Ronald Reagan - The Bonzo Years
1982

1/4/82
Despite being exonerated of any lawbreaking, Richard Allen is forced
to resign. President Reagan hails his integrity, then appoints William
Clark to succeed him.

1/8/82
The White House announces President Reagan has signed off on Ed
Meese's plan to grant tax-exempt status to South Carolina's Bob Jones
University and other schools that, like it, practice racial
discrimination.

1/15/82
President Reagan phones The Washington Post to explain that when his
new policy toward segregated schools was announced, he "didn't know at
the time that there was a legal case pending." CBS quickly obtains a
memo in which intervention in the Bob Jones University case was
specifically requested, and on which Reagan had written, "I think we
should."
Press Secretary Sheila Tate says that Nancy Reagan "has derived no
personal benefit" from her acceptance of thousands of dollars worth of
free clothing from American designers, explaining that the First
Lady's sole motive is to help the national fashion industry. It seems
getting fabulous clothes for free isn't considered a personal benefit.

1/19/82
At his seventh press conference, President Reagan:
· Claims there are "a million more working than there were in 1980,"
though statistics show that 100,000 fewer people are employed.
· Contends his attempt to grant tax-exempt status to segregated
schools was to correct "a procedure that we thought had no basis in
law," though the Supreme Court had clearly upheld a ruling barring
such exemptions a decade earlier.
· Claims he has received a letter from Pope John Paul II in which he
"approves what we've done so far" regarding U.S. Sanctions against the
USSR, though the sanctions were not mentioned in the papal message.
· Responds to a question about the 17% black unemployment rate by
pointing out that "in this time of great unemployment," Sunday's paper
had "24 full pages of ... employers looking for employees," though
most of the jobs available - computer operator, or cellular
immunologist - require special training, for which his administration
has cut funds by over 30%.
· Misstates facts about California's abortion law and an Arizona
program to aid the elderly
· Responds to a question about private charity by observing, "I also
happen to be someone who believes in tithing - the giving of a tenth,"
though his latest tax returns show charitable contributions amounting
to 1.4%.

2/9/82
George Bush denies that he ever used the phrase "voodoo economics" and
challenges "anybody to find it." NBC's Ken Bode promptly broadcasts
the 1980 tape.

2/16/82
"She really just got tired of people misinterpreting what she was
doing." - Aide telling the public that Nancy Reagan will no longer
accept free clothing "on loan" from top designers.

2/24/82
Addressing the Voice of America's 40th Birthday celebration, President
Reagan reminisces about making up exciting details while announcing
baseball games from wire copy. "Now, I submit to you that I told the
truth," he says of his enhanced version of a routine
shortstop-to-first ground out. "i don't know whether he really ran
over toward second base and made a one-hand stab or whether he just
squatted down and took the ball when it came to him. But the truth got
there and, in other words, it can be attractively packages." No one
questions his apparent premise that embellishing the truth does not
compromise it.

2/27/82
The Congressional Budget Office finds that taxpayers earning under
$10,000 lost an average of $240 from last year's tax cuts, while those
earning over $80,000 gained an average of $15,130.

3/1/82
Sen Bob Packwood (R-OR) claims President Reagan frequently offers up
transparent fictional anecdotes as if they were real. "We've got a
$120 billion deficit coming," says Packwood, "and the President says,
'You know, a young man went into a grocery store and he had an orange
in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other, and he paid for the
orange with food stamps and he took the change and paid for the vodka.
That's what's wrong.' And we just shake our heads."

3/16/82
"Is it news that some fellow out in South Succotash someplace has just
been laid off, that he should be interviewed nationwide?" - President
Reagan, complaining about coverage of the nation's economic suffering.

3/24/82
Agriculture official Mary C. Jarratt tells Congress her department has
been unable to document President Reagan's stories of food stamp
abuse, pointing out that the change from a food stamp purchase is
limited to 99 cents. "It's not possible to buy a bottle of vodka with
99 cents" she says. Deputy White House press secretary Peter Roussel
says Reagan wouldn't tell those stories "unless he thought they were
accurate."

