Reagan In His Own Hand
by Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, Martin Anderson

The biased, media-fostered myths about Ronald Reagan as a personable gentleman who was little more than a mouthpiece for the ideas of others are shattered in this new book, which features 670 radio com-mentaries written and delivered by the president-to-be during the 1970s. This unique book includes photocopies of some of Mr. Reagan's original manuscripts - discovered recently at the Reagan Library - and provides irrefutable proof that our 40th President was a thinker, a visionary and a prolific writer.

While the press has for years slanted public opinion to believe that President John F. Kennedy was a eloquent orator but President Ronald Reagan was just an amiable performer, the facts are completely the opposite. It is well known that the two books that brought Kennedy so much acclaim, Why England Slept and Profiles in Courage, were completely ghost-written for him.

On the other hand, the proof that Ronald Reagan developed his own ideas and wrote most of his own speeches is indisputable. The treasure trove of the texts of hundreds of Reagan's radio broadcasts were written by hand, most on lined yellow pads. These documents show that he expressed his thoughts clearly, concisely and logically, and he needed to make very few changes and edits.

Reagan's handwritten commentaries show that he was a tremendously well-educated man because he was a voracious reader. His commentaries refer to hundreds of sources and thousands of facts and figures. His writings show that he really was a one-man think tank, ahead of his time in his observations about the marketplace, economics and foreign policy. His own library was filled with books on history, economics and biography, heavily annotated in his own hand.

The commentaries document the development during the 1970s of Ronald Reagan's vision for America of a land relieved of the high-tax burdens of Big Government at home and the threat from Soviet aggression abroad. He developed his belief that Communism had to be defeated, not merely contained, and that we must rebuild the U.S. military and support the Captive Nations behind the Iron Curtain. His commentaries covered domestic, tax, and social issues.

Reagan In His Own Hand is a welcome self-portrait of the man, his clear, uncomplicated ideas, his sincerely-held beliefs, and the vision that worked so well for America and the world.

(The Free Press, 2001; 499 pp., $30)