Ronnie and Nancy_ Their Path to the White House - Bob Colacello [211]
“We went to a party at the Beverly Wilshire and I was sitting next to Holmes. He said, ‘I want to drop by and see Earle tomorrow.’ He started telling me about how Ronnie would make a good governor, and he felt Nancy could be a good help to him. He said, ‘I want Earle to give me $25,000.’ In those days that was a lot of money. But I said, ‘Sure, Earle will The Kitchen Cabinet: 1963–1966
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give it to you.’ When I got in the car, I said, ‘Earle, I committed you for $25,000.’ He said, ‘You did what?’ I said, ‘Yes, because I knew you would want to. You always do anything Holmes asks you to do.’ So he did. And that’s how he got there with Holmes, Jack Hume, Henry Salvatori, and Cy Rubel.”107
Late that spring Reagan hit the road, literally. “They had a hell of a time getting him to go on a plane in 1965,” Robert Tuttle recalled.108 All summer and fall Reagan drove around the state, building grassroots support by giving speeches to local chapters of the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and the United Way. Nancy accompanied him only occasionally during this period and found campaigning daunting at first. As she recalled in My Turn, “We went to a reception for Ronnie at one of the big hotels in San Francisco, where so many people wanted to meet him, that they were lined up through the lobby, and around the block, waiting to get in. This was my introduction to politics, and when I woke up the next morning I couldn’t move my neck. We called a doctor, who explained that when people are nervous, they tend to raise their shoulders—which I had apparently done for four hours. That, plus standing in an unnatural position with my arm extended, shaking hands, had sent me into a spasm.
When I came home, a friend put me in touch with a Swedish woman, who put me in hot packs, massaged my neck, and used traction. Ever since, I’ve kept my shoulders down in a receiving line.”109
“Politically, they were both green as hell in 1965,” said Stu Spencer.
“She didn’t know what she was getting into, I don’t think. But it turned out Nancy was born a politician. They were a team. People have got to recognize that. We never held a meeting in the house with Ron and discussed strategic matters—which we did a lot of—that she wasn’t present. Listening. And, as time went on, asking questions. The tough questions. She was on a learning curve of the political process. She would double-check with others. She’s a great phone person—talking to her friends out there, getting a lot of feedback, some of it valid, some it off-the-wall. I’d talk to her every day, or one of us from the campaign did—and I could always tell that night that she had talked to five people on the telephone. I’m talking about the 1960s, but this was true all the way through the process. Her political skills were better, in terms of what was best for Ron, than even his own. His skills were in the communications aspect and the beliefs and ideology. She was the personnel director of the Reagan operation, so to speak. She wanted to know who was going to be around Ron and who they were. She made a lot 3 4 0
Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House of decisions about people coming and people leaving. She was right 90 percent of the time. Her instincts were good. She knew what worked well with him. I’ve always said he’d never have made it without her.”110
The Reagan road show was a huge success. Spencer-Roberts cast its client as the Citizen Politician, and he played the role to the hilt. Despite initial concern on the part of his handlers and the Kitchen Cabinet, Reagan insisted on following his talks with a question-and-answer period to show that he could think on his feet, not just memorize scripts. Constantly asked about the John Birch Society, he came up with an answer that had managed to elude Nixon and Goldwater: the former had denounced the Birchers and narrowly lost in 1962 as conservative Republicans sat on their hands; the latter had refused to denounce the society and had it hung around his neck like an albatross by the Democrats. Reagan said again and again and again,