false 3797514 0465009263 9780465009268 40 14 The Reagan I Knew http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3797514.The_Reagan_I_Knew 16697 William F. Buckley Jr. 1168 170 3 1 false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 04:43:41 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 04:59:20 -0700 2009
Their meeting was fated. The New Conservatism of WFB and "National Review" gave philosphical underpinnings to RR's "Morning in America," but it was RR who deftly handled Gorbachev in Iceland to ensure the demise of the USSR. (He boldly walked out of their summit.) Yet shortly thereafter, he secured a visit from Gorby to the US and made his own appearance in the USSR. And within a year after his presidency, Soviet Communism was indeed on the "ash heap of history," as he had predicted.

WFB's memoir of his and RR's apparently deep but sparse (in terms of regularity) relationship shows the value of humor while facing the onerous burden of literally changing the world. I was a keen observer of the RR spectacle myself at the time (I was in grad school and had plenty of time to read papers, watch news, etc.) and was constantly amazed how he managaged to keep all the balls in the air. From this book one realizes that the Presidency, for RR, was nothing more than a continuation of his entire life: a young, energetic man becomes a lifeguard and continues in that mode for the next 70 years. The only thing that changed was the size of the pool.

While not a great biography of either RR or WFB, still this insight into the friendship of great men is worth reading and leaves the reader a little jealous of their connection. And don't be fooled, great minds do not always think alike: ample time is given in the book to their dispute over giving the Panama Canal to Panama (WFB pro, RR con). The fact that RR could so forcefully and powerfully debate someone as educated and erudite as WFB -- and do it on live television without a prompter -- should be enough to put the "amiable dunce" canard to rest once and for all.

RR's great strength was that he made it look easy, and that requires twice the intelligence to simply make an argument.]]>