A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan

After the massive disappointment of Edmund Morris' "Dutch", I thought I would give up on outside accounts of the Reagan legacy. Mike Deaver's book, however, brought me out of the disappointment of "Dutch" and in this week of mourning, has brought this reader many smiles. Let not the slimness of this volume dissuade you: Deaver, having been close to Reagan from before the Governorship of California, understands his subject in a way that completely eluded Morris' bloated opus and what emerges from these pages is a picture of an introverted extrovert. One sees a complex Reagan - but where "Dutch" seemingly gives up and fails in trying to understand the complexity, "Drummer" seems to draw a picture of a man who simply wanted to share his very personal life with Nancy - and respects him for it. I also salute Deaver's work for its assessment of Reagan as bringing about the end of the Cold War, for the little-trumpeted Reagan reaction (or lack thereof) to the shooting down of Korean Air flight 007, thereby isolating the Soviets further. Hopefully, history will follow Deaver in marking this as the non-shot that saved the world from a nuclear winter.I highly recommend buying this book now; it will become _the_ definitive Reagan assessment in the years to come.

Michael Deaver has written a very important book about President Reagan. You will learn more about President Reagan from one of the closest friends he ever had than you will from other memoirs, and certainly more than the official biography/historical fiction, "Dutch". This is not a trite sentimental tribute to a man who is clearly very highly esteemed by the author. It is a series of recollections about a friendship that was unique because President Reagan was a very private man, yet he considered his relationship with Mr. Deaver to be like that of a brother. And like brothers they had their good times and they had intense, and sometimes colorful exchanges and bad times. It is also a book that includes very private events in the author's life and the insights it gave him as to why Ronald Reagan the man was very different than many would presume. He was hugely popular, charismatic, and lead this country out of a malaise that it had been lead in to. Yet in private he was an enigmatic man, very private, and per Mr. Deaver quite shy. The book is worth reading for the description of a lunch that the president had with Mother Teresa. On any other day he may have been the most powerful person on the planet, but the balance of power shifted when the famous Saint of Calcutta took over.Mr. Deaver was with Ronald Reagan from his first foray in to politics, and was one of the last people outside of immediate family that met with the former President just prior to his leaving the public stage. He shares with the reader his experiences from the beginning when he first met Reagan and was quite "unimpressed", to his final meeting in 1997 when his friend of almost 4 decades did not remember him. The final meeting is related candidly and with great respect, yet the horror that Alzheimer's inflicts on its victims is clearly communicated.I have never understood why people are determined to characterize a man who is held is such high esteem, that the public ranks him as one of the top 3 presidents this country has had, as Clark Clifford infamously branded him, "an amiable dunce". Mr. Clifford cannot even claim amiable for a legacy. If his health had not failed he might have become the guest of one of this nation's, "Club Fed's".This country is now about a 2 trillion dollar a year organization that we expect the occupant of The White House to manage in every detail, or at least we want the right to pillory him for anything that happens. The Federal Government is about 50 times the size of the world's largest company General Electric. G.E. certainly has a CEO and Jack Welch was one of the best, but even he had an army of people that helped run the company based on his core business beliefs. A successful presidency cannot be run any other way, the job is simply too big.Mr. Deaver explains what Reagan's detractors cannot seem to grasp. A president must have a core set of beliefs that he brings to Washington, a set of goals and personal conduct he has held for most of hi

