幾個月前花25美分在圖書館門口買的舊書《刺殺裏根》其實還挺新的，書也是2015年才出版，作者是新聞王牌主持人、專欄作家、暢銷書作家Bill O'Reilly和另一位紐約時報暢銷書作者Martin Dugard，是一本曆史紀實書。

書寫得簡潔易懂又扣人心弦，讀這300頁的書比讀一本The Atlantic雜誌要輕鬆很多，一星期不到就讀完了。最後在此再簡單地整理寫點讀書筆記，以此告個段落。因著本人是個政治曆史盲，筆記的著重點非政治曆史，非刺殺(省去)，而是著眼於兩位曆史人物。

《刺殺裏根》寫了裏根當職總統後不久遭遇的刺殺，但書中更多的筆墨則是在寫裏根的成長曆程，如何從一個B級的好萊塢演員逐步晉升為加州州長、美國總統; 如何從演藝界走向政界，在古稀之年七十歲之際當上美國總統; 如何從一名民主黨支持者轉為加入共和黨; 如何從花花公子成為一位忠於婚姻、與夫人白頭到老的好丈夫; 如何遭遇槍殺，命懸一線又起死回生。

裏根的家庭出身很一般，父親酗酒，是個賣鞋子的售貨員，母親則是個恪守聖經教誨的聖徒。裏根是靠著自己的不懈努力，一步步走出來的。裏根的智商並非一級，在大學裏隻是個C student, 但是他有著超強的記憶力和演講口才，這些才能借助著他長期對國內外政策學習和累積，讓他成為一位傑出的演說家，也幫助他在競選中脫穎而出。

書中多次提到裏根跟當時的英國首相撒切爾夫人之間篤深的友情。兩人第一次見麵就很投緣，即便中間兩人為了各自的國家利益行動上有分歧，這並不妨礙兩人的友情。在國際運動中，兩人同心協力推廣民主自由，對抗蘇聯，打擊和削弱全球範圍共產主義的影響和勢力(裏根對柏林牆的倒塌功不可沒)。撒切爾夫人對裏根的評價極高，說，裏根堅定不移的信念、信仰照亮了一切，裏根是所有人的榜樣和啟迪。

當然這一切離不開一個人的功勞，那個人就是南希。沒有南希，就沒有裏根的榮耀和成功，是她成就了裏根輝煌的一生。裏根自己說過，是南希的到來挽救了他的靈魂，遇見她是裏根一生的轉折點。而外界也有人說過，如果裏根早些年遇見南希，那他一定是個拿奧斯卡獎的好萊塢一級演員，而非二級。

裏根在第一次婚姻失敗後，曾一度看破紅塵，自暴自棄，整日花天酒地，鬼混於夜總會，沉迷於女色。四十歲那年他遇見了三十歲的南希。麵對窮追不舍的南希(南希裝溫柔，還佯裝懷孕)，才脫離婚姻枷鎖不久的裏根害怕地跑到朋友家躲起來。

是南希的愛和執著，讓他們最後走到一起，結為夫妻。南希是個外柔內剛的女人，她從1949年第一次見到裏根，就把和他結婚，改造他，讓他成為一個有能力成為的人當作她的使命。她做到了，雖然婚禮很簡單，遠沒有想象中的浪漫，但是為了裏根，南希可以承受一切。她知道通往裏根內心的兩條途徑: 政治和騎馬，為此，她成為裏根政治論壇上的座上賓，為此，她常常把馬廄刷得幹幹淨淨。最終，她如願以償了，把七十歲的裏根推上了美國總統的位置，自己成了第一夫人。應該說裏根夫婦的生活是奢華的，南希兩萬五美金一件夜禮服，三千美金一條裙子等等，慶祝總統當選要辦十場晚會(舞會)(，這些都與卡特總統的節儉形成鮮明的對比。

當然，外界不乏有對南希的負麵看法和報道。卡特總統夫人評價南希是個冷血動物，鏡頭上溫暖如春，鏡頭下則冷若冰霜。南希做總統夫人後，常常插手白宮內務，親自安排總統的日常工作表，幹預政治，有時候對手下人飛揚跋扈，動輒要解雇人了。所以，一度南希的公眾支持率非常低迷，被認為是控製欲強的冷皇後。(還傳說，南希雇傭星象大師來決定總統的行程安排，等等。)

然而，南希依然我行我素，隻要她覺得自己所做的一切是為了裏根好，她不管別人的看法和譏笑。她曾說過，她是白宮裏唯一一個沒有自己時間表的人(大概意思就是，總統的時間表就是她的時間表)。她這樣忘我，把自己的一切置之度外，處處為裏根著想，即便是後來裏根得了老年癡呆症，也是親力親為，不離不棄。在裏根生命的最後一刻，南希守著他，不放棄也不願承認裏根的離去，這種磐石般的愛感動世人。

