“I could just feel how it comforted her. It grounded her”: Wick, author interview, July 13, 2017.
“It’s Saturday… How are you going to get your car repaired?”: Revell, author interview, June 3, 2019.
“I had all these books… It’s a part of life”: Kenworthy, author interview, May 24, 2018.
INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Page numbers beginning with 589 refer to notes.
1619 Project, the, 104–5, 107–11, 194
9/11, 35, 41, 115–16, 147, 200
Aaron, Benjamin, 274
Abernathy, Ralph, 228
abortion rights, 41–42, 208, 301–2
NR on, 167, 195, 302
RR’s signing of law on, 150–51, 167
Abshire, David:
administration overhaul urged by, 482–83
on need to restore presidential credibility, 481
NR’s alliance with, 480–84, 486, 490
on NR’s role in rescuing Reagan presidency from Iran-contra, 494
on possible effect of Alzheimer’s on RR’s job performance, 534
on RR’s Iran-contra speech, 489–90
as special counsel for Iran-contra investigation, 480–84
Academy Awards, 1981 delay of, 279–80
Afghanistan, Soviet invasion of, 435, 436
Aga Khan IV, 448
Agnew, Spiro, 180, 182
Agriculture Department, US, school lunch subsidies cut by, 259–60
Ahearn, Rick, 561
AIDS/HIV, 411–32
conservatives’ view of, 418, 420, 421, 422–23, 426
government spending on, 418, 419, 425
Hudson’s contracting and acknowledgement of, 415–18
intravenous drug users and, 411
Koop report on, 419–20
NR’s increasing awareness of seriousness of, 415
public ignorance about, 414
Reagan administration’s downplaying of, 412, 414, 418, 421, 429, 432
RR’s amfAR speech on, 421–25
RR’s presidential commission on, 425–26, 428, 429
seen as confined to homosexuals, 411, 414
transfusion recipients infected with, 424–25, 427
Ailes, Roger, 383
Ainslie, Michael, 267
Albritton Communications, 546
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Bureau, in war on drugs, 321
Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, 262
Alicoate, Jack, 21
Allen, Richard V., 235, 275, 292, 439, 443, 541
NR’s role in ousting of, 263, 304
RR’s failure to recognize, 538
Allentuck, Max, NR dated by, 65
Al-Shiraa, 466
Altman, Lawrence K., 533
Alzheimer’s disease, 6, 112, 373–74, 532
of Edie, 25, 334–35, 404
of RR, seeReagan, Ronald, Alzheimer’s disease of
American Brotherhood, 45
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 324
American Express, Ron’s ad for, 358
American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), RR’s speech to, 421–25
American Independent Party, 236
Anderson, Annelise, 569
Anderson, John B., in 1980 presidential bid, 213, 216, 217, 221, 231–32
Anderson, Martin, 210, 221, 227, 323, 524, 525, 569
RR’s failure to recognize, 538
Andropov, Yuri, 438, 441
And the Band Played On (Shilts), 417
Angelo, Bonnie, 193, 195, 196
Angola, 435
Annals of Internal Medicine, 412
Annenberg, Lenore, 132, 237, 250, 539
Annenberg, Walter, 132, 237, 250, 254, 519
antidrug crusade, of NR, 395, 463, 500
as antidote to NR’s image problem, 319, 323–24, 325
Califano on, 330
doubts about effectiveness of, 330
drug abuse “summits” in, 326
“Just Say No” slogan of, 329–30
media coverage of, 325–26
media’s positive response to, 380
NR’s deeply felt commitment to, 319, 326, 499
NR’s UN speech in, 326–27
party-line response to, 327
and Phoenix House Center cancellation, 519
prescription medication abuse downplayed in, 321
RR’s social program cuts contrasted with, 321, 328–29
RR’s support for, 465
Turner as NR’s ally in, 322–24, 329
visit to Straight Inc. facility in, 324
antinuclear movement, Patti’s activism in, 370
antiwar protests, 138, 151
Apple, R. W., Jr., 188, 493
Architectural Digest, 255
Ariel Project, 431
Army Air Corps, RR in, 89–90
Asher, Jerry, 88
