"They'll be telling their grandchildren about the day they saw the president," he said as he smiled and waved at the men and women lining the streets.
But I also witnessed the president being tough as nails. One of my duties was to put together small groups to meet with the president, usually in the Cabinet or Roosevelt Room in the West Wing. When the occasion called for it, the president could twist arms with the best of them and marshal facts and figures to persuade even the most skeptical. I remember one occasion when I gathered a group of CEOs together to hear a presentation on his tax reform proposals.
President Reagan had his usual notes, typed up on 3-by-5 cards that he carried in the inside pocket of his jacket, but he barely glanced at them as he made an articulate and persuasive argument to the men sitting around the table. I also remember the looks on their faces, as several of these corporate honchos seemed surprised that the president wasn't the affable actor-turned-politician they expected but a forceful and knowledgeable leader with a sophisticated understanding of economics.
The Left hated Ronald Reagan when he was president. And now that he's incapacitated by Alzheimer's and can't defend himself, they'd like to rewrite the history of his presidency.
But the folks at CBS understand economics, too, and what they don't need is for the millions of Americans who revere Ronald Reagan to register their protest of this leftist hit job by blocking CBS from their TV sets.