I’ve heard you can tell a lot about a person by the things they save (for me, that would be Diet Coke bottles from foreign countries; for my mom, it would be SO many Halloween decorations. Like, way too many…plus all my dance recital costumes). I’m not sure that’s true in all cases, but it could not be more accurate in the case of Ronald Reagan. His famed “notes,” hundreds of quotes by famous politicians and scholars that he jotted down throughout his political career, have been compiled into a book.
The Notes: Ronald Reagan’s Private Collection of Stories and Wisdom, edited by Douglas Brinkley, are (for the most part) breathtakingly brilliant takes on subjects such as liberty, war, religion, political theater, and our nation. As you can see in this photo, I’m pretty sure I dog-eared 50+ of his selected quotes! His idols become very obvious – Winston Churchill, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, and even JFK are quoted often in his collection. This eclectic combination of political minds really surprised me and led me to respect Reagan much more. Though he had his principal ideology, he could also respect and even admire those on the other side of the aisle.
The deal-breaker for me, though, was the section titled “On Humor.” I am definitely a person who lives and dies by the saying, “You can tell a lot about a person’s character by the things they laugh at.” And I was definitely not laughing at Reagan’s stuffy, old-man sense of humor. Let me give you an example – “Lady Driver: The thing I dislike about parking is the noisy crash.” (Yes, he did actually write “lady driver.”) I understand he led our nation in a different time and grew up in an even more different time. But I have to admit, I expected way more from one of our most respected modern leaders.