Ashley, Lady Sylvia, 73
Associated Press, NR’s speech to, 498–99
Astor, Brooke, 240
astrology:
Hollywood reliance on, 110–11, 343
Reagans’ reliance on, 110, 143, 207, 341–42, 345, 346–54, 508
Atlantic Monthly,263–64
Baker, Howard, 213, 215–16, 217, 221, 275
NR’s relationship with, 497
NR’s support for, 488
Regan replaced as White House chief of staff by, 487–88, 491, 496–97
Baker, James A., 5, 253, 257, 274, 311, 348, 351, 443, 444–45, 506, 554, 577
appointed White House chief of staff, 234
and assassination attempt, 272
blamed for 1984 debate debacle, 381–82
on Bush as vice president, 312
in departure from Treasury to work for Bush campaign, 511–12
in move to Treasury department, 385, 388
1982 tax hike supported by, 300–301
as NR ally, 234, 300, 301, 302
and NR’s habit of “borrowing” designer dresses, 316
in power-sharing troika with Deaver and Meese, 235, 300, 387
in RR’s 1980 campaign, 232
Baldrige, Letitia, 243, 333, 523
Barletta, John, 550–51
Barnett, Etta Moten, 35–36
Barry, Marion, 256
Bassuk, Adrienne, 202–3
Battaglia, Phil, 171
fired as California chief of staff, 156–58
lobbying business of, 158
Bauer, Gary, 425
Baumgold, Julie, 231
Bay of Pigs invasion, 493
Beach Boys, 304
Beahrs, Oliver, 401
Beale, Betty, 363
Beatty, Warren, 555
Beckwith, David, 488
Begin, Menachem, 290
Behind the Scenes (Deaver), 506
Bennett, Doug, 185
Bennett, William J., 421
Benny, Jack, 164
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, RR’s speech at, 393, 395
Berle, Adolf, 565
Berlin Wall, RR’s “tear down this wall” declaration at, 456, 516–17
Bernstein, Robert L., 408
Bethesda Naval Hospital, 396
Betty and Bob (radio show), 44, 50
Beyette, Beverly, 19
Birney, Frank:
NR dated by, 56–57
suicide of, 57
Bitburg, Germany, military cemetery:
RR’s visit to, 390–91
Waffen SS graves at, 391
Black, Charles, 211, 220
Black Women Oral History Project, 35
Blair House, 244
Blees, Robert, 110
Bloody Thursday, 151
Bloomingdale, Alfred, 132, 163, 237, 334
Bloomingdale, Betsy, 146, 163, 237, 317, 334, 347, 573
NR’s close friendship with, 132–33
at NR’s funeral, 577
Bohemian Grove, 538
Bolshoi Theatre, 462
Bonanza (TV show), 125
Bond, Rich, 538
Boorstin, Daniel J., 407
Boston Globe, 87, 380, 495
Boys Town, NR’s speech at, 16–17
Bradlee, Ben, 241
Brady, James, 227
shooting of, 272–73, 274
Brady, Sarah, 273–74, 279
“Brains Can’t Hurt You” (NR magazine article), 100
Brandon, Muffie, 317
NR’s image as priority of, 333
Smith honorary degree for NR broached by, 327–28
Breen, Jon, 217
Breen, Joseph, 97
Brezhnev, Leonid:
death of, 438, 440
RR’s letter to, 436–37
Briggs, John, 209
Brinkley, Anne, 571
Brinkley, David, 540
Brinkley, Douglas:
NR’s relationship with, 570–71
on RR’s Alzheimer’s disease, 536
RR’s diaries edited by, 570–72
Brokaw, Tom, 555, 577
Brother Rat (film), 87
Brown, Edmund G. “Pat,” 143, 154, 163
in California gubernatorial loss to RR, 141–42, 164
Brown, Jerry:
1974 election victory of, 170
old Governor’s Mansion renovated by, 165–66
Brown v. Board of Education, 328
Buchanan, Patrick J., 393, 396, 422, 538
as arch-conservative, 478
NR’s demand for firing of, 478–79
Buckley, Patricia, 130, 200
Buckley, William F., Jr., 200, 418
NR’s correspondence with, 130, 137–38
Reagans’ friendship with, 130
Buckley, William Francis, kidnapping of, 400
Busch, Cathy, 531
Bush, Barbara, 233, 267, 457, 524
mutual antipathy of NR and, 311–14, 511, 512, 513, 514, 539–40
NR’s insecurities triggered by, 312–13
on NR’s rivalry with Raisa Gorbachev, 459
Bush, George H. W., 188, 232, 462, 486, 518
and assassination attempt, 274
and Bitburg cemetery controversy, 392
inauguration of, 513–14
in 1980 presidential bid, 203–4, 213, 215, 217, 311
in 1988
