Jason English
10 Other People Ronald Reagan’s Diary Only Mentions Once
by Jason English - January 20, 2012 - 8:35 AM

During last night’s GOP debate, Mitt Romney attempted to minimize Newt Gingrich’s connection to President Reagan:

“I looked at the Reagan diary. You’re mentioned once in Ronald Reagan’s diary. And in the diary, he says you had an idea in a meeting of young congressmen, and it wasn’t a very good idea and he dismissed it. That’s the entire mention.”

We had a copy of The Reagan Diaries handy. Here’s what the Gipper wrote about young Newt on January 3, 1983:

“Met with a group of young Repub. Congressmen. Newt Gingrich has a proposal for freezing the budget at the 1983 level. It’s a tempting idea except that it would cripple our defense program. And if we make an exception on that every special interest group will be asking for the same.”

But the former Speaker is in good company. The Reagan-Mentioned-Me-Once-in-His-Diary Club includes lots of big names. For example:

1. Drew Barrymore (October 17, 1984)

“Out on the South Lawn a ceremony recognizing the Young Astronauts program. Little Drew Barrymore — the child in ‘E.T.’ — was one of the children. She’s a nice little person.”

2. The A-Team (May 3, 1986)

“Dinner alone in my suite. I’ll be glad when Nancy joins me. CNN has an English language channel in Japan. I ate dinner watching ‘The A-Team’ & ‘Hart to Hart.’ Then word came to me that we’d had our 3rd calamity in the Space program. A Delta missile carrying a $57 mil. weather satellite had to be blown up when it malfunctioned. You can’t help but wonder about sabotage.”

3. Harry Caray (September 30, 1988)

“…threw out the first ball at Wrigley Field, joined in play-by-play with announcer Harry Caray.”

4. Vinny Testaverde (December 12, 1986)

“Noted military team in Holland cooperating on Suriname situation; photo session with Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde; Domestic Policy Council meeting with reports on reforming welfare program.”

5. Shelley Long (February 28, 1984)

“…Cabinet meeting on containing ‘Beltway Bandits,’ advisory and consulting groups gaining unnecessary government contracts; greeted actress Shelley Long; state dinner, entertainment by Mel Torme and Peter Nero.”

6. Muhammad Ali (January 24, 1983)

“Visit from Muhammad Ali, ‘gave me an autographed Muslim Prayer Book.’”

7. Juice Newton (August 26, 1984)

“Picnic for female appointees, entertainment by Juice Newton; Vice President Bush learned by telephone that his daughter had a baby son.”

8. Wayne Newton (June 28, 1984)

“Photo sessions with Bay Buchanan and with Wayne Newton; met with former secretaries of the Treasury and current secretary Regan in support of appropriation for International Monetary Fund.”

9. Pat Riley (June 30, 1988)

“…meeting with congressional leaders on drug policy; lunch with basketball coach Pat Riley; desk work; cabinet briefing on nuclear power stations, commented, ‘some were shut down because countries & or states refused to submit plans for emergency evacuation.”

10. Burt Reynolds (March 21, 1982)

“Dined with Burt Reynolds, noted, ‘Had not known him well in Hollywood so surprised at his seriousness and his sincere crusade spirit against drugs, etc.’” [I cheated here. Burt's mentioned twice.]

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Comments (17)

  1. Who else is in that photo with Burt and Ronnie? I recognize Emmanuel Lewis, Charlton Heston, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Steve Lawrence and, of course, Nancy. Who can name the others?

    posted by henry on 1-20-2012 at 10:05 am

  2. The black gentleman is Ben Vereen and I think that that the lady behind Reagan is Loretta Lynn. The lady on Reagan’s left is his daughter.

