| Description: |
|
Product Description
Michael Deaver's relationship with Ronald Reagan began with the former President's 1966 campaign for governor of California, and in the 35 years since their first meeting he has gained an understanding of the inner Reagan equalled by very few. Deaver had unprecedented access to Reagan throughout the President's political career, giving him unsurpassed insight. Now he offers his personal memories of Ronald Reagan the perfectionist, the communicator, the world leader, and the friend, including the qualities and personal traits that made him one of the most successful and popular Presidents of the 20th century. Deaver discusses Reagan's deep spiritual sense of purpose, and shows how he changed after he was shot, including the surprising ways the assassination attempt influenced his dealings with the Soviet Union. Warm, rich in historical detail, and intensely personal, A Different Drummer sheds remarkable new light on an American icon. Deaver tells the story of Nancy Reagan in her finest hour, as the caregiver for her husband during his courageous battle with Alzheimer's disease, and the toll it has taken on her family. Included are never-before-published excerpts from Reagan's personal letters to people across America.
Amazon.com Review
Michael Deaver, a longtime political advisor who served as deputy chief of staff in the Reagan White House, offers an approving, affectionate, and well-written portrait of the former president--but one that, for an insider's account, is surprisingly short on news.
The Ronald Reagan who emerges from Deaver's pages is far different from the popularly held view, fueled by the media, of the president as an amiable but limited man who napped, golfed, and left the business of running the government to his lieutenants. Far from it, Deaver insists: Reagan read widely, kept up with the issues, and "firmly believed that it was his job to set the priorities of his administrations and to make the big decisions." Thoughtful and utterly courteous, if sometimes distant, Deaver's Reagan is a man of unbending conservative principle; careful to cross party lines to secure support for his policy and to judge his opponents by character, not doctrine; stalwart in his devotion to country; and certain, in Deaver's words, "that he was the right guy at the right time." This Reagan can do no wrong, and when controversy arises in Deaver's account it is almost always because someone else has flubbed the play. Unlike Alexander Haig, David Stockman, and other former administration officials who have written about their time in the Reagan White House, Deaver is quick to fall on the sword whenever he must. He takes responsibility, for instance, for the president's controversial decision to lay a wreath at a German cemetery that contained the graves of fallen SS soldiers, and for Reagan's difficulties in convincing voters of the wisdom of an expensive military buildup in the closing years of the cold war. About the Iran-Contra affair, which blackened Reagan's second term, Deaver has little to say, and about his own departure from the administration and subsequent investigation by federal prosecutors he is even more close-mouthed. Those seeking to learn more about Ronald Reagan as president may come away from Deaver's book disappointed. His admirers, however, will enjoy the anecdotes about "the traits that made him so successful as a leader and so peculiar--and wonderful--as a person." --Gregory McNamee
|
