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Landslide
PRESIDENTIAL SERIES
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WE ARE OPEN - WEEK TWO - PRESIDENTIAL SERIES: LANDSLIDE - December 8th - December 14th - Chapter Two - No Spoilers, Please
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Great work on these tidbits and pictures, Bentley. Very enjoyable. The week has not even started and we have 50 posts! What fun.
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The following article was from: http://thepoodleanddogblog.typepad.co...
The Dogs of President Reagan
Reagan dog lucky Ronald and Nancy Reagan were long time dog lovers. Before moving to Washington, DC. they had many dogs at their ranch in California.
During the eight years in the White House, they had two dogs. Lucky was presented to them for their work for the March of Dimes by the poster girl.
Lucky was a tiny ball of fluff when they first got her. However, she was a black Bouvier des Flandres who grew to be in Nancy’s words “the size of a pony.”
She was so excited whenever she got on the helicopter. She knew she was going to Camp David where she had room to run and often could be seen sitting in the President’s lap. But Bouviers need a lot of room, something the size of, say, Montana.
When the White House became too confining for a big exuberant dog, she was sent to the Reagan ranch in California where she had room to roam and four other dogs to play with.
The second dog Rex, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, was given to Nancy by the President as a Christmas present. One of Rex’s first duties was to help throw the switch that lit the National Christmas Tree. Everything about the President is subject to news and the press duly covered Rex’s tonsillectomy.
Rex joined Lucky and the other dogs when Reagan’s term was over and both dogs lived out their lives at the Reagan ranch.
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It is good I think for the discussion to humanize all of the presidents first because sometimes we tend to forget that they are human beings, husbands, fathers and members of an extended family too and are not folks who have super powers.
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"Johnson was among the most hyperactive executives the White House had ever seen, always seeking to put his fingerprints on every scrap of administration business no matter how large or small. Early in the Johnson presidency, James B. Reston, the Washington correspondent for The New York Times, worried over the punishing regime the president was observing in the White House. Johnson, wrote the columnist, "has three telephones in his car, with five circuits, and the amazing thing about it is that he seems to talk on all five at once, carry on a conversation in the back seat, and direct traffic on the side." In his short time as president, Reston wrote, Johnson "had done everything but cut the White House lawn."
Topics for Discussion:
What were your impressions of Johnson after reading the above quite - was he a workaholic with great attention to detail, was he a micro-manager or was he just trying to be the best president he could be? How would you describe the work ethic of Johnson?
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"His conversations reveal a president who insisted on personally selecting and approving everything - the locations of bombing targets in Vietnam, the line items in billion-dollar spending bills, the hair styles of the secretaries sitting outside his door. He wanted to be involved in all of it. Learning that a White House aide failed to wake him in the the night to inform him of an administration defeat on Capitol Hill, Johnson was upset. "When you're bleeding up in that Hill," the president explained, "I want to bleed with you."
Topics for Discussion:
In this thread we are getting into discussing the personality characteristics of both Reagan and LBJ as well as other elements of their personal makeup and philosophy of life and work.
The above quote seems to be very revealing of how important to LBJ image and precision and detail are. He wanted everything to be "just right" and create a certain impression and he seemed to be a master of execution and follow-through.
What are your impressions of this quote and what the author conveyed?
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"That would never be Reagan - an actor learns early the benefits of a good night's sleep. From his earliest days in politics, Reagan was supremely confident in his own abilities as an executive. He had come to prominence in a career in which he constantly had to give up control - to producers and directors and studio bosses, to makeup designers and camera operators and press agents, to critics and millions of anonymous strangers who would form consequential opinions of him as they watched on distant screens. When he began his political career in the mid-1960s, he took to the desegregated life of a political candidate quickly. Most first-time candidates struggle to adapt to an existence in which they must surrender control of their lives to other people. Reagan had been doing it for years. He understood an important distinction that Johnson never grasped: being in control and being successful aren't always the same thing."
"And so, as president, Reagan often seemed only vaguely aware of the pressing business of his own administration. Americans grew accustomed to a leader who liked naps and long vacations and days ambling on horseback on his mountain ranch above the Pacific. His aides worried at times over the cumulative effect in the press that he appeared too detached from decision making, too much of a figurehead. They wondered if they ought to brief reporters on the more punishing aspects of the president's working regime. Reagan advised them to keep quiet, in the long run, it was always better to appear above it all. Like Johnson, he was a rancher, but he stayed out of the swampy muck."
