Kati Marton (66 page)

Mike Wallace …an old friend … author’s interview with Mike Wallace.

Nancy’s role as her husband’s … author’s interview with Stuart Spencer.

In 1968, Joan Didion …
Saturday Evening Post,
June 1, 1968.

“Almost two decades later …” author’s interview with Sally Quinn.

“How can you challenge an …”
A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford
(New York: Harper & Row, 1979), pp. 333–34.

“When one of us has a problem …” Ronald Reagan,
An American Life,
p.167.

“Everything began with you …”
I Love You, Ronnie,
p. 97.

His impressive physical … author’s interview with Gahl Burt.

“I love the whole gang of you …” Ibid., p. 160.

“But what is really important …” Ibid., p. 76.

“I never had a real conversation …” “Biography of Ronald Reagan,” Arts and Entertainment Network.

Ronnie called her Mommy … author’s interview with Nancy Reynolds.

“He knows so little …” Shultz,
Turmoil and Triumph,
p. 1134.

“Ronnie can’t be pushed …” Anne Edwards,
Early Reagan,
p. 480.

“She can smell fear on you …” Ed Rollins,
Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms
(New York: Broadway Books, 1996), p. 137.

“If I did not hear from her …” author’s interview with Mike Deaver.

“Mrs. Reagan liked to joke …” author’s interview with Gahl Burt.

“Oh, my God …” author’s interview with Lesley Stahl.

“Bush and I would …” author’s interview with Mike Deaver.

“It would be far better …” Nancy Reagan,
My Turn,
p. 64.

“Ronald Reagan was the most …” author’s interview with Mike Deaver.

Two months into his presidency … Ronald Reagan,
An American Life,
p. 269.

“Nancy called me …” author’s interview with Mike Deaver.

Reports of Reagan’s memory lapses … author’s interview with Arthur Link.

“The contrast between …” author’s interview with Barrie Dunsmore.

“Why wasn’t the same thing …”
Newsweek,
December 21, 1981.

“How do you describe someone …”
Newsweek,
December 21, 1981.

“I wore white pantaloons …” Nancy Reagan,
My Turn,
p. 41.

“Nancy had a tropism …” author’s interview with Peggy Noonan.

“I liked Nancy …” Katharine Graham to the author.

When an aide cautioned … Mike Deaver to the author.

“There was something likable …” Ronald Reagan,
An American Life,
p. 635.

“The bureaucrats …” Mike Deaver to the author.

“He felt that if an American …” Peggy Noonan to the author.

“Nancy believed …” Mike Deaver to the author.

“I had a lot of talk with Nancy …”
Vanity Fair,
August 1998, and Shultz,
Turmoil and Triumph,
p. 483.

Nancy also played a big part … author’s interview with Kenneth Duberstein.

“If …I could take back one decision …” Nancy Reagan,
My Turn,
p. 312.

“I don’t think Don Regan …” author’s interview with Mike Deaver.

“By now …” Regan,
For the Record,
p. 76.

“Apparently Deaver …” Ibid., p. 74.

“We weren’t dealing …” Bob Woodward,
Shadow
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999), p. 140.

“I had to keep trying …” Shultz,
Turmoil and Triumph,
p. 868.

“Sometimes …” Ibid., p. 1133.

“Mike, I’ve got …” author’s interview with Mike Deaver.

“We missed him while he was here …” PBS biography of Ronald Reagan (“The American Experience”), 1998.

“I think she felt for the kids …” author’s interview with Dr. Mitchell Rosenthal.

“You are remote …” Barbara Walters interview on
20/20,
November 17, 1989.

Though I have spent time in both Washington, D.C., and New York in President and Mrs. Bush’s company, they declined to sit down for formal interviews. For profiling them, I therefore relied on my personal impressions of the couple as well as on interviews with Thomas “Lud” Ashley, Jonathan Alter, Joe Klein, Craig Fuller, Anna Perez, Susan Porter Rose, David Gergen, Lisa Drew, Marlin Fitzwater, Sherrie Rollins Westin, Rex Scouten, Ann McDaniel, Margaret Carlson, Bunny Murdoch, Diane Sawyer, Richard Haas, Peggy Noonan, Roger Ailes, Lesley Stahl, Richard Cohen, Margaret Warner, Donnie Radcliffe, Sally Quinn, former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulrooney and Mila Mulrooney and Barbara Walters.

