 ebruary
6, 2002 marks the 91st birthday of Ronald Reagan, now the oldest living
former president in American history. NRO recently spoke with Peggy
Noonan, a speechwriter for President Reagan, and author, most recently,
of When
Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan.
Kathryn
Jean Lopez:
You call Ronald Reagan a hero, a word we are so used to hearing
these last months. Why is Ronald Reagan a hero?
Peggy Noonan:
Reagan was a hero because he did the difficult thing. For most of
his adult life the tide was running one way and he was swimming
in the other. Every day the tide tugged him in one direction and
he swam in the other. And he did this, agreed, if you will, to lead
this emotionally and intellectually arduous life because he was
able to see what was true and, having seen it, would not abandon
it, even though the truth of his views was not popular or respected.
(And in his case it wasn't popular or respected in the town and
industry in which he hoped to continue to make his living and raise
his family.) He paid a price for following his convictions. But
he would not abandon what he was convinced was true.
Also, there's
this. Laurens VanderPost once said something that is both obvious
and yet not so fully noticed by most of us. It is that we all live
both our own lives and the life of our time. Reagan lived his life
and the life of his time constructively — he was profoundly
constructive, always trying to build and not tear down. He was trying
to add to. This seems to me a great and unspoken part of his importance
in our country's life.
Lopez:
What is your favorite Ronald Reagan story?
Noonan:
There are two stories I always think of these days when I think
of Reagan. The first is the time some dog was brought into the Oval
Office for some reason, I don't recall. The dog's running around
and Reagan's doing his work. Mike Deaver comes in and says, "Mr.
President, if you don't get that dog out of here he's going to pee
on your desk." And Reagan said, "Why not, everybody else
does." I love that story because it captures Reagan's mordent
edge. Everyone thinks of him as sunny, and he was, but Reagan's
humor had an edge, it was knowing and sometimes a little dark. Second
story is the wonderful story of Mrs. Green, the little old lady
who came all the way from California, sitting in coach, on a train
to Washington because she thought she'd been asked to come to the
White House and meet the president. When Reagan found out he asked
she be brought to him, and he broke away from important meetings
to spend 20 minutes with her and drink tea and continue the fantasy
that he'd been looking forward to seeing her. It's a story of great
tenderness.
Lopez:
When was the last time you spoke to Ronald Reagan? What did he say?
Noonan:
The
last time I spoke to Reagan was in '98. I'd been asked to speak
at the Reagan Library and brought my son, who was eleven years old
at the time. My son had just discovered Reagan — he'd watched
PBS's series on the American presidents, and turned to me one day
and said, "You know, Ronald Reagan brought down the Berlin
Wall." Suddenly Reagan was real to him, and not a family rumor
anymore or a guy in a picture on the wall. So — I brought my
son, spoke at the library, and then went by Reagan's office. I wanted
to introduce my boy, and I wanted to thank the president for all
he had done for our country and the world. But when Reagan came
in — he was wearing the brown suit that we used to make fun
of in the White House, and his hair was thicker and longer and had
more gray, and he was wearing glasses — and I looked in his
eyes I thought, "Oh, don't burden him with a speech."
So I introduced myself and my son and then I told Reagan I'd just
come from the East because I wanted to tell him that I loved him.
And his eyes lit up and he said thank you. And we held hands and
smiled. Everyone understands love, from little babies to sick old
men. He told my son he liked his baseball cap. We took pictures.
We held hands and chatted, and then he left.
Lopez:
What about Mrs. Reagan — when was the last time you spoke with
her?
Noonan:
Nancy was really helpful to me in writing the book. She talked to
me, and she brought me one day when I was visiting L.A. the original
notes — the real notes — that Ronald Reagan wrote in the
hospital after he'd been shot. People remember hearing on the news
what he'd said that day — "All in all I'd rather be in
Philadelphia," etc. — but actually he didn't voice most
of his jokes, he wrote them on hospital forms because he could not
speak, he was intubated most of the time. Nancy has them. They are
fabulous history. To hold them in my hand one day sitting outside
at lunch in the Bel Air Hotel as the birds and cell phones chirped
in the sunlight — that was a wonderful moment. Nancy is a brave
woman. She is doing a great service to her country by taking care
of her man. It is a lonely life, it's not easy. She's tough.
Lopez:
What is the most emblematic thing you can remember him saying —
to you or to others?
Noonan:
The most emblematic thing? I remember him talking to me, in the
Oval Office, about how man had never invented a weapon he didn't
eventually use, and how in the past century the nature of war had
taken a terrible turn, with civilians deliberately targeted, with
civilian deaths not collateral damage but deliberate damage. And
then he spoke of SDI — how if it is achieved it can actually
protect the civilian population of the United States, and if we
share it, which we should, everyone would have protection from nukes
delivered by long-range missiles. "Protect" was one of
the key words of Ronald Reagan's life, maybe the essential word
summing up his political meaning. He wanted to protect civilians
in the case of SDI; wanted to protect his country with it; wanted
to protect our freedoms and their erosion by government; wanted
to protect the best of the old America against unthinking, rushing
modernity, as opposed to progress; wanted to protect the vision
of the Founders; wanted to protect the unborn; wanted to protect
kids just starting out by making sure they had jobs and weren't
taxed to death; wanted to protect the old from inflation, which
he called a thief. He was all about protecting.