(不過裏根夫婦有個不爭氣的女兒，處處與父母作對，四十歲了還拍裸照刊登在《花花公子》封麵，以此羞辱父母。偉人為自己的政治野心忽略了家庭，忽略了兒女的親情，這也是有代價的。)

另附:

當枝頭的最後幾顆枇杷被小鳥和小老鼠吃盡後，我的一根弦終於鬆了下來。孰知，火龍果卻開始吐出花蕾。

比起花開花謝，花苞帶給人的欣喜無與倫比--這是生命的最初孕育。清晨或是黃昏，我常常爬上小梯子抑或站在二樓窗口，凝視著橫臥木架上有點雜亂(sprawling)的枝頭，定睛看著一節節小凹槽處發出的小苞苞，以判斷它是花苞還是新發的枝條。

後院雖小，但是它給我的回饋，它帶給我四季不同的感受和期盼，讓我心存感激。

隔著沙窗拍的,不夠清楚

今年的第一顆花苞 

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Killing Reagon書摘: 

From the bestselling team of Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard comes Killing Reagan, a page-turning epic account of the career of President Ronald Reagan that tells the vivid story of his rise to power--and the forces of evil that conspired to bring him down.

Just two months into his presidency, Ronald Reagan lay near death after a gunman’s bullet came within inches of his heart. His recovery was nothing short of remarkable—or so it seemed. But Reagan was grievously injured, forcing him to encounter a challenge that few men ever face. Could he silently overcome his traumatic experience while at the same time carrying out the duties of the most powerful man in the world?

Told in the same riveting fashion as Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, and Killing Patton, Killing Reagan reaches back to the golden days of Hollywood, where Reagan found both fame and heartbreak, up through the years in the California governor’s mansion, and finally to the White House, where he presided over boom years and the fall of the Iron Curtain. But it was John Hinckley Jr.’s attack on him that precipitated President Reagan’s most heroic actions. In Killing Reagan, O’Reilly and Dugard take readers behind the scenes, creating an unforgettable portrait of a great man operating in violent times.

Ronald Reagan is so prone to saying the wrong thing at the wrong time that his campaign staff has been known to call him “old foot-in-the mouth.” (Say something foolish, embarrassing, or tactless) (p.8)

Slowly shaking his head, Reagan turns to Carter and says, “There you go again.”

The auditorium erupts in laughter. Reagan’s tone is that of a disappointed parent, saddened by a child who has failed to live up to expectations. The words mean nothing and everything. One short sentence captures the mood of a nation that no longer wants detailed policy explanations as to why the economy has collapsed and Americans are being held hostage in a foreign country. (p17)

I was starry-eyed. (p.21): naively enthusiastic or idealistic; failing to recognize the practical realities of a situation.

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.

Jane Wyman

Reagan is a hardworking, restless man who craves physical activity. He is the son of an all-too-often-drunk Irish shoe salesman and a Bible-thumping mother. Their parenting methods taught young Ron to avoid extremes in behavior, leading him, at times, to appear clueless and shut off. Also, it is true: Ronald Reagan is not a great intellect, having struggled to maintain a C average in college. Yet he can memorize paragraphs of script with ease and then recite them again and again on cue. Reagan also is a thinker, craving long periods of solitary meditation—preferably on horseback. He believes that “as you rock along a trail to the sound of the hooves and the squeak of the leather, with the sun on your head and the smell of the horse and the saddle and trees around you, things just begin to straighten themselves out. “(p27)

Ronald Reagan has also become fond of lecturing. Any topic will do. “Don’t ask Ronnie what time it is, “ Wyman warns fellow actress June Allyson, “because he will tell you how a watch is made. “ (p27)

Self-centered and callous

Embittered, Reagan begins to behave in a callous fashion. He spends lavishly at Hollywood nightclubs such as Ciro’s, the Coconut Grove, and Slapsy Maxie’s, drinking too much and conducting a series of sexual affairs with women decades younger than he. His actions do not go unnoticed by the press. Silver Screen magazine writes, “Never thought we’d come right out and call Ronnie Reagan a wolf, but leave us face it. Suddenly every glamour gal considers him a super-sexy escort for the evening. Even he admits he’s missed a lot of fun and frolic and is out to make up for it.” (p.29)

Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty; always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and they you destroy yourself.—Nixon

