A Unique Subject

Ronald Reagan was a tough nut for his biographers to crack. While his public policies were rarely a mystery, except to those who made them so, he was among the most private of men: reserved almost to the point of shyness behind his amiable demeanor. To make matters more difficult for a biographer seeking an original story, Reagan had constructed a compelling and romantic version of his life from which he saw no need to deviate.

I learned this early. In 1968, when I was a young reporter in Sacramento for the San Jose Mercury News, I obtained a contract to do a dual biography of Reagan and his Democratic rival, the powerful Assembly Speaker, Jesse (Big Daddy) Unruh. Reagan was the bright, new conservative governor; Unruh one of the greatest of wheeler-dealers. I didn’t understand either of them, and my hope was that I could get below the surface by writing a book.

LC

About the Author

Lou Cannon

Mr. Cannon is the author of Official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD.

Ronald Reagan was a tough nut for his biographers to crack. While his public policies were rarely a mystery, except to those who made them so, he was among the most private of men: reserved almost to the point of shyness behind his amiable demeanor. To make matters more difficult for a biographer seeking an original story, Reagan had constructed a compelling and romantic version of his life from which he saw no need to deviate.

I learned this early. In 1968, when I was a young reporter in Sacramento for the San Jose Mercury News, I obtained a contract to do a dual biography of Reagan and his Democratic rival, the powerful Assembly Speaker, Jesse (Big Daddy) Unruh. Reagan was the bright, new conservative governor; Unruh one of the greatest of wheeler-dealers. I didn’t understand either of them, and my hope was that I could get below the surface by writing a book.