4/4/82
2nd Year Slump - Reagan's Popularity Nosedives in a Familiar
Presidential Pattern - The Washington Post

4/15/82
"The statisticians in Washington have funny ways of counting" -
President Reagan's explanation to Illinois high school students as to
why he thinks unemployment has declined in the face of Bureau of Labor
statistics.

"In England, if a criminal carried a gun, even though he didn't use
it, he was not tried for burglary or theft or whatever he was doing.
He was tried for first degree murder and hung if he was found guilty"
- President Reagan citing a favorite example of British law.

4/16/82
"Well, it's a good story, though. It made the point, didn't it?" -
White House spokesman Larry Speakes on being informed that President
Reagan's story about British gun law is "just not true."

5/10/82
President Reagan explains to a Chicago high school why his revised tax
exemption policy could not have been intended to benefit segregated
schools: "I didn't know there were any. Maybe I should have, but I
didn't."

5/13/82
At his 10th press conference, President Reagan states, that while
"there is no recall" for missiles fired from silos, "those that are
carried in bombers, those that are carried in ships of one kind or
another, or submersibles...can be recalled if there has been a
miscalculation."

6/8/82
Secretary of State Al Haig: "Do I think US foreign policy is
inept?...At times it is. At times it's not. At times it's even
brilliant. At times it's rather stupid. It would be very hard for me
to label it."

6/12/82
Regarding the 750,000 supporters who showed up for the largest
disarmament demonstration in US history in Central Park, President
Reagan opines that "the Commies are behind it."

6/25/82
"With great regret, I have accepted the resignation of Secretary of
State Al Haig. I am nominating as his successor - and he has accepted
- George Shultz to replace him." - President Reagan surprising Al
Haig, who had not actually submitted a letter of resignation, but had
threatened to quit numerous times.

8/11/82
President Reagan tells The Time's Hugh Sidey that he sometimes feels
trapped in the White House. "You glance out the window and the people
are walking around Pennsylvania Avenue and you say, 'I could never say
I am going to run down to the drugstore and get some magazines,'" he
says. "I can't do that anymore."

9/4/82
"South Succotash, with its population of nearly 11 million, must be a
considerable place." - AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland on the
unemployment figures.

9/30/82
David L. Reagan (no relation to the President) becomes the first
Marine killed in Lebanon, where President Reagan had committed troops
for an indefinite stay two days before.

10/9/82
Jobless Rate Is Up To 10.1% In Month. Worst In 42 Years. 11 Million
Are Idle - The New York Times

10/19/82
During a White House meeting with Arab leaders, President Reagan turns
to the Lebanese foreign minister. "You know", he says, "your nose
looks just like Danny Thomas's." The Arabs exchange nervous glances.

11/03/82
The GOP loses a net total of 26 House seats, seven governorships, and
six state legislative houses in the mid-term election. "We feel very
good about what has happened," says President Reagan incongruously.
Observes Ed Meese, "There was nothing to suggest a need to change the
basic course.'

11/11/82
"It would be a user fee" - President Reagan explaining why his
proposed five-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax would not be a tax at all.

11/25/82
The White House announces it is considering a proposal (conceived by
Ed Meese) to tax unemployment benefits. This, says Larry Speakes,
would "make unemployment less attractive."

12/04/82
U.S. Jobless Rate Climbs To 10.8%, A Postwar Record. 11.9 Million Out
Of Work - The New York Times

12/09/82
"Sometimes I look out there at Pennsylvania Avenue and see people
bustling along, and it suddenly dawns on me that probably never again
can I just say "Hey, I'm going down to the drugstore to look at the
magazines,'" - President Reagan discussing his feelings of confinement
with a People reporter )

12/16/82
"Sometimes I look out the window at Pennsylvania Avenue and wonder
what it would be like to be able to just walk down the street to the
corner drugstore and look at the magazines. I can't do that anymore."
- President Reagan conveying one of his regrets to The Washington Post

12/18/82
"Sometimes I look out the window at Pennsylvania Avenue and wonder
what it would be like to be able to just walk down the street to the
corner drugstore and look at the magazines. I can't do that anymore."
- President Reagan sharing a sudden thought with a radio interviewer

________________________________________________________

Harry

Ronald Reagan - The Bonzo Years
1982

1/4/82
Despite being exonerated of any lawbreaking, Richard Allen is forced
to resign. President Reagan hails his integrity, then appoints William
Clark to succeed him.

