There are political insiders and then there’s Ken Khachigian. A longtime aide to President Richard Nixon and a chief speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan, Khachigian was right there for some pivotal moments in US History. His new book, “Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan & Nixon” (Post Hill Press, July 23), gives readers unprecedented access. In this excerpt, he writes about advising Reagan — with input from Nixon — after the Gipper was shot in 1981 and how they cannily used public sympathy to pass key legislation.
With Reagan in home rehab after the assassination attempt, the White House planning began for a dramatic return and major address to a joint session of Congress. It was no secret; we were going to exploit all his heroic national goodwill to sell this economic plan.
***
I returned a call from Nixon, and he offered wide-ranging advice. “Ken, on the economy, don’t go to the well too often, and don’t worry about minor GOP defections,” he advised.
As for Reagan’s health, “I’ll be quite direct. It’s hard to come back from an operation. Don’t waste the asset [public sympathy]. On the first time out, don’t give a dull, major speech.”
Nixon’s value was always bringing in historical perspective — in this case, going back to the days after President Eisenhower’s stroke in 1957.
“They counted all his slips of tongue,” he recalled. “So, Reagan might say, ‘I hear a lot of questions these days: Regarding the state of my health; the state of my health is excellent. The state of the union is good. The state of the economy is bad. So now is the time for cutting back on taxes.’”
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The next day, Reagan waved me into the residence’s Yellow Oval Room with a beaming smile to talk with chief of staff James Baker and counsellor Edwin Meese regarding the speech to Congress.
Wearing slacks, slippers and a red sweater, the President appeared to have gained back much of his strength. Despite a raspy voice, he looked terrific and was in a jovial mood and boasted of a four-pound weight gain.
I came prepared and started sharing my notes. He stopped me halfway through and said, “Well, I don’t know. Maybe while I’m up there, I want to know what you think of my doing this?” He grabbed his chest, began coughing, and pushed his head down on the table. “I just thought about perhaps I could do the death scene from Camille.”
For a just a second, the three of us almost took the leader of the free world seriously. We finally joined in laughter at his perfect mimicking of Greta Garbo’s famous 1936 film performance.
He had already prepared a one-page opening to address the assassination attempt and read it aloud. Our aim was to use the speech as leverage to get his tax and economic package through Congress, but Reagan knew it would be insulting without first citing the bravery of March 30’s law enforcement officers, along with a renunciation of any notion that it was a sick society that defined that fateful day.
“But listen, Ken. Once I’ve finished that discussion, I’m going to want to talk directly to Congress, and go over their heads to the American people about cutting their taxes, cutting inflation, and curing the economy. I want this speech to cover both aspects—taxes and spending. I want to talk about both aspects … taxes and spending. And let them know that I’m not going to talk long.
“Somewhere in there, I would like my words directed straight to the American people: ‘I believe you want this program, and I believe you want Congress to work with me to bring it about.’”
Looking up to ensure we clearly understood, he added, “I want them to say at the end that I didn’t exploit the shootings, so let’s keep it a pretty straight message.”
That would be a neat trick. The entire premise of going to Congress was to take advantage of national amity to boost his policy goals.
Eight days later, the prez headed for Camp David but called me to check on economic data. We continued working best one-on-one, though senior staff wanted to hover over this speech. However, I was open to factual changes or legislative policy considerations only. I then turned to my good friend Anne Higgins in the Correspondence Unit and asked her to search for children’s letters sent during Reagan’s recuperation. I wanted to find a nugget to insert that would lighten up the evening and loosen up the glum Democrats who would otherwise sit on their butts and coldly receive his economic message.
Anne produced several letters, but one topped them all. It was handwritten by Peter Sweeney, a second-grader from the Riverside School in Rockville Centre, New York:
I hope you get well quick or you might have to make a speech in your pajamas.
P.S. If you have to make a speech in your pajamas, I warned you.
It was perfect. Now, I only had to find a way to convince the president to use it.
A few days later, I had my last shot in the Oval Office to get Reagan to put Peter Sweeney’s letter in the final reading copy. With only a few private moments before leaving, I said, “Mr. President, you might want to think about using this tonight.”
Reagan gave it a quick read, chuckled, and handed it back.
Damn, I thought, he won’t use it. I did some quick thinking about a “court of appeal” and handed it back to him.
“Why don’t you show it to Mrs. Reagan; I think she’d like to see it,” I said. He looked it over again, and said, “I have an idea,” and put the letter in his coat pocket.
I successfully sowed a seed for the showman.
Seated in the House gallery on the night of April 28, 1981, I saw no reference in the advance text to the kid from Rockville Centre. Reagan got to the part of the speech about hearing from “millions of compassionate Americans and their children, from college age to kindergarten,” and saw his opening.
“As a matter of fact, as evidence of that, I have a letter with me.” He reached into his breast pocket and smoothly pulled it out. With perfect timing after the first howls of laughter and applause, he read young Sweeney’s postscript. He had all but the most jaded of partisans in the palm of his hand.
After a review of the dismal economy facing America, the president continued: Our government is too big, and it spends too much …
The answer to a government that’s too big is to stop feeding its growth. Government spending has been growing faster than the economy itself. The massive national debt which we accumulated is the result of the government’s high spending diet. Well, it’s time to change the diet and to change it in the right way …The old and comfortable way is to shave a little here and add a little there. Well, that’s not acceptable anymore. I think this great and historic Congress knows that way is no longer acceptable.
At that last line, the forty-plus “blue dog” conservative Democrats started leading the applause and then got up along with the Republicans, cheering and whistling at Reagan’s attack on big government.
Tip O’Neill saw the rebellion in his ranks, and turned to Vice President Bush sitting next to him and said,“Here’s your forty votes.”
Taken from Behind Closed Doors: In the Room Reagan & Nixon, by Ken Khachigian. Excerpt reprinted courtesy of Post Hill Press.”
