Rating: 
Summary: He¿s here ¿ his heart, his mind, his soul
Review: Thank you, Peggy Noonan.She brought him back to me. I could feel the presence of Ronald Reagan in every chapter. (Which is no great surprise - she wrote many of his most powerful presidential speeches.) The book's title is precise. It isn't about history, or the presidency, or his life, or even about the man. It's about Ronald Reagan's character. The man who astounded everyone (and appalled most) by always speaking the truth as he saw it - even if that meant calling the Soviet Union an evil empire. Her description of the "failure" of the Reykjavik summit with Gorbachev, and her compelling reasoning that it inevitably led to real arms reduction, the end of the Soviet Union, and the fall of the Wall, are fascinating. Most especially, you can trace Reagan's frustration, when he knew beyond any doubt that if he had given in, all the media would have praised him. But he couldn't do it, because he thought it was wrong. And so he took the heat and was excoriated by the press, and in the passing of time he won, and America won, and freedom won, and peace won. And the media keeps excoriating him. But that's all right. The book also tells about what he said to William Bennett when the press came after him. "You know, they like to criticize me for being in show business. But one thing you learn in show business, there's a difference between the critics and the box office. Just do your job, and don't worry about the critics." The book feels right, with details you've never heard, old stories you've heard put in a new light, and overall a delightful, warm, nostalgic, loving appraisal. All in all, not bad. Not bad at all.
Rating:
Summary: Fostering a Greater Appreciation for a Great Man
Review: When Ronald Reagan was elected president, I was in diapers. I was not fortunate enough to live the Reagan years, watching him ascend from the B-movies to the leader of the free world, yet I have come to appreciate him for his mark on history. Peggy Noonan gives us the Reagan we have come to love--a determined man of core conservative ideals and a love for America. I first appreciated Reagan when I heard him give an address at the 1988 Republican convention. Then, I made it a point to go back and study his life. As the years unfold, we are just now beginning to appreciate the tremendous impact this great man had on our country. He was conservative during a time when conservatism was dead. There were no Rush Limbaughs, Fox News Channels, World Net Daily's, or Weekly Standards. These are all a product of Reagan's stubborn insistence in an America-first brand of governing. Peggy Noonan is not only an unabashed fan of the Reagan way as am I, she is a highly skilled storyteller. She so delicately chronicles behind-the-scenes tales from Reagan's rise to power. She gives the human side of this great man and explains the energies that drove him to single-handedly defeat communism, raise the national spirit, and give the next generation a model for good government. I would recommend every young person read this book and discover the remarkable man that lead our country during the 1980's--Ronald Wilson Reagan. Kudos to Noonan for a masterpiece in literature.
Rating:
Summary: When Character Was King
Review: This book details a side of President Reagan most have forgotten or have never known. Peggy Noonan was lucky enough to have worked with President Reagan and come to know him over the years...Now we are the lucky ones...She has many stories from many people...Some stories are very funny and some will bring tears to your eyes...She speaks of President Reagan's formative years...What made him the man he was and came to be...From his youth through his school years and The Great Depression...From his staring out on his own to the present and his illness...It is truly a great book to be read by anyone who would like to know about one of America's greatest Presidents...We are all the better for this book...I recommend this book highly...I have read many books on the former President, including his own...This book is truly one of the best...It shows many sides to what some call a complex man...After reading this book you will feel like you truly know him...Many thanks to Peggy Noonan for a wonderful book...
Rating:
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.
Rating:
Summary: The Man Who Changed the Course of History!
Review: Ronald Reagan is easy to ridicule. He was a simple, direct, optimistic person whose decision to enter politics after a career as a movie actor was supremely lucky for America. Reagan changed the course of American history. He stopped creeping socialism in its tracks and began the modern American conservative movement. He showed what one man without fear, with the courage of his convictions, unbounded optimism, and belief in American ideals could do. He was a man of low ego, not afraid to delegate, possessed with a sense of humor and a belief in the rightness of American ideals right down to faith in God, freedom, and the value of the individual. He was corny sometimes but shrewd politically. He never allowed the leftist press or the intelligensia to thwart him. He went right over their heads and communicated directly to the American people. He remained popular throughout his two terms. To me, a former Democrat who didn't vote for a Republican until Bill Clinton, this book was a reaffrimation of my decision to be a conservative. Like Reagan, "When Character Was King," is unabashadly patriotic, loving, and deceptively simple. Ronald Reagan was not a stupid man who spent his presidency napping. He alone is responsible for the collaspe of the Soviet Union. This book is a loving memoir to a man who is right up there with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as one of our greatest presidents!
