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CHAPTER 1
WAR & CONSCIENCE
Clyde Beane
"Reagan was a visionary." "He was the commander." "You have the commander who makes the decisions — and you have the subordinates who do a lot of the studying of different matters and bring them to the commander to decide upon."
"He was very good at delegating." "He generated TRUST in the American people!"
Beane had always been interested in writing, even back in junior high school, writing for the school paper in Little Rock Arkansas. He worked as an intern for the NBC radio affiliate in his hometown, moved to Los Angeles. became a disc-jockey for radio station KUTE, read the UPI wire service reports, re-wrote and delivered some of those into newscasts, later went to work for UPI, moved over to CNS, the local L.A. wire service — then had a stint in the news departments of each of the Big Three T.V. networks in L.A. — (No 24 hr. cable news back then) — always with an interest in politics.
Beane ended up as a reporter for the Santa Ana Register Newspaper, now the Orange County Register. When in January of 1966, after spending three months of the previous year visiting and talking with Spencer-Roberts ("We had some spirited, lively conversations.") and expressing his interest in working for Ronald Reagan, he was hired with the caveat that he would be working in the Press Relations Department for the newly appointed Press Director, Lyn Nofziger.
Clyde Beane and I worked out of the same steaming-hot, dusty and, with the leaky roof and an occasional rain storm, musty old building we called the Headquarters, in the Miracle Mile section of the Wilshire District of L.A. At one time the shopping hub of West Central L.A. on the main thoroughfare that leads to the La Brea Tar Pits, Beverly Hills, Westwood and the Pacific Ocean.
It was spacious, available, suffered from functional obsolescence, but was highly visible and close to the Spencer-Roberts' offices.
In the interview with Beane, I reminded him of several key people who worked alongside us and in neighboring offices of the H.Q., every day, such as one of the most serious, focused and brilliant of them all, long-time Southern California business leader, almost a father-figure to RR; well known auto dealer and key member of the Kitchen Cabinet, Holmes Tuttle. His personal conversations with me, many times, were conducted while I stood at the entrance to the office he shared with respected L.A. banker, Ed Mills.
Mr. Tuttle would be standing over his long desks and tables pushed together to accommodate his spreadsheets showing donations and outgo for the campaign or, more than likely, actually on his knees on the floor with piles and piles of — checks — which had come in from citizens all over everywhere, who wanted to make some contribution to Reagan's spirited campaign to unseat the Democrat kingpin of the powerful political machine controlling California, Governor Pat Brown. I asked Beane if he remembered some of these vignettes. "No!" Beane, however, did offer this comment, "I noted that the Kitchen Cabinet, as they were called, showed great respect for and deference to Lyn Nofziger. I noticed that they were anxious to get his opinion — his 'take' on things — and really had towering respect for him, which didn't surprise me — but it sure was noticeable!"
Actually, Clyde didn't focus on anything, other than his tasks and job at hand, rather than the bigger picture. Over and over again I would ask him if he remembered something so obvious to anyone working in that venue or with those people, that it would be nearly impossible not to see or to ignore, certain blatant characteristics, idiosyncrasies or features of the volunteers, the staffers, the jobs various individuals were doing — or the surroundings — but Clyde was oblivious to outside forces of any kind, unless they affected the candidate or were generated by the candidate! We're not talking about dementia here — that is just Beane's focused nature — and something Lyn Nofziger, Stu Spencer and Bill Roberts, under the ever-watchful eyes of Nancy Reagan, insisted on from everyone;
TOTAL DEDICATION!
* * *
I asked Clyde if he remembered the first time he met Ronald Reagan.
He nearly shouted, which was not the norm for a quiet, keep-to-himself-kind of guy like Clyde, "Yes, Yes!" "That was in 1964. I was working as a press representative for the California Goldwater for President Campaign Committee. Their State Headquarters was in Westwood, near UCLA. Reagan was sharing an office with his campaign co-Chair, banker M. Philip Davis in an upstairs office and I was shown in to meet Mr. Davis and, of course, I was especially excited about meeting Ronald Reagan. "I remember — it was a perfunctory handshake — I thought he seemed kind of tentative — and I always have felt that RR had this certain reserve about him — nothing like the exaggerations that 'He was not enigmatic in the least'— like he's portrayed in that terrible, so-called biography, DUTCH, by Edmund Morris — but he did have his reserve and I always observed that."