Topics for Discussion:
Somehow it appeared to me that Reagan was handling his job as President like another movie role. Did you feel that Reagan preferred to delegate and not get his hands dirty?
Reagan seemed to understand the press and what would be best for his image and gave good advice to his team; but did he give that advice because he knew that these observations were truthful ones and he was detached and did not care that much about the decisions of the office or if he made them?
It appeared that Reagan was frequently out of town and away from the White House making his California ranch the Western White House. He seemed very comfortable giving up control to others. But when you read this quote did it give you more or less confidence in Reagan and his abilities as Commander in Chief? Do you like your presidents more hands on or detached and aloof? Does a president who just goes with the flow and does not push the envelope seem more or less of a leader to you?
Do you think that Americans were simply duped by Reagan's ability to perform a role in a way that the country expected? Or do you think that the role that Reagan played and executed just suited him and was effortless for him?
What did you think of the last sentence - which stated that Reagan understood an important distinction that Johnson never grasped: being in control and being successful aren't always the same thing?
Some of us would like a president who exudes control and leadership and understands the policies and the intricacies of the issues and problems that he has to make decisions about. Others are more interested in the image and the trappings of the presidency and what it conveys about the power of the country and just want nobody rocking the boat. What are your expectation about your ideal president and what qualities do you think he or she needs to have and exhibit? What style of president would you be most comfortable with: JFK, LBJ or Reagan and most importantly WHY?
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"Reagan had been a kind of student body president for the movie business - never the most famous or the most successful, but always well liked."
"Arriving at the commissary, Reagan smiled and lit up the room, greeting old friends. He still looked like a movie star, he was still handsome, still broad and muscular, still somewhat larger than his six feet one inch."
"But he hadn't been in many movies since he'd taken the GE Theater job in 1954. To Siegel, this Reagan looked different, more mature. And he looked tan: in recent years, he'd been spending more and more of his time working at his ranch, where he raised thoroughbred jumpers and hunters."
"Horses are like people, Reagan told Siegel that day at lunch. Treat them with respect and love, and they'll do their best to give you what you want."
Topics for discussion:
It appeared that Reagan just coasted in the movie business and was just always very well liked. But never excelled. Did some of you feel that he treated the presidency in the same way and was just extremely popular?
Did people just like being around him and was he more charismatic than a truly great president or do you think that he was both charismatic and a real performer at the White House?
Reagan seemed to have a way with people and with animals - possibly based upon the third quote to Siegel - he had found the secret to great relationships - love and respect and that in return they gave back admiration, respect and gratitude. Do you agree with Reagan that life and interpersonal relationships probably even in the presidency come down to simply love and respect? Or are there other skill sets which are critical when love and respect fail with foreign leaders?
Did you feel that Reagan was more successful on the domestic or on the international stage and why?
Do you think that anybody really got close to Reagan like folks got close to LBJ?
Kathy wrote: "Great work on these tidbits and pictures, Bentley. Very enjoyable. The week has not even started and we have 50 posts! What fun."I second that...great photos.
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A list of those closest to Reagan could, some would say should, include The Troika, James Baker III, chief of staff; Edwin Meese, counselor; and Michael Deaver, White House assistant.Baker was the Republican fixer. Like Reagan, a former Democrat, Baker was swapped out with Treasury Secretarty Donald Regan. The switch came about after some Republicans targeted Baker for not being Republican enough (sound familiar?), which earned a rebuke from President Reagan. Relevant to landslides, Baker managed Reagan's re-election campaign.
Meese served on Governor Reagan's staff and served as the President's counsel. A side note here: a mentor of mine was an attorney with many dealings in the California legislator. My mentor was a Democrat, but very laid back and worked effectively with everyone, including Meese. But Meese was the only person I ever heard my mentor refer to as "stupid."