Nancy Davis was so eager to marry Ronald Reagan that she willingly accommodated his every wish. If that meant a small ceremony, lacking fanfare or even a hint of media flashbulbs that might provide a modicum of grandeur—then so be it. … “I don’t want to do anything else except be married. I just want to be Ronnie’s wife, “she said later. (p47)

In Ronald Reagan, Nancy sees a greatness that thus far has eluded him. She will dedicate her life to bringing it forth. Soon, her supplication will vanish and dominance will emerge. Reagan will reluctantly cease his womanizing, although continuing his affair with Christine Larson well past the day his baby daughter, Patti, is born on October 21, 1952. (p 49)

Nancy Reagan possesses an inner steel that her husband lacks. This quality will soon make her opinions indispensable. She will become his sounding board, tactician, and adviser, prodding and cajoling him to become the man only she believes he can be. (p 50)

Reagan finishes the debate with a flourish. (p.17)

It’s a grind, but the money is extremely good (p53) (grind – hard dull work)

Even though her husband has stated publicly that he will not seek a third term as governor, Nancy is not about to give up a life of perks and celebrity adulation. She is working behind the scenes to plan a presidential campaign. (p87)

Again Nixon’s voice is tinged with sarcasm. In his drunken state, he has a hard time hiding his loathing for Reagan. (p89)

Thatcher is a homely woman, but Reagan considers her “warm, feminine, gracious, and intelligent”—so much as that he will take the unprecedented step of gushing about the British leader to Nancy Reagan when this meeting ends in two hours. For Margaret Thatcher, the feeling is mutual. “When we met in person I was immediately won over by his charm, sense of humor, and directness, “Thatcher will later recall. (p 99)

Bumbling his way through the address.

Nancy Reagan craves that level of celebrity for herself. Betty Ford notices this after dining with the Reagans in Palm Springs during the 1975 Easter vacation. “She’s a cold fish,” Ford later recalled. “Nancy could not have been colder. Then the flashbulbs went off, and she smiled and kissed me. Suddenly, an old friend. I couldn’t get over that. Off camera, ice. On camera, warmth. “ (p105)

Ford, a lifelong Republican who served in the navy during World War II, considers Reagan little more than a lightweight actor and former Democrat. (p105)

“The commitment I seek is not to outworn ideas, but to old values that will never wear out. Programs may sometimes become obsolete but the idea of fairness always endures,” Kennedy tells the convention. “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.” (Kennedy is lucid and focused. Many will say it is the finest speech he ever delivered. ) (p. 136)

Make up his addled mind.(addled= confused)

Four years ago, Jimmy Carter did not feel it appropriate to celebrate his inauguration with even one formal ball, let alone ten. No partying for the man from Plains. Instead, Carter’s 1977 inaugural address was somber, pointing out America’s limitations as a nation. The tone of pessimism and defeat that marked Carter’s first day in office came to define his entire presidency. (p. 145)

Many of whom don’t think that Ronald Reagan has a first-rate intellect. He has long studied the nuances of domestic and foreign policy and possesses a stunning ability to recollect the most minute facts for the purposes of a speech or a debate. (p. 146)

She (Nancy) is known to blurt out her personal thoughts. (p147)

Reacting to the heat, Nancy fires her newly appointed press secretary for not “protecting” her from the media backlash.

Soon, she is being described (by the press) as being cheap and self-absorbed. … comparing her to the imperious wife of Argentinian dictator Juan Peron, Eva, who longed  for her own unlimited power. (p147)

In truth, Nancy Reagan is much more interested in high fashion and copies the dress and look of two icons: Jackie Kennedy and England’s Duchess of Windsor. (p147)

The Reagans have brought California’s weather with them. Tens of thousands of people stand in shirtsleeves and light jackets on this fifty-six-degree day. The crowd stretch from the Capitol Building all the way down to the National Mall to the Lincoln Memorial. American flags and red, white, and blue bunting seem to be everywhere, imbuing this day with a jubilant sense of patriotism. (p149-150)

There are many in the media who despise Ronald Reagan. Terms such as lightweight, B-movie actor, and even dangerous are sometimes used to denigrate him, both privately and in print. (p150)

He craves approval and applause, thanks to growing up the son of an alcoholic father who gave him little of either….He is a loyal man but has put little effort into fatherhood, often ignoring his children when they need him most. Reagan’s world revolves around his conservative ideals and Nancy, with whom he has been known to get annoyed but rarely angry.