"I think that's just what I was seeing for the first time — was this certain reserve that he had. It wasn't that he didn't shake hands cordially and smile — but I mean — one time when we were in the Governor's Office in Sacramento — he slapped me on the back, real big — I NEVER saw him slap anybody else on the back or do very much of that kind of thing. He was with a group of dignitaries — all suits — and I was just walking down a corridor there in the Executive Office suite and ran into him — I was absolutely startled when he slapped me on the back and said, "Well Clyde, How have you been?" And some other similar questions. He didn't usually do that."
How did you feel about that? I asked Clyde.
"Oh, I felt exultant — jubilant — you know — Great! Great!!! I felt great being asked about that, by the governor, in the presence of his guests and — he really was very warm — (he rarely forgot a staffer's or guest's name) — you know he could be very warm when he wanted to be; and he was! I think I just came along at the right time," he said and laughed. "He must have just cemented the deal that made him feel good or something — then here I came — not that we didn't get along fine — he always seemed to have a warm feeling towards me, which I appreciated. But that was the warmest he ever was." Clyde then laughed almost wistfully, pensively. "I enjoyed that."
* * *
"When I first met him in Goldwater's campaign, at the Westwood offices, in 1964, I was the new guy on the staff and was being introduced around, starting with upstairs."
I asked if he had been involved when Reagan spoke at the Ambassador Hotel and gave his famous speech, A TIME FOR CHOOSING — The Speech?
"Oh no!" "I watched it on T.V. and was enthralled — it was a marvelous speech, but I had nothing to do with that. You remember he had changed political parties from Demo to Republican — he officially switched parties. He was a new Republican. Now, instead of traveling in Democratic circles — he was traveling in Republican circles — and this was his first 'dip of the toe' into the waters of Republican politics and he was, I thought, very deferential to Mr. Davis."
"He was just showing that he was a loyal Republican and could be a good soldier — he sort of stepped aside in favor of Mr. Davis."
"I had wondered about you Curtis (the history) How they, the Reagans would rely on you, what you were like and how affable, energetic and vigorous you were — that — I remember — stands out very well — you're almost the same Curtis Patrick I knew back then!"
After a summer of telephone calls and two interviews.
* * *
Clyde created a number of White Papers (issue papers) for Ronald Reagan, including one on the Vietnam War, which caused Clyde such heartburn and upset that he said he was "forced to quit the job I loved more than any I had ever had and leave the man, who, more than anyone else, I felt would eventually be President of the United States."
Clyde also prepared the White Paper on The Degradation & Protection of Lake Tahoe and helped Nofziger build a bridge with Nevada Governor Paul Laxalt, who later became Reagan's most celebrated "best friend," when the two governors's helped create the original Tahoe Compact, later to become the T.R.P.A. for the preservation of Lake Tahoe's pristine environment.
* * *
I asked Clyde, 'When you met RR — had you conceived, in your own mind, certain ways you thought he was — which had been promoted by the working press — and were they dispelled when you finally got to know him?'
Clyde replied, "Oh, I never fell for that stuff! I always thought it was a lot of malarkey."
"The press was uniformly — about 90% of the "working press"— all of these decades I have been working in it — were and are liberal Democrats. At least some of them — beyond that! Oh, it's true! It's been verified. There have been surveys to prove it, one by a Washington group — and you can't work anywhere in the business without noticing it! I guess Goldwater was their number one favorite target and Ronald Reagan was right behind!"
* * *
"Speaking of Reagan's problems — I thought he was often misunderstood — even by members of his own staff. I can remember there were people on the staff who wanted to push him more. As a matter of fact it involved scheduling — so you were probably right in the middle of this — and he would resist adding items to the schedule — and was covetous or judicious with his time. He wanted to have his own time. And there were those who said very bitter things about him — like he didn't have a right to manage a little of his own time — and I always felt sympathetic towards him on that. I wanted him to do the best he could for the campaign — but I was pretty sure he wanted to do the best he could, as well."
Certainly some staff members misunderstood Nancy's concerns.
Some of Clyde Beane's remarks Re: Nancy Reagan, and the author's explanation of events surrounding the early days in Sacramento, are found in the Introduction, and bear repeating here.
"For a time there, during the first few weeks of the campaign in 1966, Nancy was calling me — every day — to discuss RR's schedule and talk about various aspects of the campaign, especially dealing with the press. Finally, Lyn found out she was calling and quickly put a stop to that — having the calls channeled to someone else."
