The allegedly sophisticated media elite scoffed at the notion that this simple man, the product of a simpler time, could grasp the intricacies of modern government or understand the complexities involved in forging relationships with other nations. They were shocked, shocked, therefore, when he dared to call the Soviet Union the Evil Empire, mainly because in their secularized view there is no such thing as evil. In their jaundiced eyes, men don’t sin, they only make mistakes.
The media saw my dad as being airily disinterested in anything but the nostrums of Middle America – the “fly-over country” they despise. The diaries, however, reveal him as being fully engaged with the issues of his times, carefully mulling over the problems he faced and making his decisions as to how to handle them based on both his knowledge of the matters and his ability to put aside the current wisdom and cut right to the heart of any problem.
Because my Dad was a simple uncomplicated man, the media decided that he was not only simple, but therefore was also simple minded.
Ronald Reagan kept his diary so people in the future would have an understanding of his presidency from his point of view and the vantage point of history, and not that of the liberal media’s dishonest and biased standpoint.
It has to be galling to them to see their carefully constructed illusions shattered by the publication of his diaries and what they reveal about a giant who in their malice they insisted on describing as a pygmy.
Once again, the Gipper’s spirit has triumphed.