oracle
02-06-2002, 10:37 AM
On Reagan’s 91st (http://www.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/interrogatory020602.shtml)
Remembering the Reagan years with Peggy Noonan.
Q&A by Kathryn Jean Lopez, NRO executive editor.
February 6, 2002 8:25 a.m.
February 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.
...
Click here to read more (http://www.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/interrogatory020602.shtml)
Remembering the Reagan years with Peggy Noonan.
Q&A by Kathryn Jean Lopez, NRO executive editor.
February 6, 2002 8:25 a.m.
February 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.
...
Click here to read more (http://www.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/interrogatory020602.shtml)