Actually — during the first few months of the campaign — Nancy got shuffled around a bit from Dave Tomshany, to Clyde Beane, to Bill Roberts, George Young, Phil Battaglia, later to Sandy Quinn and, whenever she had specific requests for the Advance Team — to me. If someone on the staff could not satisfy Mrs. Reagan with fully accurate answers, or the right answers — if they were equivocating or 'waffling'— she went elsewhere to get those answers; making a check-mark in her mental notebook next to the perpetrator's name.
Any staffer wove a circuitous path through the minefield of campaign foul-ups and infractions. Nancy also imposed her own guidelines on the staff — into the schedules — to see that RR was allowed time for rest — (good thing) — meal breaks, telephone time to call N.R. and close friends and supporters — and — Rule No. 2. — that the day's events and activities would end, with the proper driving time and flying time factored in, to allow the candidate to be home on time, in his 'jammies' and robe, and ready for bed at eight o'clock each night! Rule No.1 — Home by 5:00 P.M.!
Many people were afraid of her! Her terse speaking style, her quest for information, her 'boring-in' for additional details on any given subject, her total commitment to the well-being of Ronald Reagan.
Nancy's 'rules' just frightened a lot of folks away, who felt they could only get into trouble by giving her information and then never having it be enough, or the most accurate — due to someone relying on misinformation and then passing it on to her, or some glitch — which made the speech, reception, event or meeting turn out differently than originally planned.
There wasn't a lot of tolerance or room for the unforeseen.
A few of us realized that Nancy was the best thing RR had going for him and that we had better let her know that we felt the same way she did. That was: If we did not guard the The Man's precious time so that he could do what he did best — reading, studying, writing, editing, speaking to the public, and later, governing — the entire effort could be lost. The foul-ups that occur in so many campaigns, due to inflated egos, hurt feelings and NOT placing the interests of the candidate FIRST — not to mention the normal nightmare of logistical problems — would take over, and be pervasive and relentless — causing disarray, backbiting and the same type of disaster that befell the Pat Brown for Re-election Campaign; constant infighting among the top staffers. (So accurately expressed in Matthew Dalleck's book, THE RIGHT MOMENT) That NEVER happened to Reagan!
"When Ron became governor his time was even more tightly scheduled. I remember there was grumbling about him leaving at 5 o'clock in the evening, which was certainly true — especially when he had to prepare for a dinner, reception, speech or some other evening event," Clyde recalled.
"You know how he worked."
"He always worked to keep the big picture in view. He thought that was his job — the big picture — and making the big decisions. He didn't want to get swallowed up in minutiae."
"He kept his eye on the ball!"
Reagan kept his eye on the prize. I asked Clyde if he felt that RR did not want to get embroiled in details.
"Oh Yeah!" He didn't want to do that. He knew he could get lost in details and it would only confuse him."
"He wanted it distilled down — by people on the staff whom he trusted — then he would make his decision."
Clyde ruminated on his personal feelings about Reagan's accomplishments and the steps he took during his years as governor which might have laid the groundwork for his ability to be a better president.
"Well — he employed this system." "It was widely bandied about in the press and talked about somewhat by the staff — that he used the Staff System.
More or less the military approach — where you have the commander, who makes the decisions — and you have the subordinates who do a lot of studying of different matters and bring them to the commander to decide upon. In other words, delegating; he was very good at delegating."
I asked Clyde from his knowledge, position and perspective — how he felt RR did in his gubernatorial years, when he, Clyde, was there, that made him feel Reagan could be presidential material?
Clyde Beane watched Reagan position himself, with help from his supporters and those close to him in Sacramento, to run for president and make himself available through various state authorized committees preparatory to several GOP Conventions, over a decade, beginning with the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach in1968.
"The Governor's Office personnel chart showed Lyn Nofziger as the Communications Director (Press Secretary) and there were three assistant press secretaries, of which I was one (along with Paul Beck and Nancy Clark Reynolds)."
"I was assigned certain press duties. I was the only one with radio broadcast experience — so whenever it came to taping the press conferences or sending out excerpts (actualities) — and also speeches, when RR was out of the state — I did them — same as it had been during the campaign — I'd get excerpts from the Carolinas — phoned in." "I had to work at night — to be there — because when he had made a speech at night (three hours earlier than our time) — and we wanted to have the excerpts available for newscast — that night — and that was all part of it."
"A little bit of a sub-rosa drive for RR to get the presidential nomination." "In the meantime, I was given other duties — you could call it Issues Research or just plain Research. Early-on, Lyn wanted to find out how you run as a "Favorite Son Candidate" on the California ballot — and he wanted the official word."
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Reagan"
by .
Copyright © 2013 Curtis Patrick.
Excerpted by permission of Morgan James Publishing.
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