    The occasion must have been the first inauguration.

    posted by JMS on 1-20-2012 at 10:18 am

  3. I see Vin Scully, the Dodgers announcer there, henry. Plus, I see Monty Hall, the host of the game show “Let’s Make a Deal”.

    posted by Eddie on 1-20-2012 at 10:31 am

  4. @JMS – The lady behind Reagan to his left is Eydie Gorme (Steve Lawrence’s wife).

    posted by Betsy on 1-20-2012 at 10:38 am

  5. Now I can see Ben Vereen and Monty Hall. I guess the resolution on my monitor isn’t that great. And, Betsy, thanks. Eydie Gorme–well, duh. Who else would it have been? I feel so stupid.

    posted by henry on 1-20-2012 at 10:50 am

  6. Obviously not an inauguration according to that date. My Mistake; along with not recognizing Eydie Gorme or remembering the names of Vince Scully and Monty Hall. Darn!

    posted by JMS on 1-20-2012 at 10:52 am

  7. “Visit from Muhammad Ali, ‘gave me an autographed Muslim Prayer Book.’”

    What’s with the single quotes around the second half of the sentence? I don’t get how that is supposed to be read. *derp*

    posted by dreamer55 on 1-20-2012 at 10:53 am

  8. So he mentioned “Hart to Hart” more than once in his diary?

    posted by Michael Fusion on 1-20-2012 at 11:26 am

  9. The Date for the diary entry is March 21, 1982, but look at the picture. It is clearly Christmas time. They dont pull out the poinsettias and twinkle lights for a random March party.

    posted by Jmehed on 1-20-2012 at 11:57 am

  10. Yeah, that photo isn’t related to that diary entry. Here’s the original caption in the Reagan Library:

    “President Reagan and Nancy Reagan attending ‘All Star Tribute to Dutch Reagan’ at NBC Studios(from left to right sitting) Colleen Reagan, Neil Reagan, Maureen Reagan, President, Nancy Reagan, Dennis Revell. (From left to right standing) Emmanuel Lewis, Charlton Heston, Ben Vereen, Monty Hall, Frank Sinatra, Burt Reynolds, Dean Martin, Eydie Gorme, Vin Scully, Steve Lawrence, last 2 unidentified. Burbank , California 12/1/85.”

    Emmanuel Lewis pops up a couple times in Reagan’s archives (but not in the diary):

    http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/large/c40615-18A.jpg

    posted by Jason English on 1-20-2012 at 12:03 pm

  11. Why do I want to say Steve Lawrence is turning to Dick Ebersol??

    there’s also a man behind sitting Revell.

    posted by Brainlock on 1-20-2012 at 2:19 pm

  12. Is it only me, or does anyone else find it strange that a man who never read a book kept a diary?

    posted by Mike on 1-21-2012 at 12:25 pm

  13. He parties more than Obama. (RW would have a field day). Doubt that Obama watches junk TV though (A Team, Hart to Hart – Really?). Obviously Reagan was not a well educated man.

    posted by Linda on 1-21-2012 at 4:38 pm

  14. @Linda, the entry indicates he was in Japan and that was what was on the English-speaking channel. If you judge someone not well-educated based on watching a couple of harmless TV shows, you must think the world is full of bumbling fools. And I’d be surprised if a man with two little girls in the house hasn’t watched some junk TV with them.

    posted by jmb on 1-22-2012 at 5:40 pm

  15. Hilarious. Love it.

    posted by Erin on 1-27-2012 at 10:39 pm

  16. Linda—can tell your not very educated,
    Obama’s been having a party since the first day he’s been in office, and at our expense….Reagan was one of the most knowegable and Best president’s we’ve ever had…We sure could use him now….
    We sure don’t need Obama who thinks he’s the smartest person on he planet and has you believing it too…
    Tooooo bad……..

    posted by tj on 1-28-2012 at 7:26 pm

  17. @tj Keep your politics off of my fun-loving trivia blog!

    Also, “Linda—can tell your not very educated,”.

    Sentence fragment, misuse of the word “your,” and improper punctuation.

    Next sentence begins with “Obama’s”; meaning posessive, as in “Obama owns the party.” when you must have have meant “Obama has…”

    I guess what I am saying is “When you are going to correct someone, make sure you are in the right instead of on the right.”

    posted by Michael Fusion on 2-19-2012 at 7:39 pm

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