Volume 35, Number 11 · June 30, 1988
The Best Years of Their Lives
By Nicholas Lemann
Speaking Out: The Reagan Presidency from Inside the White House
by Larry Speakes, by Robert Pack
Scribner's, 322 pp., $19.95
On the Outside Looking In
by Michael Reagan, by Joe Hyams
Zebra, 286 pp., $17.95
Revolution
by Martin Anderson
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 486 pp., $19.95
Ronald Reagan is strangely lacking in apologists. Even Richard Nixon had die-hard defenders right up to the end, and after his resignation he was portrayed with admiration in the memoirs of establishment-approved aides like William Safire and Raymond Price. Jimmy Carter, though regarded in Washington as a failed president, didn't attract any truly destructive memoirs. It won't do to say that nobody wants to defend Reagan now simply because he's past the peak of his popularity. In Washington, loyalty is perhaps the most prized of personal qualities, and no presidential assistant has ever hurt his career by excessively praising the boss. The most extreme modern example of the comically obsequious aide to an unpopular president is probably Jack Valenti, of Lyndon Johnson's White House; he has held one of the most visible, prestigious, and high-paid lobbying jobs in town, the presidency of the Motion Picture Association, for nearly twenty years.
Review, 3554 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |