Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 921 REAGAN | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
She was the daughter of a single mother, a Hollywood movie star, the wife of one of the greatest presidents of the twentieth century, a cancer survivor. And she waged her greatest battle against her husband's Alzheimer's disease. Nancy Davis Reagan has led an extraordinary life. Now, Mike Deaver, whose relationship with Mrs. Reagan dates back to the 1960s, shares the side of Nancy that only her intimates know.
The Nancy Reagan with whom most Americans are familiar is a caricature shaped by consistently negative press coverage. But the Nancy Reagan whom Mike Deaver has come to know for more than thirty-five years, the woman portrayed in Nancy, is far more complicated. Nancy has been no bit player in the Reagan story. Deaver believes that Ronald Reagan would not have risen to such distinction without Nancy at his side.
To the man Ronald Reagan, Nancy gave the gift of her unrestricted love. She was his respite, his comfort, his reward at the end of the day. When Ronnie's image might be tainted, she would fervently guard it, even at the expense of her own. Now, Nancy is guardian and nurturer of the Great Communicator's legacy.
Author Notes
Michael K. Deaver spent more than twenty years as one of Ronald Reagan's closest advisors in both Sacramento and Washington. In the White House, he served as assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff from January 1981 until May 1985. He currently serves as vice chairman, international, for Edelman Workwide. He lives with his wife in Maryland
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
To long-time Reagan staffer Deaver, it has often seemed as if there were two Nancy Reagans, one whom the public loves to criticize and a private, gentler version. In his latest book, Deaver (A Different Drummer) writes about a Nancy Reagan most people have never gotten to know. Deaver is not blind to his subject's failings, but he argues that the public has never really understood what Nancy is about. Her involvement in political matters, her impatient and intimidating demeanor and her take-no-prisoners attitude stemmed, he says, from a genuine desire to protect and shield her husband from those who had something other than his best interests at heart. Throughout the trials that have plagued the Reagans' lives, from the assassination attempt to the president's affliction with Alzheimer's, Nancy has stood unfailingly by Reagan's side, even if he can no longer stand by hers. "It was always about him," Deaver explains. This is not a comprehensive biography, nor does it seek to push a political agenda. More than anything, it is deeply personal, a moving tribute to the Nancy Reagan he got to know over the many years in their personal and professional relationship. His poignant writing portrays a determined and courageous woman who throughout her life has been motivated by one thing: love. Politics was just noise in the background. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW. (Feb.) Forecast: The appealing cover photo of Nancy with the laughing face should help draw readers to this insider's look at her life. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Deaver is an old, dear friend of Nancy Reagan, as well as having been an aide for many years to former president Reagan. So while he has had enough of a bird's-eye view to justify that word intimate in the subtitle, this is essentially a puff piece, singing the praises of Nancy (although, at times, Deaver is quite hard on himself). It's not that he shies away from the controversies that surrounded Nancy Reagan when her husband was in office. Deaver brings up everything from the negative way in which she was perceived by the press (and, occasionally, by her own people) to the admission that an astrologer helped plan the president's schedule. But Deaver seems to see his writerly role as that of an advocate rather than a biographer. Since many of the incidents about which he writes are well known--for example, Nancy's appearance at a press-club dinner singing "Second-Hand Rose"--his portrait comes across mostly as stale rehash. Only in the last chapters, which make liberal use of Mrs. Reagan's own comments to detail her heartrending role as her husband's caretaker, does the book seem most real and "intimate." -\ --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2003 Booklist
Library Journal Review
From a friend of 35 years. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Nancy A Portrait of My Years with Nancy Reagan Chapter One The Early Years Like so much else of my own history, the story of how I first came to know Nancy Reagan begins with her husband. In November 1966, Ronald Reagan delivered a body blow to the national political establishment when he was elected governor of California. His opponent, two-term Democratic incumbent Pat Brown, dismissed Reagan as a fading matinee idol turned political novice. East Coast liberals ridiculed him as a knee-jerk Goldwaterite and corporate pitchman. To a greater or lesser degree, Reagan was all those things, but his detractors missed the critical element: Ronald Reagan talked to voters in an idiom they could understand about issues that resonated deeply across the political spectrum. When the dust settled, the ex-actor had trounced the consummate politician, showing