Brinkley Describes Reagan's Inner Narrative

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.

The lengthy Reagan book covers many of the more difficult moments in the White House as well as the administration's accomplishments.

The Iran-Contra affair, a scandal that threatened to derail the Reagan presidency, was a result of the "do whatever it takes" mentality fostered by Reagan, Brinkley told Donaldson.

"He created the climate in the White House for the Iran-Contra problem" and only barely "escaped the noose" that hung around the necks of other officials, namely Lt. Oliver North and national security adviser John Poindexter.

On the press, Brinkley remarked that Reagan "wars with the media a lot," but "he does occasionally toss a little olive branch out." Even if he was "perturbed by some of the Washington culture," as Brinkley asserts, Reagan -- calling on his roots as an actor -- understood how to play to the press when needed.

Brinkley says Reagan's relationship with then-Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev became quite close over the years despite the American leader's hard line on communism. "He took to Gorbachev slowly. … [They] really do honestly like each other," said Brinkley.

Remarkably, when the president delivered his famous speech at the Brandenberg Gate on June 12, 1987, in which he exclaimed: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!," he failed to note the line in his diary, remarking only on the "tens & tens of thousands of people -- stretching as far as the eye could see."

On his last day in office, Jan. 20, 1989, Reagan, true to form, composed a succinct, emotionless record of the day's events in two paragraphs. The president seems anxious to head "home & the start of our new life," as he writes at the close of the diaries.