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Summary: The Real Story Behind Ronald Reagan
Review: What is the real reason Peggy Noonan wrote this book? I pondered and pondered that question until I came upon one of the reviews on Amazon.com. I agree with "West Point" author Norman Thomas Remick's November 27, 2001 review of "When Character Was King" (I've now read both books) that said, as his book used West Point as a paradigm for teaching the philosophy of character and leadership, the real story behind "When Character Was King" is how Peggy Noonan pours out Ronald Reagan's life as a beautiful tutorial for teaching character and leadership, anecdotally. She uses many wonderful, and heretofore, little-known stories. I recommend reading both books. Many may believe Peggy Noonan's book is merely written to assure a positive spin on Reagan's legacy. Perhaps a positive spin is inevitable, if one is to be completely objective. Although Reagan is not perfect, and he himself had cautioned against casting the first stone, his contributions to our civilization are so profound, he is worth studying as a character role model for the sons and daughters of America. And remember this, Mr. and Mrs. America. The road to the sons and daughters of America goes through YOU. You really must read this book. Then give it to your kids.
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Summary: The Best Short Biography on Reagan ever Written
Review: Peggy Noonan wrote what I think is the greatest book about working for and around politicians, "What I Saw at the Revolution." This time Noonan mixes her own memories of Ronald Reagan with research about the rest of Reagan's life, and she never strikes a bad note. Noonan's style is the usual graceful and insightful and with Reagan she picks her perfect subject. I wasn't a big fan of Peggy Noonan's anti-Hilary written in 2000, because her style seems all wrong for a hatchet job. Barbara Olsen was much better at attacking the Clintons. With Reagan, Noonan is back to her strength.Noonan starts way back with Reagan's Tampico, Illinois upbringing, but she doesn't get stranded in a childhood like so many other biographers tend to do. She makes her points and moves on. This she does all through the book. She gracefully takes us through his Hollywood Period to his TV Period to his Political Period with perfect anecdotes and clever jokes. Her description of Reagan's assassination was the best account I have ever read. I think that this book is the most seminal short biography of Ronald Reagan. If you have never read a book on Reagan, this is your best first choice.
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Summary: The Eloquent Peggy Noonan
Review: This is my favorite book of Noonan's that I have read. Before reading the book, I knew a lot about Reagan's policy and his presidency, but I didn't know much about the man himself. Noonan does an excellent job of telling the life story of Reagan and the steps he took to eventually becoming the most powerful leader in the world. Noonan's eloquence and excellent story-telling provides for a relaxing, informative read.
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Summary: A Warm, Sentimental Journey
Review: Peggy Noonan simply has a way with words and she delivers with this book. The title itself was refreshing. Noonan offers some behind-the-scenes stories of former staffers getting back together and sharing what they remember about Ronald Reagan. Not just staffers, but foreign leaders, friends and family members as well. Reagan's early upbringing and his father's influence on him was masterfully told, as were the many experiences and twists of life that formed the man (his early jobs, involvement with the Screen Actor's Guild, etc.). Noonan's description of Rancho del Cielo puts you on site and gives you a very personal look at Ronald Reagan in the same way that visiting Monticello tells you so much about Jefferson. She describes the steep drive up to the ranch, the fences he built there, the smallness of the structure itself, etc. She describes the interior, lists the books that are still on his shelf, and what he used to do when he went there to get away. I enjoyed reading about his relationship with his Secret Service detail. So many little vignettes about his relationships with people that reveal his character. The early signs of his disease are not missed, and his (and Nancy's) struggle since then is a moving story. Very sad. Particulary moving was the story of her taking her son to see him. Reagan was so polite and warm when he shook the boy's hand but at that time did not even remember Noonan --his former aide and speechwriter. She finishes with Reagan's influence on George W. and our war on terror. That too is interesting. Our sitting President had 8 years to be around Ronald Reagan, off and on, and his character had made a powerful impression. I was glad Noonan took the high road and didn't waste any time on the liberals who hate him so much. (You can even see this in the other amazon reviews of this book which gave it "one star." Most say nothing at all about the book but are just a rehash of partisan attacks.) So, if you're a liberal just skip this one. Actually, don't skip it -just wait about 30 years before you read it. It will strike you differently then.
Rating: 
Summary: "To Preserve, Protect And Defend... So Help Me God."
Review: When I started to read "When Character Was King" by former White House speechwriter, Peggy Noonan I thought how apropos then candidate Reagan's quote from his debate with then President Jimmy Carter "there you go again" would be to this work. No book written about Ronald Reagan escapes the broadsides hurled from the liberals and intelligentsia who hate to admit they had it wrong in the 80's. Then again, there are the supply-siders, conservatives and exiled pundits who close their eyes to the cracks in the myth of the Reagan presidency. So I wondered, what could this book contribute to the debate over the Reagan legacy? Instead of trying to convince the reader that those were the "good ol' days," Ms. Noonan attempts a different slant - what about the "character" of the person occupying the Oval Office - does it count for anything? Does it affect the way history will record that presidency? With a deft pen and quick moving account of the life of the former actor, governor and President, Ms. Noonan delivers a knockout blow to the fallacy that history doesn't care about the character of the person in the highest elected office. Ms. Noonan makes the case well that the "something" that distinguishes presidencies and makes some great is the 'character' of the man in the Oval Office. As Noonan says, "No one is ever trained to be president, and usually a president either walks in getting it or he doesn't. Some learn the role along the way, some never do. Reagan always comported himself as if he got it so easily, so effortlessly, that he didn't even notice that he had it." Noonan traces Reagan's peripatetic early life; his college days, his acting career and involvement with the Screen Actors Guild. She recounts well known facts and some new ones too that formed the foundation for much of Reagan's core, his personality and his vision. She uses anecdotes from former staffers, friends and even Nancy Reagan to show how Reagan evolved into the man America saw on the campaign trail and elected twice to the White House. Noonan asserts that time and again during his presidency, in dealing with the Soviets and with the Congress, Reagan's character counted for something.