Barbara Bush: A Memoir
(New York: Scribner’s, 1994) and Herbert S. Parmet’s very solid biography of George Bush,
George Bush: The Life of a Lone Star Yankee
(New York: Scribner’s, 1997), were also important sources; the many others are cited below.

“I want you all to take a look …” Donnie Radcliffe to the author. See also “Barbara’s Backlash” by Marjorie Williams,
Vanity Fair,
August 1992.

It was she … author’s interviews with Bush family friend Lud Ashley, and Peggy Noonan.

“Bar’s the one …” Richard Ben Cramer,
What It Takes
(New York: Vintage Books, 1992), p. 576.

“Barbara was always …” author’s interview with Roger Ailes.

“We stopped discussing …” Parmet,
George Bush: Lone Star Yankee,
p. 426.

“I’ll tell you in one sentence …” Ann Grimes,
Running Mates: The Making of a First Lady
(New York: Morrow, 1990), p. 54.

“All our children were planned …” Gail Sheehy, “Is George Bush too Nice to be President?”
Vanity Fair,
February 1987.

“I have never felt …” This and all the letters quoted in this chapter are published in
All the Best, George Bush
(New York: Scribner’s, 1999).

“You shouldn’t have to tell …” Margaret Garrard Warner, “The Wimp Factor,”
Newsweek,
October 19, 1987.

“Barbara knows how to hate …” author’s interview with Thomas “Lud” Ashley.

“George Bush, and maybe this is a fault …” Sheehy,
Vanity Fair,
February 1987.

“I can always find …” Ibid.

“He learned to rely …” author’s interview with Lud Ashley.

“I’d like it …” Parmet,
George Bush: Lone Star Yankee,
p. 36.

“She’s got this great …” author’s interview with Lud Ashley.

“I’ve always wanted to …” Cramer,
What It Takes,
p. 142.

“How George loves …”
Barbara Bush: A Memoir
(New York: St. Martin’s Paperback, 1994) p. 248.

Like so many other men … Cramer,
What It Takes,
chapters 8 and 9.

“One of the reasons …”
Barbara Bush: A Memoir,
p. 60.

“The day after Robin died …” Ibid., pp. 48–50.

“I still favor the problem being handled …” Lud Ashley to the author.

“In a sense it was a matriarchal family …” Bill Minutaglio,
First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty
(New York: Times Books, 1999), p. 57.

“She did it all …” Grimes,
Running Mates,
p. 58.

Bush never quite managed to define …
Newsweek,
October 19, 1987.

“George Bush never …” Sheehy,
Vanity Fair,
February 1987.

Nixon came through … author’s interview with Lud Ashley.

“You have two choices …”
Barbara Bush: A Memoir,
p. 10.

“The Bushes have an …” author’s interview with Susan Porter Rose.

“Although this was planned …”
Barbara Bush: A Memoir,
p. 125.

She was one of those women … This section is based on the author’s interviews with Craig Fuller, Susan Porter Rose, Gahl Burt and Bunny Murdoch.

“I was very depressed …”
Barbara Bush: A Memoir,
p. 144.

“we became …” Cramer,
What It Takes,
p. 152.

In 1984… author’s interview with Craig Fuller.

She learned it …
Barbara Bush: A Memoir,
p. 208.

“There were times …” Grimes,
Running Mates,
p. 186.

“There’s nothing wrong with …” Donnie Radcliffe,
Simply Barbara Bush
(New York: Warner Books, 1989), p. xvii.

“As long as Jennifer …” author’s interview with Craig Fuller; see also Parmet,
George Bush: Lone Star Yankee,
chapter 14.

“I decided to raise it …” author’s interview with Craig Fuller.

“She’s a wonderful lady …” author’s interview with Barbara Walters.

“Barbara Bush was an ideal …” author’s interview with David Gergen.

“We do things …” Radcliffe,
Simply Barbara Bush,
p. 195.

“We wanted very much for it …” Grimes,
Running Mates,
p. 258.

“I am [Nancy’s] greatest …”
20/20
interview with Barbara Walters, January 20, 1989.

Barbara refused to comment … author’s interview with Anna Perez.

“I’m gonna approach my job …”
20/20,
January 20, 1989.

“I don’t think he would …” author’s interview with Craig Fuller.

“She had this way …” author’s interview with Donnie Radcliffe.

“She could cut you down …” author’s interview with Rex Scouten.

Few people who … author’s interview with Bunny Murdoch.

