The Reagan I Knew

This is an intimate portrait of Ronald Reagan, from his political mentor, ally and friend, William F. Buckley Jr. William F. Buckley Jr. first met Ronald Reagan in 1960, when Reagan, then a well-known actor, was assigned to introduce Buckley to an audience of Californian doctors. On discovering that the microphone couldn't be turned on without breaking into a locked control room, Reagan climbed out of a window in his tuxedo, cat-walked some thirty yards to the correct window, broke a pane with his elbow, let himself in and turned on the mic. He then proceeded to deliver a warm and flawless introduction. It was, Buckley came to realise, a perfect Reagan moment. This book, a reminiscence of thirty years of friendship, is full of such moments. Buckley and Reagan were more than political allies: they and their wives were also close friends, who holidayed together and shared inside jokes. Reagan, in Buckley's view, was the most genuine of politicians: he acted out, in the smallest details of his life, the same ideals he brought to governing America. Under Reagan, Buckley argues, the US was about something. It had a sense of mission it has not enjoyed since. This book is a personal and political appreciation by an author uniquely qualified to speak to both aspects of the subject.

About William Buckley