Nevertheless, Meese, with degrees from Yale and Berkeley, was regarded as Reagan's alter ego by many and a guy who could explain complexities to Reagan in a way that he could grasp them. Meese did have a propensity for proving my mentor correct. He said many/some of those who eat in soup kitchens are freeloaders, and that suspects arrested by the police most likely were guilty otherwise they wouldn't be suspects (fine legal mind, eh?). Meese resigned when an independent investigator started probing his role in an Iraq-Iran pipeline and after a number of attorneys at US Department of Justice resigned over allegations of impropriety.
Michael Deaver may have been closest to the Reagans, including Nancy. Of the three, he had a strong personal relationship. He was convicted of three counts of perjury that he blamed on alcoholism. Washington is full of conveniently faulty memories, but Deaver is the first in my limited recollection to attribute it to the bottle. In the White House he managed the President's daily calendar and cranked up the calliope that generated the Reagan myth such as the Prez caused the Soviet collapse by excessive spending in the arms race that led to the collapse of Russia's economy.
Like Meese, Deaver accompanied the Gov to the White House.
In reading Bentley's posts about how the actor Reagan developed his executive chops while governor of Collie-fornia, I can't help but question whether Reagan developed the skills, or instead built a team of executives that he trusted and that could fill gaps in his resume.
The Wikipedia links below provide baseline information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Meese
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_...
This picture caused a firestorm with animal lovers and made the front pages of many newspapers. It appears that LBJ is picking up Him by the ears.
That's the pic I was looking for. Appears!? You know this happened waaay before photoshop, right?Now, since you obviously have more time on your hands than you know what to do with, can you find a pic of Lyndon showing his gall bladder scar?
Let me make your day, Martin!!
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Lyndon loved his dogs - he thought the dogs loved it - of course other folks made a hoopla over the situation,
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Baker was th..."
I am afraid it might be the latter but he had that gift of gab that just smoothed things over if you were not looking for a different kind of delivery from a president.
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Bentley wrote: "I think we have gone way overboard - let us get back on track. (lol). Just because Martin asks - you don't have to deliver Jill (smile)."Sorry, Bentley....I just couldn't resist Martin's request.
But even though it was a bit overboard, it does show the type of man the LBJ was....a good ole' boy. Can you imagine any other president doing that?
Re: Reagan seeing his position as president as another role. I think you may be on target. To be on the big screen, one must have charisma and he was now on the biggest screen of all. He brought all that charisma to bear and people loved it.......he seemed approachable and was extremely comfortable in front of the tv cameras. The public may have felt that he was talking to them, not reading a speech written by someone else. I may have to dodge some rocks with this statement but his style of using the media mirrored the same as used by FDR in his Fireside Chats......up close and personal.
One thing both men had in common was an intense desire not just to be liked but to be admired. LBJ once said that he wanted his staff to "kiss my a** and tell me it smells like roses". Reagan wouldn't have said it that way, but from this chapter, I get the feeling he would have agreed.
Learning about Nancy Reagan in this chapter, I compared her to what I knew of Lady Bird Johnson and saw a lot of similarities: They adored their mates, regardless. Compare this to, say, the relationship between Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, or Bess and Harry Truman or John and Abigail Adams.
I was thinking as I read this chapter that it was a good thing that both Johnson & Reagan loved being in the spotlight, because that is exactly what happens when you become a public figure -- especially the President of the US. However, being in the spotlight did not satisfy their need to be loved, as not everyone loved them. But a bit of an ego I think is essential to do a good job.
Hear, hear. That photo of Johnson revealing his scar, along with the beagle pic, both received similar reactions and were regarded as revealing the prez's personality.I took one thing away from the second chapter: the picture of Reagan as the poster child for the cult of the individual.
As an the lone cowboy, Reagan imposed his view on the world. LBJ, on the other hand was more open to the world and showed considerably more flexibility in adapting to it. Reagan was cowboy as the sheriff setting things right in town, where LBJ was shepherd over the herd.
By its very nature, Reagan's image is in contrast to America as community. (See Daniel Boorstin's history The Americans.)
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Daniel J. Boorstin
There you go, Martin, if you like, add which volume you think is relevant in your post above:
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Daniel J. Boorstin
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Sorry, Bentley....I just couldn't resist ..."
That is for sure and now even we have seen his gall bladder scar years later.
