Dismiss Quote by Rick Perlstein

Letter writing was clearly important to Reagan. Even as president he kept dashing off letters to friends, pen pals, media people, statesmen, critics, and…

— Russell Baker

“[Ronald Reagan] was always at his best when on offense against liberalism, and seldom worse when he assumed a defensive posture”

— Steven Haywood

Reagan didn't socialize with the press. He spent his evenings with Nancy, watching TV with dinner trays. But he knew that to transcend, you…

— Maureen Dowd

“Even President Reagan couldn’t understand him. During an early briefing Casey delivered to the national security cabinet, Reagan slipped Vice President Bush a note:…

— Steve Coll

Everyone on the Left has a favorite story that allows them to kind of excuse Reagan, explain away Reagan, say he was dumb, but…

— Rick Perlstein

Ronald Reagan was so self-contained and impenetrable that his official biographer was practically driven mad trying to figure him out.

— Charles Krauthammer

Reagan wrote out many of his radio commentaries and newspaper articles as well as many of his own speeches. He wrote poetry, short stories,…

— Charlie Sykes

His track record of pragmatism, depth and candor all speak to a person who would find the Tea Party simplistic, opportunistic and misguided. Reagan…

— Eugene Jarecki

Reagan is the subject of ongoing political debate, and a lot of liberals don't want to take Reagan any more seriously than they did…

— H. W. Brands

In the heat of a political lifetime, Ronald Reagan innocently squirrels away tidbits of misinformation and then, sometimes years later, casually drops them into…

— Lucy Howard

[Ronald] Reagan seems to be a man of some basic convictions and on the other hand willing to let others do the ground homework,…

— Helmut Schmidt

Under Ronald Reagan, hatred of the liberal media took on a storybook quality. Reagan had honed his political skills as a spokesman for General…

— Heather Cox Richardson