Rating: 
Summary: Whitewashing the Most Corrupt Administration of the 20th Cen
Review: A most disappointing attempt at redeeming the poster boy of crass, impersonal, big-business-driven conservatism.
When history sorts things out, the Reagan administration, with its cabinet of who's-who in whom not to hire in government, will be proven to be the most corrupt U.S. administration of the 20th century, even worse than Nixon's, which thus far holds that distinction.
This was an administration which did everything in its power (and some things outside) to steal from the poor, the sick and the elderly, the schools and the students, the immigrants, and labor, and give it to its rich benefactors (who also became its biggest beneficiaries.) It gave a new meaning to the expression "Corporate Welfare." It denied the existence of acid rain for eight years despite worldwide evidence to the contrary (was it Hitler who used to say, "tell them a lie a thousand times and they will believe it?")
There was no true attempt at explaining the questionable activities Reagan's cabinet members Ray Donovan, Jim Watts, Bill Casey, Ed Meese, to list a few. No attempt to get at the truth in George Sr.'s involvement in the Iran-Contra affair, or Reagan's memory lapses on the matter.
No attempts were made at explaining the judicial capabilities or credentials of its choice of federal justices now occupying all the benches, either!
If I could have given this book no star, I would have.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest President of the USA
Review: This book is an excellant book to read if you are a Democrat or a Republican, whether you know Reagan was the greatest president or not. Peggy Noonan covers his life from facts, personal interviews from Reagan's family, friends,collegues (including George Bush junior) and also her personal accounts. And after reading this book, I wish to see another President with character as great as Reagan's.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect! The book Ed Morris wishes he could have written.
Review: This book is one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. It has a lyrical quality but it also gives you some great details while getting the big picture right. Today we whine about the economy and our so-called recession. When Reagan became president interest rates were 15 percent, unemployment was in the double digits and inflation was also in double digits. Now that was an economy in serious trouble. And he fixed it despite strong opposition from the left and the press. Reading this book I realize in retrospect how much the press misrepresented him. And how ineffective those misrepresentations were as he won twice... The press always said he was a dunce. Reading this book you realize what an intellectual - yes, intellectual - he was. They said he was just an actor and a bad one at that. But he was the president of a very big union and he went toe-to-toe with business giants like Jack Warner. The shooting of President Reagan brings out things that, if they were once known, have been forgotten. The crisis that was the assassination attempt tells much about his character. Ronald Reagan was joking and thinking of others when his life was in danger... A subtext of this book is the unfavorable comparision between President Reagan and the forty-second president. Both had been born to difficult circumstances but turned out completely different. The interior design of the Oval Office for Nixon and the forty-second president is a revealing point. Noonan hits the nail on the head when she relays the difference between Republicans and conservatives. SDI (mislabeled by the press as "Star Wars") was - along with winning the Cold War - his final triumph. Reading this section after 9-11 you realize Reagan laid the groundwork for our now strong military and how important SDI is for the future. The chapter on President George W. Bush is wonderful. I hope he has time to read this. He, too, has been mislabeled as a "dope" by the press and his opponents but he, like Reagan, is secure enough with himself that he doesn't let it bother him. Bush 43, and his staff, have learned a great deal from Reagan and it shows. For that we - as a nation - are lucky...
