The Triumph of Nancy Reagan by Karen Tumulty (best books under 200 pages .txt) 📗

came down from N.Y. He’s a little rebellious and wanted us to sign off S.S. protection for a month. He’s the only one of the kids who is on the hit list of groups like FALN, etc. Ed Hickey came over and it’s all straightened out.

The weekend of March 19–20, 1983: Ron came down for a talk at the W.H. Same old problem—his itchiness at having S.S. protection. I wish he’d be more thoughtful of what it means to me to have him do that.

April 7, 1983: This evening Ron called all exercised because S.S. agents had gone into their apartment while they were in Calif. to fix an alarm on one of the windows. I tried to reason with him that this was a perfectly O.K. thing for them to do.… I told him quite firmly not to talk to me that way & he hung up on me. End of a not perfect day.

May 1, 1983: Nancy phoned—very upset. Ron casually told the S.S. he was going to Paris in a few days. I don’t know what it is with him. He refuses to cooperate with them.… I’m not talking to him until he apologizes for hanging up on me.

May 19, 1983: Meets with Regan, who as Treasury secretary is in charge of the Secret Service, about “Ron & his paranoia about S.S. protection. I think he’s being ridiculous & d—n unfair to the guys who are trying to protect his hide. This is settled—we let him sign off permanently—no protection.”

“He worked hard at a small space… never used his status to his advantage”: Weinberg, Movie Nights with the Reagans, 137.

a 1986 ad for American Express… continue the conversation in privacy: “American Express Card with Ron Reagan Jr. Classic TV Commercial 1986,” YouTube, 0:55, Front Seat Media, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va2Mhd5VWaE.

“These are issues of unique concern to women… also family concerns and community concerns”: Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter, 296–97.

“Well, Maureen was a little worked up… I shouldn’t have said, too”: Ed Rollins with Tom DeFrank, Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms: My Life in American Politics (New York: Broadway Books, 1996), 101–2.

“chatting like schoolgirls”: Speakes with Pack, Speaking Out, 98.

“Michael Reagan always had schemes for making money… ‘Well, Sonny Boy’s at it again.’ ”: ibid., 99.

“He was a wheeler-dealer.… you just had to know that”: Kuhn, author interview, October 7, 2018.

It got even dicier… They suggested he get psychiatric help: Michael Reagan with Hyams, Outside Looking In, 219–40.

“I felt attacked… his Achilles’ heel: Nancy”: ibid., 228.

“We’ve tried to keep a little fuss private… as all families do from time to time”: Reagan Presidential Library, Subject Files, WHORM, PP 0005-01 095999, 247108 5300 4620 PP00J.

“The wounds are healed”… “Michael, I love you”: ibid., 243–45.

“They frolicked… worth the price?”: ibid., 250.

“I love you”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 134

“It was the first time… I was elated”: Michael Reagan with Hyams, Outside Looking In, 263–68.

“Ironically, this book… a better relationship”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 134.

“a literary striptease… a First Family parlor game”: Scot Haler, “The Problem of Being Patti,” People online, February 24, 1986, https://people.com/archive/cover-story-the-problem-of-being-patti-vol-25-no-8.

“one of the most painful and disappointing aspects of my life… we seem to square off”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 136.

“Tell you what… happen in my life”: Patti Davis, The Way I See It, 264–66.

“being used”: ibid., 267–68.

Caldicott’s later account… Reader’s Digest: Ronnie Dugger, “The President and the Peace Activist,” St. Petersburg (FL) Times, September 30, 1984, 4D.

“I had hoped that Patti’s wedding… people would understand”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 140–41.

“Ron’s reaction hurt me more than anyone else’s… motivation in it”: Patti Davis, The Way I See It, 311.

“Patti was excited that night about her book… such a thing”: Ron Reagan to author, email, August 20, 2019.

“I think sometimes… only silence and distance”: Patti Davis, Long Goodbye, 80–81.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“a steady drumbeat”: “President Reagan’s and Nancy Reagan’s Interview with Chris Wallace for Upcoming NBC Special, Camp David, Maryland,” May 18, 1985, YouTube, 36:23, Reagan Presidential Library, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhIeW-fbYiM.

if Ronnie’s name were not at the top of the ticket: Rollins, author interview, January 26, 2018.

“For a while, we talked about it every night… ‘I’m not crazy about it, but okay’ ”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 224.

internal numbers: Cannon, President Reagan, 197.

“I think it’s going to be a tough, personal, close campaign… glad when the next nine months are over”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 225.

$21 million budget for the 1984 primary season: Rollins with DeFrank, Bare Knuckles, 125.

She started to worry more… Hart, the insurgent in the race: Stuart Spencer, quoted in Wallace, First Lady, 116–17.

“She could smell fear all over you, Rollins. You’re doomed”: Rollins with DeFrank, Bare Knuckles, 137.

“Don’t forget who your clients are.… Their friends are going to see the commercials”: Rollins, author interview, January 26, 2018.

“These days… more relaxed speaker”: Maureen Dowd, “A More Relaxed Nancy Reagan Tours the South,” New York Times, October 14, 1984, 28.

hefty 55-percent-to-37-percent lead… 8 percent of voters undecided: Cannon, President Reagan, 475.

“I’m against debates… defend his own record”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 225.

“the worst night of Ronnie’s political career… that debate was a nightmare”: ibid., 226.

cold as ice: ibid., 226–27.

“a Reagan without confidence would not be Reagan… must interpret all tales of Nancy Reagan’s ‘ruthlessness’ ”: Garry Wills, Reagan’s America: Innocents at Home (New York: Open Road Integrated Media, 2017), loc. 4781 of 13714, Kindle.

“In recognizing the actor’s truth… may have been to Baker and Darman”: Cannon, President Reagan, 484.

“Well, you better be right… better be right”: Rollins with DeFrank, Bare Knuckles, 149–50.

“Although Nancy Reagan did not realize it… no longer Morning Again in America”: Cannon, President Reagan, 487.

“If, by some miracle, I could take back one decision… this new arrangement would lead to a political disaster”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 267.

“a bad omen”: ibid., 230.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“It also made me squirm… weakened both the Justice Department and the presidency”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 203.

“listened to our words… did not occur to me”: Regan, For the Record, 251.

“He seemed to