Lopez:
What is so special about the Reagans — that bond that comes
through so vividly in your book?
Noonan:
What was so special about the Reagan's relationship? Love, a sense
that they had found their other half. In The Member of the Wedding,
Carson McCullers has Frankie Adams mooning about someday finding
"the we of me." There was some of that in them, in their
relationship, I think. Also he had a special vantage point on her
suffering, and she on his — they both knew better than anyone
what it had cost the other to be what they were. That held them
together too, that special knowledge and appreciation.
Lopez:
Why is Ronald Reagan among the most popular presidents we've had
— one poll from a year ago you cite has him as the "greatest"?
Noonan:
I'll give you two answers. Ronald Reagan is popular with the old
today in part because they could see then and see now what the elites
could never see: what it cost him to be him. They could see that
it was a struggle for him to swim every day against the tide. And
for everyone else, including the old, Reagan's memory is held high
and he is deeply respected and considered one of the greats because
by defeating the Soviets and re-igniting the American economy he
reminded us of something that we needed to be reminded of: We can
change the world. We can make it better. His entire presidency wordlessly
declared "We are not victims, we are not a nation on decline,
we are not a country without meaning, we are not at the mercy of
fates and forces — we have it within us to rise, to change
our reality. We can make everything better." When the people
saw that this was really possible — really doable — our
nation exploded with energy, vitality, and hope. Liberals like to
say he made American feel better about itself — but that's
how he made America feel better. By letting them be Americans again.
Lopez:
What do "the kids" (who were only in grade school or younger
when Reagan was president) think/know about Reagan? The people for
instance, you mention serving on the USS Ronald Reagan?
Noonan:
"The kids" have less knowledge of Reagan than they have
impressions. Their impression seems to be he was a pretty good guy.
One example: The men and women on the USS Ronald Reagan,
our newest aircraft carrier, which will be home ported in San Diego,
in Reagan's Golden State — the young men and women of the Reagan
are 19 and 20 years old. They were born when he walked into the
White House. When I spoke to some of them they all said they knew
he had been a movie star, and most had learned he had been supportive
of American defense and so a friend of the services. They had the
impression he was a nice man. One of them told me he remembered
hearing about "Star Wars" and he thought it would be like
a George Lucas movie and wanted to be part of it. One of them told
me Reagan had something to do with the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Young people, it seemed to me from these interviews, and from my
mail, now, too, are completely open to hearing about Reagan, and
want to hear more. But they all admit they don't or didn't know
much about him. So it's our responsibility, those of us who lived
through his era, to tell them.
Lopez:
How is history remembering him? How will it, do you think, long-term?
Noonan:
History will remember Ronald Reagan as one of the greats of the
20th century — up there with Churchill, with Pope John XXIII
and John Paul II, Mother Teresa, and a few others. The world-changers.
Lopez:
Lots of politicians like to try to portray themselves as "Reaganesque,"
particularly conservatives, especially when campaigning. What would
it mean to be Reaganesque?
Noonan:
What does it mean to be Reaganesque? It means to recognize the struggle,
accept the struggle, and fight it each day with as much joy as you
can. Another way to say it is: It means to on some deep level love
your struggle, the one time and God have given you. And to make
that love almost palpable, through joy. That's what happy warriors
do, they bring love to the struggle.
Lopez:
Is President Bush Reaganesque?
Noonan:
Is Bush Reaganesque? No, he's Bushesque. We'll have a surer sense
years from now what that means, and it may well be interesting.
I think it will be. Bush told me in an interview for my book that
he and Reagan had different lives, came from different places and
backgrounds and eras, but that yes, he thinks of him often and was,
is, inspired by him.
Lopez:
Having read so many of his writings, having written for him, having
known him, and known and interviewed so many of his friends, family,
and associates, can you imagine how he might advise President Bush
on the war on terror?
Noonan:
My guess is Reagan would like everything he sees of how Bush is
handling the war. Bush, first, isn't ducking it — there are
ways to duck wars, as, say, Chamberlain knew. Bush could have made
a lot of sound and fury and dropped some bombs and then said, "That's
over." Instead he's fighting what must be fought, speaking
honestly and with clarity, calling a spade a spade and evil evil,
explaining his intentions, summoning support, defining, leading.
I can't imagine Reagan being different. Although by now some salty
bit of Reagan language would have leaked out. Once he told a baseball
player — they were talking before or after a World Series,
I think — the player asked Reagan what he was going to do about
Khaddafi. And Reagan's pithy, salty, and unprintable answer was…well,
let's leave it at mordantly Reaganesque.
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