Posted on 06/11/2011 4:09:34 AM PDT by rhema
Del Quentin Wilber, a Washington Post reporter and author of Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, says that after studying Reagan’s character and the actions Reagan took when his life was in imminent danger, he came to the conclusion that the 40th president of the United States was “the quintessential leader.”
“I found him to be kind of the quintessential leader,” Wilber said in an interview with CNSNews.com’s Online With Terry Jeffrey. “I found that the portrayal of him in the media at the time and even today as someone who just read what was put in front of him like a script was not true.”
Wilber, who reviewed historical documents and recordings and interviewed more than 125 witnesses to reconstruct a narrative of the day Reagan was shot, believes Americans were given a unique view of Reagan’s true character and courage in the way he responded to the attempt on his life.
“As he’s being wheeled into surgery, he sees Baker, Meese and Deaver, his three top advisers, and he says: “Who’s minding the store?” Because, you know, he’s kind of poking fun of himself with his hands-off management style with the troika,” said Wilber.
But Reagan had an even better joke for the surgeons who would cut open his chest to find the would-be assassin’s bullet and stop the internal bleeding. “He gets into surgery,” said Wilber, “he gets up on an elbow, dramatically takes off the oxygen mask, and says: ‘I hope you’re all Republicans.’ Puts it on and goes back to sleep.”
Even more remarkably, Wilber reports that Reagan actually used the hope-you’re-all-Republicans line more than once at the hospital before being anaesthetized for surgery. He used it first in the emergency room on Secret Service agent Jerry Parr and again in the operating room to the surgeons. Wilber interviewed multiple eyewitnesses who testified to Reagan’s use of wit at these moments as he lay wounded and facing the possibility of death.
“He’s lying in the ER, oxygen mask on, he sees Jerry Parr. And he had tried to do some jokes,” says Wilber. “He says to Jerry: ‘I hope they’re all Republicans.’”
“And Jerry Parr looks down: Uh, huh,” said Wilber. “Jerry doesn’t remember quite if he smiled or not because, frankly, Jerry Par is going out of his mind: Okay, this guy just got shot, and he is trying to protect him, and he’s cracking a joke.
“And, I wasn’t sure if Jerry was correct, frankly,” said Wilber. But then an ER nurse and technician told Wilber the same story.
“He said it,” said Wilber. “I interviewed a nurse: Did Reagan say anything? She’s in the ER. Did Reagan say anything? Oh yeah: ‘I hope they’re all Republicans.’ What? A technician said he said the same thing. I go: Oh my God, Reagan said the line, and put it in his back pocket, and delivered it again.”
He also delivered a comforting witticism to First Lady Nancy Reagan when she was first allowed into the emergency room to see him.
“He sees his wife, Nancy Reagan, in the ER, and what’s the first thing he says? ‘Honey, I forgot to duck,’” said Wilber. “Okay, that’s a joke. He’s not crying or whining.”
Wilber believes that whether facing life-or-death surgery after an assassination attempt, dressing appropriately in the Oval Office, or making policy decisions, Reagan never lost sight of the fact that he had a moral responsibility as president of the United States to act in a way that did credit to the office.
“In everything he did, he never wanted to diminish the office,” said Wilber.
History, Wilber believes, will make a positive judgment on Reagan.
“I think Reagan will be viewed by historians as one of the probably more successful U.S. presidents over time in terms of getting his agenda through and his goals accomplished--whether they were accomplished after he left or not,” said Wilber.
“You know, he left office with the highest approval rating of any president,” said Wilber. “Now, he is looked at as having accomplished winning the Cold War, reducing the threat of nuclear war, altering the face of basically the entire Europe, changing the debate about taxes in this country--for it will never be the same again. He even helped save Social Security.”
Wilber knows that some people may find his assessment of Reagan surprising coming from a Washington Post reporter.
