Letters From The Desk Of Ronald Reagan

1981 Let me say I'm very lucky and the Lord really had his hand on my shoulder. Literally, a sequence of minor miracles strung together to help me have a recovery that is complete . . . Letter of June 15, 1981 On Tuesday morning, January 20, 1981, in a sun-filled ceremony on the west side of the Capitol, Chief Justice Warren E. Berger swore in Ronald Reagan as the fortieth President of the United States. Nancy Reagan held the Bible used formerly by the President's mother, Nelle. Wearing a charcoal-gray coat, striped trousers, gray vest and tie, Reagan, called by some columnists the "Cowboy Hero," became at age sixty-nine the oldest man to assume the presidency. Thousands of invited guests, including columnist William F. Buckley, Jr., and singer Pat Boone, along with 150,000 citizens witnessed the start of the Reagan presidency and joined in singing "America the Beautiful." Brimming with optimism, the Reagans welcomed the opportunity to begin an era of national renewal and religious dedication. Earlier that morning they had gone to St. John's Episcopal Church near Lafayette Square and listened to sermons by the Reverend Donn Moomaw, their pastor at the Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, and another favorite minister, the Reverend Billy Graham. Time magazine's "Man of the Year" entered the presidency at a time of intense national frustration. For fourteen months, American hostages (President Reagan called them prisoners of war) had been held in Iran; the American economy was depressed and unstable, with high unemployment, numerous business bankruptcies, and a national debt exceeding $900 billion and climbing. Reagan enjoyed the boost in national optimism soon after his inauguration when the Iran hostages were released. During the first ten weeks of his presidency, Reagan began deciphering the codes and intricacies of Washington's power structure. He told Time reporter Laurence I. Barrett in early February that White House business was not that much different from Sacramento's business. Maybe his early estimate was a hope rather than a reality, for the President had not yet experienced many of the complex machinations in the district. He also told Barrett he did not have a moment for pleasure reading, that he dreaded the uproar of complaints about budget cuts, and that he found that complex issues had positive values on both sides. Each weekday morning he went to the Oval Office at 9 a.m. and gave his secretary, Helene van Damm, a folder of papers he had read and signed the night before. During Cabinet Room meetings, with treasury secretary Donald Regan and budget director David Stockman, he discussed various ways to lower federal spending and methods for reducing taxes. Other Oval Office meetings with National Security Advisor Richard Allen, White House Counsel Edwin Meese, and Chief of Staff James Baker, reporters, and occasionally foreign ministers filled the afternoons until 5 p.m. During the early months of his administration, Reagan answered many of the letters from correspondents with a recording machine rather than handwritten letters. In the twelve months after mid-February 1981, he filled twenty-five minicassettes. As the year unfolded he gradually shifted to handwritten replies. He had various staff members, such as Mike Deaver, Deputy Chief of Staff, check complex questions posed by writers and also answer ordinary requests and invitations. Reagan's dictated replies during the early months thanked writers for their encouragement and support: the President's favorite phrase was "your letter brightened the day for many of us." To his friend and astute columnist Lieutenant General Victor "Brute" Krulak, Reagan dictated that he was battling those who forget the last forty years and seem to think that all troubles came about in the last four months. Moreover, he promised the general that he would not whittle bReagan, Ronald is the author of 'Letters From The Desk Of Ronald Reagan', published 2005 under ISBN 9780767913386 and ISBN 0767913388.