When Ronald Reagan first appeared on the political scene in 1964, most thought he was a vapor drifting by, never to be seen again. After all, he was a grade B movie actor, a spokesman for General Electric and nothing more. In the book A Different Drummer by Michael Deaver, the author gives insight into the man Reagan, not President Reagan. Deaver spent 30 years with him and was the only person outside of Nancy Reagan who really knew what made him the type person he was. Even then he was an enigma to Deaver at times. The pages are filled with selected views of the former President from brief glimpses of his movie career to the days he spent in the Oval Office. If one thing stands out in the book, it is Ronald Reagan's ability to connect with people, not as a packaged movie actor as so many of his detractors thought, but his genuine respect and admiration for people that others did not like. One of the most touching series of scenes occured on his inauguration day in 1981 involving President Jimmy Carter. The compassion for Carter and what President Reagan asked Deaver to do took a man of real caliber to even think about doing it, much less laying the plan to do it, if it had worked out. What Reagan said about the Iranian situation and what he was prepared to do showed the inner qualities of a fine man; a man with a genuine feeling for President Carter's anguish. The news media never had a clue about what actually happened that day. Ronald Reagan's wit, charm, and intelligence comes through in the book. He was a complex man, yet simple in his approach to his life because he had a strong sense of right and wrong that lay outside himself but at the same time had residence inside him giving him direction. He knew his strengths and his weaknesses and used them both, not to his advantage necessarily, but to the advantage of doing what was right for the nation as a whole, not just for a select few. One particularly touching act by President Reagan showed his warm and tender feeling for those struggling to make ends meet. He found out about a young woman who needed money. He wrote a personal check and sent it to her. Later he wrote her another because she framed the first one. Acts of kindness were his forte, acts which the public never knew about. And the news media didn't take the time to find out what drove him to do as he did. Also he and Nancy guarded his personal nature and privacy so closely that the media never could figure him out, though with some effort they might have. Deaver makes it clear that no one ever fully understood Ronald Reagan except Nancy. She not only understood him, she protected him ferociously from his foes when his kind and gentle nature tended to put him in harms way. He said without her he would not have been President, but she took no active political role as did Hillary Clinton. She was his guardian angel in a manner of speaking, the one and only love of her life. A love that endure to this day as she looks after him daily

This is simply the best book that has been written about how Reagan operated and how he was successful in getting things done. Deaver communicates a deeper personal sense of Reagan than any other book I have read. For any student history interested in how this remarkable man could carry the conservative movement to the White House, defeat the Soviet Empire, restart the American economy and rebuild faith in the American civic culture, this book is must reading. Deaver was with Reagan for thirty years and has thought deeply about his leadership since then. This book captures that analysis in remarkably few pages.Let me just give you a few of the many insights Deaver outlines: "If we Californians had a modicum of smarts, it was that we understood the secret to Reagan's success. He won when people saw him and heard his message. Personal persuasion, not political manipulation, was the secret of Reagan's magic. To Sears, Ronald Reagan was just another political commodity. To us, he was something special, someone we knew the American people would embrace if they got to know him," p.198-99."It was during his tenure as GE spokesman that he learned it was best always to dine with his listeners. Later in life Richard Nixon would advise Reagan that he should eat his dinner in solitude in his hotel room where he could rehearse one last time and relish the quiet time before facing the gritty masses. This would not only provide the opportunity for singular uninterrupted dining, Nixon advised, but would also afford a triumphant entrance into the ballroom. Reagan respectfully discarded the loner Nixon's counsel, preferring to always take his seat at the head table and dine at the same time as everybody else. He did this not out of any populist impulses but out of a need to be in the same room as his audience so he could make a personal connection before he spoke. " . . . He was always listening and learning." p.54. This is a must read for students of leadership, government, politics and history.

Reagan made it all look so easy -- a simple clarity which unnerved many, but enabled a revolution. Fate smiled when it put Michael Deaver at Reagan's side; they clearly worked as a matched set. And that fit shows here in the story. Deaver has managed to match his old boss again. This time by making the telling of this American Classic look easy! The difference from others' earlier attempts is that unlike those who've tried to talk about being there, he ignores the academic and chattering-class' over-analysis. Like The Gipper, Deaver wisely insists on just sharing a great set of stories.Reading "A Differnt Drummer" is a lot like listening to The Great Communicator himself. Even for a political agnostic, I was swept up by the clarity of Deaver's perspective. He carries you through three decades with insight and soul.If you are a Reagan fan, this is a Must Read. But more important, if you don't much like politics, Reagan, or the '80's, it is a delightful and valuable surprise. It flows. It fills in the gaps. And finally peeking inside the reality -- is fun.EMG