“People see me and say you’re a Washington Post guy, Del, and you’re writing about Ronald Reagan?” said Wilber. “And I say: Listen, journalists, I think, get an unfair needle stuck in us for being biased. I’m not biased. I approached this with wide open eyes; I knew nothing about it. I came to admire Ronald Reagan as a guy and as a leader. Do I agree with all of his policy positions? No, but who does with anybody? But I can judge him on his success, right. He was a huge success.”
...is just a little over the top. Don't ask anyone to believe he got up on an elbow at that point.
The Amazon.com description notes: Now, drawing on exclusive new interviews, Del Quentin Wilber tells the electrifying story . . .
The reviewers give the book pretty fulsome praise for its reporting, too:
"Del Quentin Wilber has written a compelling and multi-layered examination of the near-assassination of President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981. As a biographer of Reagan who was at the Washington Hilton Hotel that fateful day, I was fascinated by Wilber’s meticulous reconstruction. He properly credits the valor and judgment of the Secret Service agents who saved Reagan’s life but also analyzes the security deficiencies that made the assassination attempt possible. Wilber reminds us of how close we were to losing Reagan little more than two months into his presidency. His detailed and readable accounts of the surgeries performed on Reagan and Press Secretary James Brady are of particular historical value."—Lou Cannon, author of President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime
"Rawhide Down is full of spectacular, original reporting."—Bob Woodward
Reagan was the exact opposite of Obama. I miss leaders like that.
Why does it take certain folks decades of research to figure out something that others knew within 10 minutes of seeing or hearing?
Oh, how I miss the Gipper.
“I think Reagan will be viewed by historians as one of the probably more successful U.S. presidents over time in terms of getting his agenda through and his goals accomplished—whether they were accomplished after he left or not,” said Wilber.
Imagine if Reagan had a conservative congress. The face of America would’ve been changed forever.
Does anyone know his approval ratings when he left office? It would be something I can throw in the face of RINOs who insist we must nominate a “centrist.”
The quiet pathway to private pastures.....
Or deport them... your choice.
As opposed to Bill Clinton who degraded the office.
The same can be said of George W. Bush. Regardless of his policy, he treated the office with respect.
A former manager of mine worked for President Reagan when Ronald Reagan was Governor of CA. I will always remember the admiration he had for Reagan and his telling me “with Reagan, what you saw in public was what Ronnie was like in private.” Reagan was a wonderful person in public and in private. A man who loved his country!
Star Wars quote: "There is another".
From Alaska.
Imagine how the reassessment of Obama will go. In 10 or 20 or 30 years people look back and say "I guess the media got it wrong. I guess Obama really was trying to destroy the country ..."
Another Star Wars quote: What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists, and the Republic has become the very evil we've been fighting to destroy?
- Padme Amidala
I don't think we're at that point. Yet. But the far left totalitarian fringe is putting all their effort into taking us there. Freedom doesn't have much time left if we don't recognize the danger and respond correctly in 2012 at the latest. If that fails, my money is on a much older quote:
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
- Thomas Jefferson
And remember how the media CRUCIFIED Ronnie for the recession of 1981-82, which was the economic fallout from the Carter administration? Compare that to the kid-gloves treatment the Marxist poseur-in-chief receives from the media today, during his (far, far worse) recessionary reign.
>>> ...is just a little over the top. Don’t ask anyone to believe he got up on an elbow at that point.>>>
My goodness, we’re all anti-judgmental on Eliz Edwards this morning but ultra-judgmental on Reagan’s biographer at the same time?????? Hmmm. Interesting.
Anyway, I watched the 34 minute video interview and it is riveting. I suggest to anyone it’s worth the time.
Having read a bunch of those Palin emails, I think the same can be said of Sarah.
I beg your pardon? I made no judgmental comment about any biographer, never mind “ultra-judgmental.”
You certainly judged - in a very patronizing and dismissive way - the veracity of the biographers’ account - which is backed up by numerous eye witnesses - by claiming the episode in the ER was over the top.
Apparently it was not over the top, but was absolutely what happened.
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