Richard Nixon helped Ronald Reagan push through tax cuts

There are political insiders, and then there’s Ken Khachigian. A longtime adviser to President Richard Nixon and chief speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan, Khachigian was present at some of the defining moments in U.S. history. His new book, “Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan & Nixon” (Post Hill Press, July 23), offers readers unprecedented access. In this excerpt, he writes about advising Reagan – with input from Nixon – after the Gipper’s shooting in 1981 and how they skillfully used public sympathy to get important legislation passed.

While Reagan was in post-assassination rehabilitation at home, preparations began for a dramatic return and a major speech to Congress. It was no secret: We would use all of his heroic national goodwill to sell this economic plan.

***
I called Nixon back and he gave me some sweeping advice. “Ken, on the economy, don’t go to the source too often and don’t worry about minor defections from the Republican Party,” he advised.

As for Reagan’s health, I’ll be very direct. It’s hard to recover from surgery. Don’t waste the capital (public sympathy). Don’t give a boring, big speech the first time.”

Nixon’s value has always been in bringing a historical perspective – in this case going back to the period after President Eisenhower’s stroke in 1957.

“They counted all his slips of the tongue,” he recalled. “So Reagan said, ‘I’ve been hearing a lot of questions lately about my health. My health is excellent. The state of the Union is good. The state of the economy is bad. So now is the time to cut taxes.'”

***

The next day, with a beaming smile, Reagan beckoned me into the Yellow Oval Room of the residence to discuss the speech to Congress with Chief of Staff James Baker and adviser Edwin Meese.

Dressed in long pants, slippers and a red sweater, the president seemed to have regained his strength. Despite his scratchy voice, he looked great, was in good spirits and boasted of having gained two kilos.

I came prepared and started sharing my notes. He stopped me halfway and said, “Well, I don’t know. Maybe while I’m up there, I’d like to know what you think about me doing this?” He clutched his chest, started coughing, and pressed his head down on the table. “I was just thinking about maybe doing the death scene from Camille.”

For a brief moment, the three of us almost took the leader of the free world seriously. Eventually, we laughed together at his perfect imitation of Greta Garbo’s famous 1936 film performance.

He had already prepared a one-page introduction to the assassination and read it aloud. Our goal was to use the speech as leverage to get his tax and economic package through Congress, but Reagan knew it would be insulting if he did not first mention the bravery of the police officers on March 30 and dismiss the notion that that fateful day was marked by a sick society.

“But listen, Ken. When I’m done with this discussion, I’m going to go straight to Congress and talk over the heads of the American people about cutting taxes, fighting inflation, and fixing the economy. I want to cover both sides in this speech – taxes and spending. I want to talk about both sides… taxes and spending. And let them know that I’m not going to talk for long.

“Somewhere along the line, I want to say my words directly to the American people: ‘I believe you want this program, and I believe you want Congress to work with me to make it happen.'”

He looked up to make sure we had understood everything correctly and added, “I want them to say at the end that I did not take advantage of the shootings. So let’s get a pretty clear message across.”

That would be a clever trick. The whole reason he went to Congress was to exploit national unity to advance his political goals.

Eight days later, the President left for Camp David but called me to review the economic data. We continued to work best in private, although senior staff wanted to keep an eye on this speech. But I was open only to substantive changes or considerations of legislative policy. Then I turned to my good friend Anne Higgins in the correspondence department and asked her to look for letters from children that had been sent during Reagan’s convalescence. I wanted to find a little nugget that would lighten the evening and cheer up the dejected Democrats who would otherwise sit idly by and take his economic message coolly.

Anne wrote several letters, but one surpassed them all. It was handwritten by Peter Sweeney, a second-grader at Riverside School in Rockville Centre, New York:

I hope you get well soon, otherwise you may have to give a speech in pajamas.

PS If you have to give a speech in your pajamas, warned you.

It was perfect. Now I just had to find a way to convince the President to use it.

A few days later, in the Oval Office, I had my last chance to get Reagan to include Peter Sweeney’s letter in the final reading copy. With only a few private moments left before I left, I said, “Mr. President, you might want to think about using this tonight.”

Reagan read it quickly, giggled, and handed it back.

Damn, I thought, he’s not going to use it. I thought briefly about an “appeal court” and gave it back to him.

“Why don’t you show it to Mrs. Reagan? I think she would like to see it,” I said. He looked at it again, said, “I have an idea,” and put the letter in his coat pocket.

I managed to sow the seed for the showman.

Sitting in the House gallery on the evening of April 28, 1981, I saw no mention of the boy from Rockville Centre in the pre-speech text. Reagan got to the part of the speech where he heard from “millions of compassionate Americans and their children, from college to kindergarten age,” and saw his chance.

“I have a letter with me as proof of that.” He reached into his breast pocket and carefully pulled it out. At the perfect moment, after the first laughter and applause, he read young Sweeney’s postscript. He had all but the most hardened supporters in his hand.

After analyzing America’s dire economic situation, the President continued: “Our government is too big and spends too much…”

The answer to too big a government is to stop encouraging its growth. Government spending has grown faster than the economy itself. The enormous national debt we have accumulated is the result of the government’s high spending diet. Well, it’s time to change the diet and change it the right way…The old and comfortable method is to cut a little here and add a little there. Well, that is no longer acceptable. I think this great and historic Congress knows that that method is no longer acceptable.

At this last line, the more than forty conservative Democrats applauded, then rose along with the Republicans, cheering and booing Reagan’s attack on the state.

Tip O’Neill noticed the rebellion in his ranks, turned to Vice President Bush, who was sitting next to him, and said: “Here are your forty votes.”

Taken by Behind closed doors: In the Reagan & Nixon roomby Ken Khachigian. Excerpt reprinted with permission from Post Hill Press.”