Yes but FDR would let his guard down and fire off a few rounds when necessary so you saw the real person - I am not sure if you ever saw the real Reagan although FDR also had a multi faceted personality and did not want to show himself as he actually was physically - both were hiding something
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LBJ once said that he wanted his staff to "kiss my a** and tell me it smells like roses". Reagan wou..."
I think John and Abigail adored each other but in a formal way but Abigail could fire off a few rounds herself - Eleanor and Franklin - well Franklin was cheating on her and Bess and Harry - I do not know enough about. No doubt about Lady Bird and Nancy.
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Hmmm - I guess you have to have a lot of faith in yourself to even take the beating when you are even a candidate.
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I took one thing away from t..."
Martin - I think Bryan showed that the books were indeed there and it would be nice of you to be so kind as to do an edit when you have the time - good practice (smile) and thank you Bryan - very much appreciated. And you did it so Reaganesque.
You only had to add the word again. (lol)
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I have included the following article since this has come up:
The truth about Lyndon Johnson's Gall Bladder Scar
http://fdrsdeadlysecret.blogspot.com/...
FDR was not the only president to manipulate the press about his health. Here is an anecdote from an extremely reliable source, a high-ranking naval physician, now retired.
After his September 1965 gall bladder surgery, Lyndon Baines Johnson is infamous for showing "spontaneously" showing his scar to the press. For this act, history remembers him as a hayseed with a lack of social graces.
The truth is quite different! It has never been published.
LBJ was with his close confidante, Jack Valenti, at Bethesda Naval Hospital after the surgery that had been performed at Bethesda by Dr. George A. Hallenbeck, chief of surgery at the Mayo Clinic. The president asked Valenti about the publicity surrounding the operation and was told that there was a problem. A rumor was circulating among the press that LBJ was operated on not for his gall bladder but for cancer.
Johnson immediately called Dr. Hallenbeck and asked him if the incision he made would be recognized as one for a gall bladder resection. Hallenbeck replied to the affirmative. LBJ then inquired what type of incision would be made for exploratory cancer surgery. The surgeon informed him that in this case it would extend in the midline from from just below the the breast bone to the pubic area.
Johnson immediately called a press conference that was conducted on the hospital heliport. The photo above was taken at this time.
After the conference, Johnson returned to his room and exclaimed to Valenti "That's one rumor taken care of!".
History corrected, hopefully a lot easier than with LBJ's predecessor.
I have enjoyed the discussion of the gallbladder scar because when I was young and knew everything :-) I was simply appalled that the president of the U.S. would show his scar to the world.The article Bentley posted certainly makes it more understandable, but I still can't see any of his predecessors doing that.
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Ann wrote:The article Bentley posted certainly makes it more understandable, but I still can't see any of his predecessors doing that.Maybe Andrew Jackson.
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I'm not so sure Lady Bird "adored" LBJ. She knew about his cheating ways. However, she was tremendously loyal to him and was a real helpmate. He married well.It's interesting that Reagan's TV persona was so warm and friendly, but that in actuality he was often distant, even to his own children. With LBJ, I think what you saw was what you got, which was sometimes to his disadvantage.
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I do not think that any of these presidents were easy men. And I do think when you say the word "plastic" - if you were discussing presidents - that Reagan would come to mind.
Ann wrote: "I'm not so sure Lady Bird "adored" LBJ. She knew about his cheating ways. However, she was tremendously loyal to him and was a real helpmate. He married well.It's interesting that Reagan's TV per..."
In Caro's biography, he touches on the relationship between LBJ and Lady Bird a few times and it seems clear (at least to me) that he thinks she adored him. People were amazed at what she put up with from him (and it was a LOT).
Robert A Caro (the image seems to have disappeared from the list of links...)
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Robert A. Caro You just have to put the period in after the A in his middle initial.She was tougher than he was Peter and good that she was.