Rating: 
Summary: The Legacies of Two Presidents
Review: Peggy Noonan serves two distinct purposes with the publication of her respectful analysis of Ronald Reagan. At one level she has written a work that will afford future generations a better understanding of our 40th president. Simultaneously she contrasts Reagan with one of his successors. As a much sought after pundit, Ms. Noonan spent a great deal of the nineties expostulating on the misbehavior of William Jefferson Clinton, and while his name is rarely regurgitated in this work, astute readers will often feel a sly smile as esoteric allusions to Clinton are made. Given the author's informed opinion on each man, the temptation to openly contrast these two polar opposites must have been strenuously beckoning. Showing herculean restraint, she merely makes sporadic, shrewd inferences leaving the obvious correlations to the reader's conjecture which makes the cunning contrasts all the more powerful. Beyond mere biography, the tome assays the inner workings of Reagan and the author repeatedly discovers character as his nexus. While Ms. Noonan unabashedly holds Reagan in high-esteem, this discussion is not a devotional hagiography; it never shies away from his weaknesses or mistakes. She explores Reagan's troubled relationship with his children, and an entire chapter details the Iran-Contra affair. After itemizing the plot of the infamous debacle, she reaches the reasoned conclusion that Reagan's well-intentioned appointees employed thoughtless and nefarious means to achieve their noble goals or as she succinctly summed it up: "good reasons for bad actions, but bad actions nonetheless." This determination would not apply to any of the myriad Clinton scandals. Selling the Lincoln bedroom, priapic conquests, burning down the Waco compound, kidnapping Elian Gonzales and betraying his mother's heroic sacrifice, perjury and obstruction of justice--are merely "bad actions" with no "good reasons" behind them. Discussing the consistency of President Reagan, Noonan teases with, "he was not given to conceit...didn't show up places late because he's the most important and interesting man invited, so the fun will have to start when he gets there" which provides an indirect mnemonic of Bill Clinton's legendary procrastination as he stood up heads of state all over the world. In discussing Ronald Reagan's veracity, she declares, "Ronald Reagan loved the truth; we all do or say we do but for Reagan it was like fresh water, something he needed and wanted." No memory jogging remark is necessary to conjure up the image of former first perjurer making "legally accurate" statements about not having sexual relations with that women--his regular trysting partner. When President Reagan was rushed to the hospital after the assassination attempt, the confusion of what was causing his difficulty--before it was determined he had been shot-- forced the desperate hospital staff to rip off all his clothes before he even made it into the operating room. Pondering this heretofore unreleased fact prompts obvious consideration of how often Bill Clinton must have been similarly unattired in unfamiliar locales. Making any such implication overtly would have demeaned President Reagan, but Peggy Noonan doubtlessly knew what seed she was planting in readers' minds. One of the few direct comparisons ironically concerns their acting abilities. She writes that "all of our great modern presidents have been actors...the key always is to be an actor without being a phony, without being insincere, inauthentic, not true to yourself." Pointing out how Reagan, along with JFK and FDR mastered this art, she bluntly adds that "(Clinton) was by the end seen even by his friends as a more gifted phony than a gifted actor." One of the subtlest stabs can be picked up from the heartwarming tale of Ronald Reagan's meeting with Frances Green. Mrs. Green was an 83-year old California widow who received a standard invitation to the White House from the RNC but misinterpreted in as a personal invitation. She bravely traversed across the nation, and after a series of setbacks actually got to meet the president inside the Oval Office where he treated her like a visiting dignitary. Reagan's chivalrous treatment of this out-of-her-element guest stands in stark contradiction to Clinton's exploitation of his slatterns within the same confines. In certain passages Peggy Noonan is slyly winking to those familiar with her work. At one point she discusses Reagan and the Secret Service's mutual admiration: "Reagan liked his Secret Service agents a lot, respected their professionalism, and they loved him. This isn't always the case with presidents." In her previous effort, "The Case Against Hillary Clinton" she detailed the Clintons disdain for those entrusted to sacrifice their lives for their safety. Regularly treating them as bellhops, Hillary especially was not diffident in subjecting her bodyguards to her vituperative invective. Bill, of course, expected them to play dumb while he indulged his adolescent sexual fantasies. Generations from now, when Clinton has been relegated to an insignificant demerit, "When Character Was King's" delicate hints to his dissimilarities with Reagan will be lost to all but history buffs. However, like modern readers, our descendants will be left saying "Thank you President Reagan for restoring America's greatness."
Rating:
Summary: The view form obscurity.
Review: By the time Reagen took office in 1981 I was living in a little obscure and conservative town. I was excited by the prospect of a strong and decisive president. Carter had seemed weak and ineffective. I was also fed up with the Woody Allen type liberals who appeared to support Carter. Reagen came across as a fine antidote for all that. Knowing what I know now would I vote for Reagan again? Yes, I believe I would. Noonan captures his persona perfectly.
| 