“Vice President Bush …” author’s interview with Marlin Fitzwater.

“I’m not too sure …”
Barbara Bush: A Memoir,
p. 228.

“She would not …” author’s interview with Roger Ailes.

“Shortly after Bush’s …” author’s interview with Donnie Radcliffe.

“Hillary Rodham Clinton is …”
Barbara Bush: A Memoir,
p. 228.

“I’d always go and see …” author’s interview with Brian Mulrooney.

“So,” she said with a hard smile … Cramer,
What It Takes,
p. 620.

“I’ve known very few chiefs …” author’s interview with Roger Ailes.

“She picked up that …” author’s interview with Lud Ashley.

“I love John Sununu …”
20/20
interview with Barbara Walters, June 26, 1992.

Barbara rarely lost … Margaret Carlson, “The White Gloves Come Off,”
Time,
September 26, 1994.

“She is a lovely-looking …”
Barbara Bush: A Memoir,
p. 225.

“Absolutely …” Radcliffe,
Simply Barbara Bush,
pp. 62–63.

“Long ago …”
Barbara Bush: A Memoir,
p. 292.

“George has always …” Radcliffe,
Simply Barbara Bush,
p. 59.

“The wheels came off …” author’s interview with Lud Ashley.

“I’m sorry Barbara …” Jack Germond and Jules Witcover,
Mad As Hell
(New York: Warner Books, 1992), p. 245.

The 1992 Republican convention … author’s interviews with Jonathan Alter and Joe Klein.

“Mila [Mrs. Mulrooney] chided Barbara …” author’s interview with Brian Mulrooney.

I am grateful to many people for helping me with this chapter: first of all, Hillary Clinton for the interview she gave me in 1997 and for subsequent occasions that enabled me to observe both Clintons in a number of official and unofficial situations. Melanne Verveer, Mandy Grunwald, Donna Shalala, Laura D’Andrea Tyson, George Stephanopoulos, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Steven Ricchetti, Paul Begala, Ambassador Tom Siebert, Tom Caplan, Brooke Shearer, Ambassador Derek Shearer, Strobe Talbott,
Ruth Goldway, Lisa Caputo, Ambassador Betty King, Ellen Chessler, David Gergen, Margaret Carlson, Joe Klein, Jonathan Alter, Ann Blackman, Sally Quinn, Robert Boorstin, Ann Stock, Maureen White, Steven Rattner, Mike Berman, Vernon and Ann Jordan, David Maraniss, Doug Schoen, Bob Woodward and Lloyd Cutler all gave of their time and their insights. I cannot thank them enough.

There are many—some would say too many—books on the Clintons and the Clinton presidency. Among the ones I found useful are:
First in His Class
by David Maraniss (New York: Touchstone Books, 1995);
Hillary Clinton: The Inside Story
by Judith Warner (New York: Signet Books, 1993); Gail Sheehy’s
Hillary’s Choice
(New York: Random House, 1999);
All Too Human
by George Stephanopoulos (New York, Boston: Little, Brown, 1999);
On the Edge
by Elizabeth Drew (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994);
The Seduction of Hillary Rodham Clinton
by David Brock (New York: Free Press, 1996);
Blood Sport: The President and His Adversaries
by James B. Stewart (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996);
Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate
by Bob Woodward (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999);
The Choice
by Bob Woodward (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996);
The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House,
also by Bob Woodward (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994);
Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership from Nixon to Clinton
by David Gergen (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000). The best single account of the Clintons’ attempted health care reform is
The System: The American Way of Politics at the Breaking Point
by Haynes Johnson and David S. Broder (New York, Boston: Little, Brown, 1997); Jeffrey Toobin’s
A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President
(New York: Random House, 1999);
Behind the Oval Office
by Dick Morris (New York: Random House, 1997);
The Breach
by Peter Baker (New York: Scribner’s, 2000); and
Truth at Any Cost
by Susan Schmidt and Michael Weisskopf (New York: HarperCollins, 2000).

“Eleanor was strong …” author’s interview with Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

“Being first lady is a very …” author’s interview with Hillary Clinton.

“Ladies and gentlemen …”
New York Times
and the
New York Daily News,
February 7, 2000.

“It’s Hillary or nobody …” Ambassador Tom Siebert to the author, and see also Virginia Kelley,
Leading with My Heart
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), pp. 190–98.

“This is a very bonded couple …” author’s interview with Donna Shalala.

“Clinton was the first …” George Stephanopoulos to the author.