Would it be inappropriate to go completely off topic and discuss the material in Chapter 2 of the book? Very little (if anything) above appears to be about Ronald Reagan in the years leading up to 1963, which is what I had been reading about.In particular, I found the Chapter particularly and unfairly hard of Jane Wyman (the only Presidential ex-wife in history). In particular, the facts are that they informally separated from Reagan in 1947 (formal "separation" is usually not a legally meaningful concept in most states), announced an intent to file for divorce in February 1948, actually filed in May, 1948, received an initial divorce decree on June 28, 1948, and a final divorce decree on July 18, 1949. (source)
by Lou Cannon (no photo)The book portrays Reagan as being "cuckolded" by Wyman and Ayres at the "1948 Academy Award," (poor Ronnie!) but doesn't specify that the "1948 Academy Awards" took place in March, 1949, well after the initial divorce decree had been entered. It is not clear why it took so long to get a final divorce decree, but reading between the lines of Reagan's reaction, it seems likely that the holdup was Reagan not agreeing to the divorce. The Chapter states (p. 44) "Attending the 1948 Academy Awards, Reagan witnessed Wyman, still legally his wife, arrive on the arm of another actor, Lew Ayres." The rumors about Wyman and Ayres were never confirmed beyond the "rumor" stage, and "legally" is doing a whole lot of work in that sentence.
Given the facts, it really doesn't seem fair to compare Reagan to his character in "The Killers." (p. 51. "Browning was a cuckold. And playing him, Reagan might have been transported back to the lowest moment of his life: Righ now Jane needs very much to have a fling and I intended to let her have it.")
Also, Jane Wyman never badmouthed Reagan in public at any time during the divorce proceedings, or during his Presidency (she later said she voted for him twice). The salacious gossip all came from second-hand accounts of private conversations ("Wyman was said to have warned the actress June Alysson . . .") or in the context of the divorce filings at a time when there was no "no fault divorce" so evidence had to be provided to prove "extreme mental cruelty."
Politicians today would be lucky to have ex-wives as tight-lipped as Jane Wyman was, and it seemed unfair to me to treat the divorce as something she "did" to him like Dickinson's character cheating on Reagan's in the movies.
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In terms of citations - we add the book cover, the author's photo, and the author's link. You did a great job with the author's link.
This is what it should look like:
by Lou Cannon (no photo) - you can edit message 94 and just place it at the bottom.Well I think you have every right to express that you felt that the chapter was unfair to Wyman - maybe you could pose a question to the author so when he does pop in he might be able to explain his reason for his rendition of Jane Wyman. We do have a Q&A thread for the author.
Here is a short web article which agrees with you:
http://www.visionandvalues.org/2007/0...
I liked the Lee Marvin bit about him drunk on set and doing the death scene.Matthew, the Wyman-Reagan relationship is interesting. If you read Perlstein's newest book, Wyman did bad-mouth Reagan around Hollywood and did not respect the man.
What is also interesting is that being an actor, Reagan got graduate courses in public relations and reaching out to audiences.
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Rick Perlstein
Matthew wrote: "Would it be inappropriate to go completely off topic and discuss the material in Chapter 2 of the book? Very little (if anything) above appears to be about Ronald Reagan in the years leading up to..."Interesting points Matthew.
I found on page 42 the line "He was particularly 'proud' to get the up-and-coming actress Jane Wyman, who agreed to be his real-life wife in 1940, in a marriage made for public consumption" to be a little unfair, albeit I don't know much about their marriage.
My thought is, well, what Hollywood marriage isn't that??? lol. Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie??
I think most of these Hollywood marriages are based on love (or obsession) at first but then most if not all fall apart at some point in time.
Bryan wrote: "I liked the Lee Marvin bit about him drunk on set and doing the death scene.Matthew, the Wyman-Reagan relationship is interesting. If you read Perlstein's newest book, Wyman did bad-mouth Reagan..."
YES!!! I loved the Lee Marvin story. That's one of the things that I have enjoyed about Darman's book so far, packed full of little tid bit stories that make for a good laugh at times.
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Matthew, the Wyman-Reagan relationship is interesting. If you read Perlstein's newest book, Wyman did bad-mouth Reagan..."
Bryan, thank you for pointing out another viewpoint. It is good to get both sides of the story and we do have the Q&A thread where the author can be respectfully asked what he discovered which gave him the rationale for portraying someone one way or the other. That is a fair question.
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Matthew, the Wyman-Reagan relationship is interesting. If you read Perlstein's newest book, Wyman did ba..."
I do think I liked the George Wallace quip the best but Lee Marvin was right up there (smile).
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