Look slow one, the year was 1980, newt was a little back woods freshman from Georgia, he could have written a letter to anyone, the odds of it getting past the Fourth string secretary, slim to none.
Not so sure about that part.
Before Reagan even kicked off his run (which everyone knew he was going to do), he was rounding up endorsements and building a grassroots campaign.
He (and republicans today should learn from this, its amazing how a lesson from several decades ago can be forgotten) was working on building from the bottom up, from local congressional seats, and local races up to governors and senators. Reagan understood that the future starts out at the bottom and rises up, and he did his best to cultivate it (in large part because the establishment had a stranglehold on so many higher ups in the party).
I'm not saying anything regarding Newt, but its very possible that Reagan and his staff may not only have read this, but spoken to Newt and numerous other politicians either in office or running for office at that time.