Pat Brown the door by a million votes. The 1966 elections were good to me, too. I had been over-seeing three state assembly races in coastal California for Republican candidates and had managed to bring home two winners, thanks in part to Reagan's surprising coattails. But I hadn't climbed on the new governor's bandwagon early on when it counted, and even after the campaign was over, I still didn't know much about Ronald Reagan and even less about California's new first lady, Nancy. Unlike most GOP field men who had been working the state that year, I also had little interest in joining the governor-elect's team in the capital city. I was living in Santa Barbara, with its Mediterranean climate, inviting beaches, and tile-roofed homes. I couldn't imagine giving that up for Sacramento, a sweltering valley town like Bakersfield, California, where I was born. For my money, Santa Barbara was heaven on earth. Sacramento was close to its opposite. I also liked my work. I had become fixated with the power of advertising and creative direct mail in political races, and I had been able to field-test both -- to great success -- in the campaigns I had just managed. My immediate strategy was to join a small advertising firm in Santa Barbara, where I could continue to refine my techniques. From there, I liked to imagine a career path that ascended to the top of the ad industry. A few weeks later, I took a call from Reagan's new hand-picked chairman of the state Republican Party, Denny Carpenter, and put my plans for becoming Mr. Madison Avenue on temporary hold. Denny told me I was needed up north. Specifically, I was to report ASAP to William P. Clark, one of the chiefs of Reagan's transition team. I don't know why I got the call -- presumably my old friend and political guru Stu Spencer had put them on to me. But there I was, Bill Clark's number two man overnight. The transition team gave me a fascinating look inside state government. I was meeting great people and adding muscle to an otherwise fairly puny résumé. But I was also a short-timer. Chances were, I would retreat back to Santa Barbara without ever meeting California's new first couple, much less saying an intelligible word to either one of them. And that's almost the way things worked out. On January 3, 1967, I watched as Ronald Reagan raised his right hand and took the oath of office. Nancy, of course, was at his side. The hour was late. Irked by the unseemly blitz of judicial and commission appointments that Pat Brown was doling out to his friends, Reagan asked to be sworn in at the "earliest possible moment." That earliest possible moment came at 12:14 A.M. Despite the hour, many of the Reagan campaign people were jubilant, to the point of welling up. They were finally seeing the fruits of a most difficult, unexpected journey. I would see that same jubilation again in 1980, in Washington, not Sacramento, and from a much better seat. This time, though, I was in the peanut gallery -- a transition staffer with neither the history nor the political juice to command a choice vantage point. Still, even watching from a distance, I found myself wondering if I would ever be involved in a cause so great that it would make me as emotional as those young staffers. The next morning, still thinking about commitment, the Reagans, and Santa Barbara, I walked into my office ready to say good-bye. The transition was done; it was time to start governing. An hour or so later, Bill Clark asked if I would stick around and be his assistant in the cabinet affairs office. With little thought, I found myself saying yes. Sunny Santa Barbara suddenly seemed very far away. I accepted the offer so quickly in part because I was warming up to Sacramento. As a conservative, I was both enthusiastic about Ronald Reagan's programs -- although I still had trouble believing he was actually the governor -- and curious about his capacity to lead. Reagan's promise to be a "citizen-governor" held real appeal to me, as it obviously did to millions of other Californians, but I wondered to myself just how effective a man with no elective experience could be in handling one of the nation's toughest political jobs. In truth, too, I had enjoyed my small introduction to political power during the transition. Managing campaigns was exhausting but exhilarating. Who knows, governing might be fun, too. Reagan had been in office about six months when his chief of staff and deputy chief quit abruptly, and the governor appointed my boss, Bill Clark, to the top post, and Bill made me his deputy. Until then, I had flown almost entirely under the radar, one of many relatively inconsequential staffers. Now, amazingly, thanks to the staff shake-up, I was a "senior administration official": the figurative, if not the actual, number two man in the statehouse, complete with a well-appointed office directly across from the governor of California ... Nancy A Portrait of My Years with Nancy Reagan . Copyright © by Michael Deaver. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Nancy: A Portrait of My Years with Nancy Reagan by Michael K. Deaver All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Knowing Nancy Davis Reagan | p. 1 |
1 The Early Years | p. 9 |
2 New Marriage, New Job | p. 33 |
3 Welcome to the Madhouse | p. 69 |
4 "Your Husband Wasn't Hit" | p. 119 |
5 Legacy | p. 143 |
6 Her Finest Hour | p. 169 |
Acknowledgments | p. 209 |