1/8/82
The White House announces President Reagan has signed off on Ed
Meese's plan to grant tax-exempt status to South Carolina's Bob Jones
University and other schools that, like it, practice racial
discrimination.

1/15/82
President Reagan phones The Washington Post to explain that when his
new policy toward segregated schools was announced, he "didn't know at
the time that there was a legal case pending." CBS quickly obtains a
memo in which intervention in the Bob Jones University case was
specifically requested, and on which Reagan had written, "I think we
should."
Press Secretary Sheila Tate says that Nancy Reagan "has derived no
personal benefit" from her acceptance of thousands of dollars worth of
free clothing from American designers, explaining that the First
Lady's sole motive is to help the national fashion industry. It seems
getting fabulous clothes for free isn't considered a personal benefit.

1/19/82
At his seventh press conference, President Reagan:
· Claims there are "a million more working than there were in 1980,"
though statistics show that 100,000 fewer people are employed.
· Contends his attempt to grant tax-exempt status to segregated
schools was to correct "a procedure that we thought had no basis in
law," though the Supreme Court had clearly upheld a ruling barring
such exemptions a decade earlier.
· Claims he has received a letter from Pope John Paul II in which he
"approves what we've done so far" regarding U.S. Sanctions against the
USSR, though the sanctions were not mentioned in the papal message.
· Responds to a question about the 17% black unemployment rate by
pointing out that "in this time of great unemployment," Sunday's paper
had "24 full pages of ... employers looking for employees," though
most of the jobs available - computer operator, or cellular
immunologist - require special training, for which his administration
has cut funds by over 30%.
· Misstates facts about California's abortion law and an Arizona
program to aid the elderly
· Responds to a question about private charity by observing, "I also
happen to be someone who believes in tithing - the giving of a tenth,"
though his latest tax returns show charitable contributions amounting
to 1.4%.

2/9/82
George Bush denies that he ever used the phrase "voodoo economics" and
challenges "anybody to find it." NBC's Ken Bode promptly broadcasts
the 1980 tape.

2/16/82
"She really just got tired of people misinterpreting what she was
doing." - Aide telling the public that Nancy Reagan will no longer
accept free clothing "on loan" from top designers.

2/24/82
Addressing the Voice of America's 40th Birthday celebration, President
Reagan reminisces about making up exciting details while announcing
baseball games from wire copy. "Now, I submit to you that I told the
truth," he says of his enhanced version of a routine
shortstop-to-first ground out. "i don't know whether he really ran
over toward second base and made a one-hand stab or whether he just
squatted down and took the ball when it came to him. But the truth got
there and, in other words, it can be attractively packages." No one
questions his apparent premise that embellishing the truth does not
compromise it.

2/27/82
The Congressional Budget Office finds that taxpayers earning under
$10,000 lost an average of $240 from last year's tax cuts, while those
earning over $80,000 gained an average of $15,130.

3/1/82
Sen Bob Packwood (R-OR) claims President Reagan frequently offers up
transparent fictional anecdotes as if they were real. "We've got a
$120 billion deficit coming," says Packwood, "and the President says,
'You know, a young man went into a grocery store and he had an orange
in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other, and he paid for the
orange with food stamps and he took the change and paid for the vodka.
That's what's wrong.' And we just shake our heads."

3/16/82
"Is it news that some fellow out in South Succotash someplace has just
been laid off, that he should be interviewed nationwide?" - President
Reagan, complaining about coverage of the nation's economic suffering.

3/24/82
Agriculture official Mary C. Jarratt tells Congress her department has
been unable to document President Reagan's stories of food stamp
abuse, pointing out that the change from a food stamp purchase is
limited to 99 cents. "It's not possible to buy a bottle of vodka with
99 cents" she says. Deputy White House press secretary Peter Roussel
says Reagan wouldn't tell those stories "unless he thought they were
accurate."

