A Different Drummer : My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan

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Summary: Different Drummer
Review: 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, ministering to him during his tragic illness of Alzheimer's disease.
No matter what you may think about Ronald Reagan as President, or his politics, this book should give every reader a glimpse of the resolute character of the man Reagan, and at the same time a deeper appreciation for all that he did for this nation because of the morals, his honesty, his integrity ,and personal belief that he must do his best no matter the task. For himself, the man Reagan was not important, but what the man Reagan stood for and did was of the utmost importance to him. Deaver captures the moments in the life of Reagan with clarity, humor, and, seriousness. And the author makes it quite understandable that few men have ever risen to the stature of Ronald Wilson Reagan, both as a man and as President.
A good read and highly recommended.