Noonan recalls that Reagan delivered on all the big promises he had made when running for office: cut taxes, get the economy moving, name a woman to the Supreme Court, cut interest rates. She doesn't duck the Iran-Contra scandal or the "Star Wars" controversy, but hits them head on. There are many tomes on the Reagan years; some that provide much more detail than this work. This is, however, a well written book that should earn a place of distinction in the debate over the Reagan years. Noonan closes the book by touching on the recent war on terrorism, its effect on the current occupant of the Oval Office and his views of the Reagan years. It does in the end give its readers something to think about on the way to the ballot box. It is very good reading.
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Summary: Thank God for Reagan.
Review: Not only the length of Ronald Reagan's life but also the length of his political shadow has surpassed all expectations. Along with Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, poll data suggests that he is ranked by the general public as being one of three greatest presidents in our history. With the USS Ronald Reagan being commissioned the other day, there seems to be no more opportune time to discuss a man who, in this writer's opinion, is the greatest hero of the twentieth century.
Peggy Noonan's When Character was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan adds to the plethora of works now available about the 40th president. Dinesh D'Souza's Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader and Michael Deaver's A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan are two other excellent biographies that were also penned quite recently. Noonan's account is as valuable as the others but all of them have something individually unique to offer the reader.
In the case of Peggy Noonan, although she was a speechwriter in the Reagan Administration, her account is a journalistic tapestry and rarely an "I was there" type of memoir (as opposed to Deaver's). Noonan conducts countless interviews with family members like Nancy Reagan and Patty Reagan along with many other friends and associates. I was taken aback when I read Bob Feller quoted several times concerning the strengths of President Reagan. I had no idea that they knew one another. The author left few sources unturned and her account will undoubtedly be treasured by future biographers.
What makes reading about Reagan so immensely rewarding is that his life was lived above and beyond the parameters of our "what did he know and when did he know it" time of cynicism. Noonan makes clear, even in her detailed description of the Iran-contra affair, that this was a leader who breathed optimism and exhaled confidence. Once one finishes Character, the reader will accurately wonder if they'll ever be another man like this born again.
Noonan's story is exactly what it purports to be. It is a description of character, as opposed to a chronological tale and through this writer's talented hand, a frail and sickly man becomes lively again. I think a better title for the book may be Nuances of Ronald Reagan because that's exactly what her narrative delivers. Unlike D'Souza, Noonan does not believe that Reagan was an ordinary man at all. She holds much of what he did to be magnificent and little that he said or accomplished could be described by the word "average."
Of all the traits that he possesses, humility seems to be the one that is all-pervasive. His biggest aspiration as a young man was to become an actor. This profession embodied all of his dreams. When the day came and he was actually offered an acting job in Hollywood (it came with a salary of 200 dollars a week and a seven year contract), he wired back to his agent in California, "Sign before they change their minds." There is one story that is better than all of the others. Who among us can remain unmoved when reading about the president with Frances Green? For those of you who are unfamiliar with the interlude let me recapitulate the events. Frances Green was a poor 83-year-old woman from California who was a lifelong member of the Republican Party and a fervent admirer of Ronald Reagan. One day she received in the mail an invitation to a Republican fundraiser event that included a meeting with President Reagan. The event came with a hefty price tag (Noonan's account does not mention this specific) and, Ms. Green, failing to notice that a contribution was expected, hopped on a train to Washington to attend without even attempting to RSVP. Upon her arrival, she was barred from the White House, but a Ford executive overheard her story and arranged for her to get a tour anyway.
Think about buying or borrowing a copy of this book as it will give you more tingles than the ending of the movie "Signs." When Noonan shares her memory of Reagan's 1981 inauguration as President of the United States, and tells the reader that the sun made its way through an ugly and dark day to cast a halo of light upon the president's head, it takes an atheist indeed to question it-given the light, glory and freedom this man gave to the world.
Rating:
Summary: Firm and frank
Review: Paggy Noonan's biography of Ronald Reagan ought to have been called "When A Character Was King," for this wise and witty book shows that there was much more to the "Cowboy Charmer" than previously suspeted. She tells the story of Ronnie I with tremendous empathy. I had not known of Noonan's battles with the bottle -- and the wise counsel Reagan offered after her abortion must have been tremendously helpful. Noonan does not skip over the less attractive aspects of the Reagan tenure -- his insistence on calling his son Ronnie "Little Nancy Boy," for example, or his preference for black leather briefs. But all in all this is a stirring reminder of the days when a true eccentric -- and yes, a "character" -- ran the White House.
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Summary: Admiration for Reagan and Noonan
Review: There are a great many words that could describe this book. Sincere, warm, affectionate, sweet, erudite, insightful, incredible, beautiful, poetic. Noonan takes her arsenal of prose and produces what is a most amazing book. You get from Noonan the love she had for Reagan, and it's a love we all should have for Reagan. I would not call this a perfect biography. Noonan passes over many of Reagan's faults. However, Reagan was an amazing man, the more I read about him, the more there is to admire. Readable. That's the best word, the book is incredibly readable, and you should read it.
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Summary: When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan
Review: A columnist and former Reagan speechwriter muses on her old boss.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Read
Review: Noonan's fluid prose is a joy to read, and through her storytelling, she makes the reader feel like he knows Ronald Reagan. Her material is surprisingly fresh, considering how much has been written about the ex-president. At times, she draws sweeping and impossible to confirm conclusions about Reagan's psyche from certain evernts in his life. But she convinces and entertains the reader, nevertheless.
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