Free Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Changed America by Craig Shirley

universally loved while in office is just one of many myths that have surrounded him. One widely accepted in political circles in the late 1970s was that Reagan was lazy. This myth was best dispelled by an aide who said, “He isn't lazy. He just doesn't like to hang around the office.” 41

    The laziness idea has largely faded, but other myths, large and small, still abound.

    One of the more popular is that Reagan changed the inaugural ceremony from the East front to the West front of the U.S. Capitol. In fact, that decision had been made months earlier by the congressional committee with the oversight for one simple reason: to save money. Carter's inaugural stand in 1977 cost $825,000, but because the West front could accommodate so many more without costly temporary construction, Reagan's inaugural stand in 1981 cost only $463,000. The East front of the Capitol had been used by every president starting with Andrew Jackson in 1829. 42

    Another myth is that Reagan and Tip O'Neill were great friends. O'Neill in his autobiography revealed his low opinion of Reagan, saying it was “sinful” that he'd become president and that Reagan was the worst president O'Neill had ever known. 43 To the House Speaker's everlasting credit, however, when Reagan was shot, O'Neill quietly slipped into the president's hospital room at George Washington University, got on his knees, held Reagan's hand, and they prayed, reciting the Twenty-third Psalm. O'Neill then kissed Reagan. According to White House aide Max Friedersdorf, the Democrat wept at Reagan's bedside. 44

    It has also become common to conclude that Reagan made the final decision to reject the “co-presidency” in Detroit with Gerald Ford. In fact, both President and Mrs. Reagan wrote in their autobiographies that Ford took himself out of contention. 45 (Nancy Reagan also acknowledged her opposition to Ford.) Of course, we will never know what Reagan and Ford said to each other in private that night they secreted away to try to hash it out one more time. Reagan had clearly grown uncomfortable with any power-sharing arrangement, and it may be that Reagan—the über -negotiator—simply let Ford talk himself out of the idea. That would have allowed Ford to save face while keeping the former president on Reagan's side for the fight ahead against Jimmy Carter. Ford later told NBC that “it might have turned out differently” if they hadn't run up against the deadline Reagan had set. 46

    Those looking to attack the Reagan legacy often seize on a myth about spending and the size of government. According to this line of argument, despite his rhetoric about reducing government, Reagan did nothing to tame spending orunnecessary programs and a result sent federal deficits soaring. In fact, setting aside the very necessary defense buildup after Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter had allowed the military to fall into ruination, discretionary federal spending under Reagan fell 13.5 percent. Government spending as a percentage of gross domestic product also fell under Reagan. Moreover, the number of subsidy programs in the federal budget was cut back after Reagan entered office, dropping from 1,123 in 1980 to 1,013 in 1985. (Such subsidies took their greatest leap under George W. Bush, from 1,425 in 2000 to 1,804 in 2008.) 47 Reagan also used the veto pen more than any president since Eisenhower. 48

    A particularly persistent and pernicious myth holds that Reagan's appearance at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi in the summer of 1980 was part of some nefarious plot to woo white racist voters. Liberal commentator Paul Krugman seized on this point with a nasty insinuation: “[Reagan] began his 1980 campaign with a speech on states' rights at the county fair near Philadelphia, Mississippi, the town where three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964. Everyone got the message.” 49 But even longtime Democratic operative Bob Shrum acknowledges that Reagan didn't know the