as well as mundane observations on whatever struck his fancy at the time. We are given more than a mere glimpse into scenes encountered in the Oval Office. We actually witness how it functions in times of crisis as well as when things are going smoothly. The book reveals the trials in exercising leadership, in choosing which political issues can be compromised and those that will not. The editor felicitously sums up the diaries as "a stream of consciousness."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

What the diaries make clear is that it takes a special kind of person to head the government. Indeed, one wonders how anyone holding that high office is able to sleep at night. They also reveal that although Pres. Reagan had his finger in the pie on most issues, he was good at delegating responsibility, not trying to micromanage everything.

This volume begins on...