4/4/82
2nd Year Slump - Reagan's Popularity Nosedives in a Familiar
Presidential Pattern - The Washington Post

4/15/82
"The statisticians in Washington have funny ways of counting" -
President Reagan's explanation to Illinois high school students as to
why he thinks unemployment has declined in the face of Bureau of Labor
statistics.

"In England, if a criminal carried a gun, even though he didn't use
it, he was not tried for burglary or theft or whatever he was doing.
He was tried for first degree murder and hung if he was found guilty"
- President Reagan citing a favorite example of British law.

4/16/82
"Well, it's a good story, though. It made the point, didn't it?" -
White House spokesman Larry Speakes on being informed that President
Reagan's story about British gun law is "just not true."

5/10/82
President Reagan explains to a Chicago high school why his revised tax
exemption policy could not have been intended to benefit segregated
schools: "I didn't know there were any. Maybe I should have, but I
didn't."

5/13/82
At his 10th press conference, President Reagan states, that while
"there is no recall" for missiles fired from silos, "those that are
carried in bombers, those that are carried in ships of one kind or
another, or submersibles...can be recalled if there has been a
miscalculation."

6/8/82
Secretary of State Al Haig: "Do I think US foreign policy is
inept?...At times it is. At times it's not. At times it's even
brilliant. At times it's rather stupid. It would be very hard for me
to label it."

6/12/82
Regarding the 750,000 supporters who showed up for the largest
disarmament demonstration in US history in Central Park, President
Reagan opines that "the Commies are behind it."

6/25/82
"With great regret, I have accepted the resignation of Secretary of
State Al Haig. I am nominating as his successor - and he has accepted
- George Shultz to replace him." - President Reagan surprising Al
Haig, who had not actually submitted a letter of resignation, but had
threatened to quit numerous times.

8/11/82
President Reagan tells The Time's Hugh Sidey that he sometimes feels
trapped in the White House. "You glance out the window and the people
are walking around Pennsylvania Avenue and you say, 'I could never say
I am going to run down to the drugstore and get some magazines,'" he
says. "I can't do that anymore."

9/4/82
"South Succotash, with its population of nearly 11 million, must be a
considerable place." - AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland on the
unemployment figures.

9/30/82
David L. Reagan (no relation to the President) becomes the first
Marine killed in Lebanon, where President Reagan had committed troops
for an indefinite stay two days before.

10/9/82
Jobless Rate Is Up To 10.1% In Month. Worst In 42 Years. 11 Million
Are Idle - The New York Times

10/19/82
During a White House meeting with Arab leaders, President Reagan turns
to the Lebanese foreign minister. "You know", he says, "your nose
looks just like Danny Thomas's." The Arabs exchange nervous glances.

11/03/82
The GOP loses a net total of 26 House seats, seven governorships, and
six state legislative houses in the mid-term election. "We feel very
good about what has happened," says President Reagan incongruously.
Observes Ed Meese, "There was nothing to suggest a need to change the
basic course.'

11/11/82
"It would be a user fee" - President Reagan explaining why his
proposed five-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax would not be a tax at all.

11/25/82
The White House announces it is considering a proposal (conceived by
Ed Meese) to tax unemployment benefits. This, says Larry Speakes,
would "make unemployment less attractive."

12/04/82
U.S. Jobless Rate Climbs To 10.8%, A Postwar Record. 11.9 Million Out
Of Work - The New York Times

12/09/82
"Sometimes I look out there at Pennsylvania Avenue and see people
bustling along, and it suddenly dawns on me that probably never again
can I just say "Hey, I'm going down to the drugstore to look at the
magazines,'" - President Reagan discussing his feelings of confinement
with a People reporter )

12/16/82
"Sometimes I look out the window at Pennsylvania Avenue and wonder
what it would be like to be able to just walk down the street to the
corner drugstore and look at the magazines. I can't do that anymore."
- President Reagan conveying one of his regrets to The Washington Post

12/18/82
"Sometimes I look out the window at Pennsylvania Avenue and wonder
what it would be like to be able to just walk down the street to the
corner drugstore and look at the magazines. I can't do that anymore."
- President Reagan sharing a sudden thought with a radio interviewer

________________________________________________________

Harry