Among the political insiders is Ken Khachigian. A longtime aide to President Richard Nixon and chief speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan, Khachigian was present at some of the key moments in U.S. history. His new book, “Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan & Nixon” (Post Hill Press, July 23), offers readers unprecedented access. In this excerpt, he writes about advising President Reagan with Nixon’s advice after Nixon was shot in 1981, and how they skillfully used public sympathy to pass important legislation.
With President Reagan recuperating at home after the assassination attempt, the White House began planning for the president’s dramatic return and a major address to a joint session of Congress. It was no secret that they intended to use all of the president’s heroic public goodwill to sell their economic plan.
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I returned Nixon’s call, and he offered me extensive advice: “Ken, don’t go too far down the well when it comes to the economy, and don’t worry about a little Republican defection,” he advised.
Regarding Reagan’s health, he said, “I’ll be honest with you, it’s going to be tough coming back from surgery. You can’t afford to waste your assets.” [public sympathy]”Don’t give a boring, big speech the first time.”
Nixon’s value has always been to take a historical perspective, in this case going back to the period after President Eisenhower’s stroke in 1957.
“They counted all of Reagan’s gaffes,” he recalled, “so Reagan might say, ‘I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my health lately. My health is good. The country is doing well. The economy is doing badly. So now is the time to cut taxes.'”
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The next day, President Reagan was beaming as he invited me into the Yellow Oval Room of his residence to discuss his speech to Congress with his chief of staff, James Baker, and his adviser, Edwin Meese.
Dressed in slacks, slippers, and a red sweater, the president looked much stronger, and despite his husky voice, he looked fine and cheerful, boasting that he had gained four pounds.
I came in all prepared and started to show him my notes. He stopped me midway and said, “Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe while I’m up there, I want to know how you feel about me doing this.” He clutched his chest, coughed, and slammed his head against the table. “I thought maybe I could do Camille’s death scene.”
For a brief moment, the three of us almost took the Leader of the Free World seriously, until he delivered a perfect imitation of Greta Garbo’s famous 1936 film routine, and we all finally burst out laughing.
He had already prepared and read a one-page opening addressing the assassination attempt. Our goal was to use the speech as a lever to get his tax and economic plan through Congress, but Reagan knew it would be offensive if he did not begin by citing the bravery of the police officers on March 30 and rejecting any notion that it was a sick society that characterized that fateful day.
“But listen, Ken, when this debate is over, I want to speak directly to the Congress and go over their heads and tell the American people about lowering taxes, lowering inflation and improving our economy. In this speech, I want to address both the tax and spending sides. I want to talk about both the tax and spending sides. And I’ll let them know that I’m not going to be long.
“Somewhere in there is a statement that I want to speak directly to the American people: ‘I believe you want this program, and I believe Congress wants to work with me to make this program a reality.'”
He looked up to make sure we understood, then added, “I want you to finally say that I am not taking advantage of the shootings, so let’s keep this message pretty blunt.”
It’s a clever ploy: The whole premise of going to Congress was to use public goodwill to advance policy goals.
Eight days later, the president was off to Camp David and called me to review the economic data. Although we worked best one-on-one, senior staffers kept a close watch on the speech, but I was open only to factual changes and legislative policy reviews. So I asked my good friend Ann Higgins in the communications department to help me find letters from children sent during Reagan’s convalescence. I hoped to find something to brighten the evening and lighten the mood of the gloomy Democrats who were receiving his economic message in a cold light.
Anne wrote several letters, but one that stood out was handwritten by Peter Sweeney, a second-grader at Riverside School in Rockville Centre, New York.
I hope you get better soon, otherwise I might have to give a speech. In pajamas.
P.S. If I had to give a speech in my pajamas, I would I warned you.
It was perfect, I just had to find a way to convince my boss to use it.
A few days later, I was in the Oval Office with one last chance to persuade President Reagan to include Peter Sweeney’s letter in the final reading. I had a few private moments before he left, so I said, “Mr. President, why don’t you consider using this tonight?”
Reagan skimmed it over and chuckled back.
Oh, I thought, he’s not going to use it. I quickly thought of “Court of Appeals” and handed it back to him.
“Why don’t you show this to Mrs. Reagan? I’m sure she’ll like to see it,” I said. He looked at the letter again and said, “I have an idea,” and put it in his coat pocket.
I had successfully planted the seeds for a showman.
Sitting in the House gallery on the evening of April 28, 1981, I noticed that the advance transcript contained no mention of the boy from Rockville Centre. Reagan didn’t get to the part of his speech where he spoke of listening to “millions of caring Americans and their children, from college students to kindergartners,” until he saw the beginning of his remarks.
“In fact, I have a letter to prove it,” he said, reaching into his breast pocket and smoothly producing it. After an initial round of laughter and applause, and with perfect timing, he read out young Sweeney’s postscript. He had captured the hearts of all but the most apathetic of his supporters.
After reviewing the dire economic situation facing America, the president continued, “Our government is too big, and we spend too much…”
The answer to too-big government is to stop encouraging growth. Government spending has been growing at a faster pace than the economy itself. The enormous national debt that we have accumulated is the result of government overspending. Well, it’s time to change that approach, to get it right… The old, comfortable way is to cut a little here and add a little there. Well, that’s no longer acceptable. I think this great and historic Congress knows that that approach is no longer acceptable.
At that last line, more than 40 “Blue Dog” conservative Democrats led the applause and then rose to their feet with Republicans, cheering and whistling at Reagan’s attack on big government.
When Tip O’Neill saw the rebellion happening within his own camp, he turned to Vice President Bush, who was sitting next to him, and said, “40 votes.”
source Behind Closed Doors: Reagan and Nixon’s Roomsby Ken Khachigian. Excerpted with permission from Post Hill Press.