“It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams,” he preaches in his inaugural address. “We’re not, as some would have us believe, doomed to inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.” (p153)

Her public approval rating is one of the worst a First Lady has ever experienced, for many consider her a controlling ice queen. (p189)

Nancy Reagan now works with Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver to regulate the president’s schedule. Fearing that he will be overscheduled, Nancy decides whom Reagan will and will not see. This practice will continue throughout Reagan’s presidency. Nancy’s behavior is so hands-on that Deaver will one day state,” I always imagined that when I died there would be a phone in my coffin and at the other end of it would be Nancy Reagan.” (P191)

Nancy needs strength as well. She knows America does not like her. The press has been ruthless, disapproving of what they perceive to be her power over the president. The criticism nettles her, but Nancy endures it. She can be a vain, selfish, and even deluded woman, far too reliant on fortune-teller. But she is also very clever. And her loyalty and love for Ronald Reagan are absolute. (P192)

“People are prepared to put up with sacrifice if they know those sacrifices are the foundation of future prosperity.” (Thatcher) (p 201)

“I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign,” Reagan says casually, allowing the moment to build, taking great care not to rush the punch. “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience. “ (p 238)

He (Ronald Reagan) delegates much power to Nancy. (p 244)

“I want her fired,” Nancy told Regan in a call to his home one night. (p247)

“I don’t care. Fire the goddamned woman,” Nancy Reagan said, seething. (p248)

“The President’s schedule is the single most potent tool in the White House,” Regan will write, “because it determines what the most powerful man in the world is going to do and when he is going to do it. By humoring Mrs. Reagan we gave her this tool, or more accurately, gave it to an unknown woman in San Francisco who believed that the zodiac controls events and human behavior and that she could read the secrets of the future in the movement of the planets.”

Regan was referring to the astrologist Joan Quigley. Thanks to Nancy’s intervention, Ronald Reagan now goes nowhere and does nothing without approval from Miss Quigley. Nancy is also receiving advice from a second stargazer, Jeane Dixon, but it is Quigley who has Nancy’s ear and who is telling her the president should not appear in public until May because of “the malevolent movements of Uranus and Saturn.” (p.248)

“The power of the Presidency is often thought to reside within this Oval Office. Yet it doesn’t rest here; it rests in you, the American people, and in your trust. Your trust is what gives a President his powers of leadership and his personal strength…” (p251)

Thanks to the efforts of Reagan and Thatcher, global communism has been severely weakened. .. None of this would have happened without Ronald Reagan’s unswerving lifelong belief in freedom and America’s exceptionalism. England’s Iron Lady understands that:” Your beliefs, your convictions, your faith shone through everything you did,” Thatcher responded to Reagan’s letter. “You have been an example and inspiration to us all.” (p 260)

Time and events have changed Nancy Reagan. Shortly after her return from Berlin in 1987, the First Lady was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy to remove one breast. The procedure was a success, and Nancy’s very public ordeal softened her in the eyes of many.(p 262)

His daughter, forty-one-year-old Patti Davis, is now fully exposed for the entire country to see. Playboy magazine is on newsstands everywhere, its cover promising a father’s ultimate humiliation. Patti wears nothing but a smile as the hands of a muscular unseen man cup her bare breasts. (p 268) (humiliate her mother and father—and the whole world knows it.)

Patti Davis publicly states that her rebellion is Nancy’s fault, saying that her mother was physically and emotionally abusive, a chronic prescription drug user who slapped her daughter when she ate too much and even slapped her when she began menstruating at a very young age. (p269)

“I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”(Ronald Reagan) (p274)

Nancy knows that her unswerving devotion to her husband made her a target of scorn in their White House days, and for that she makes no apologies. “I’m the one who knows him best, and I was the only person in the White House who had absolutely no agenda of her own—except helping him, “she stated in her autobiography.”

The Reagans’ good friend Jimmy Stewart once noted that if “Nancy had been Ron’s first wife instead of his second, he would have been a real star in Hollywood, with a couple Oscars to show for it.” (p 277)

From the day they met in 1949, she made it her mission to marry Ronald Reagan and then mold him into the man she thought he could be. She has endured years of scathing attacks, all because of her loyalty to her husband.

Even now, in the midst of what doctors are calling “continual neurological degradation”, Nancy protects the former president. No outsiders are allowed to see him, other than family. Right to the end, she is managing the legacy of Ronald Reagan, even as she struggles to imagine life without him. (P279)

Reagan’s funeral is the largest in America since that of President John F. Kennedy more than forty years ago. (p 281)

“Ronald Reagan’s life was rich not only in public achievement, but also in private happiness. Indeed, his public achievements were rooted in his private business.”

“The great turning point of his life was his meeting and marriage with Nancy. On that, we have the plain testimony of a loving and grateful husband. “Nancy came along and saved my soul.” (p 282)

“I know in my heart that man is good,” the inscription on Reagan’s tombstone reads, “that what is right will always eventually triumph, and there is purpose and worth to each and every life.” (p283)