Brinkley Describes Reagan's Inner Narrative
Historian gathered years of Reagan diaries into new book.
May 31, 2007 — -- The distinction between the personal "inner Reagan" and the "public Reagan" is revealed in historian Douglas Brinkley's latest book that compiles the former U.S. president's personal diaries.
As Brinkley told ABC's Sam Donaldson on ABC News Now's "Politics Live" Wednesday, the insight he gained in editing Ronald Reagan's five leather-bound journals filled during his two terms in the Oval Office helped him understand the Reagan legacy much better.
"Reagan ranks as 'near great,'" Brinkley told Donaldson, who covered the Reagan White House for ABC News. Reagan's "legacy is growing because he didn't have malice and at the end of the line that means a lot."
Allegedly written only for his personal edification, the diaries are records of his everyday life and make no pretension to greatness. Misspellings, abbreviations and occasional moments of self-deprecation fill the pages along with countless references to his wife, Nancy, without whom the president would have been "totally lost," said Brinkley.
Brinkley described Reagan's writing as "matter of fact" and "much more pragmatic than we thought."
The pages are filled with carefully scripted handwriting; in his terse, uncomplicated recordings of his days, the diaries reveal a president whose pragmatism and faith were guiding principles, whether Reagan was watching a football game or meeting with world leaders.
In both cases the former president reduces events to their essential outline. Even the unexpected is treated with unaffected prose. After an assassination attempt on March 30, 1981, Reagan unsurprisingly missed several weeks of diary entries. When Reagan regained his health, he dutifully returned to the journals, writing simply, "Getting shot hurts."
"The Reagan Diaries" is the latest work from Brinkley, a prolific historian who has covered topics as diverse as Jack Kerouac and Jimmy Carter. The author's previous publications include "The Great Deluge" (2006) on Hurricane Katrina and "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War" (2004). Brinkley is a history professor at Tulane University.
