All language subtitles for The Reagans H264 1080 S01E04

[indistinct conversations]

- [Ronald] Where do you want me?
- [man] You're right.

[man] No, you're gonna sit
right there.

[indistinct conversations]

[Ronald] Hello, Robert.

[indistinct chatter continues]

[man] Mr. Vice President.
Good to see you.

[indistinct chatter continues]

[dramatic music plays]

[camera shutter clicks]

[indistinct chatter continues]

[man] Mr. President,
how could so much be going on

inside your White House without
you knowing about it, sir?

[man] Mr. President,
as a result...

[chuckles]

[woman]
Well, don't you think it's...

[laughs]

[applause]

[applause continues]

I'm Dorothy Ridings,

President of the League
of Women Voters,

the sponsor of tonight's
first presidential debate

between
Republican Ronald Reagan,

and Democrat Walter Mondale.

And now let us begin the debate

with the first question,
Mr. Wieghart.

Mr. President, in 1980...

[Baker] When the red light
went on the camera,

he was superb.

And so I was always one
who was in favor of his debating

because I thought
he was so good.

I mean, he didn't have facts
and figures.

He wasn't a policy wonk.

But he could take
the temperature

of the American people
pretty damn well.

The system is still where it was

with regard to, uh... the...

uh... with regard to the...
The, uh...

progressivity, as I've said.

Well, the first debate
was a fucking disaster.

And the guy that knew it was
a disaster was Ronald Reagan.

So there are a host
of other figures

that reveal that...

the, uh, the... the grant programs

are spending a third more
on all of the... uh...

well, all of the programs
of human service.

We... We have...

We have more people
receiving food stamps...

[Ron Jr.] I was watching it
on television,

and I began to, you know,
think, you know,

"Whoa, what... what is happening?

This... he doesn't...
This is not my familiar father

here on the TV in this debate."

And a lot of people
started talking then

about what's wrong with him?

Is he too old to be president?
Does he have Alzheimer's?

So this was a discussion
that was sort of widespread

in the country.

[man] One case study
was Mrs. Reagan's reaction

to the first debate
with Walter Mondale,

and the president's
fumbling performance.

She was upset,
and everybody knew it.

- And rightly so.
- How so?

I mean, what did she...
Did she chew people out

or what... I mean, what went on?

Oh, I'm not gonna get into that.

You...
You'd have to ask her that.

- I was upset.
- Because?

Because I thought
they'd gone about it all wrong.

And they had. [chuckles]

In terms
of preparing the president?

Yes. Yes. They overloaded him.

He know... He... He...
He knows all those things.

They don't have to overload him.

- And were they...
- [Spencer] He screwed up.

It was not because these facts
were put in his head.

It's because he did not do
his homework.

Weekend before the debate,
three of us went to Camp David.

I brought the debate book,
which was six inches thick,

put it on a credenza.

He was supposed to start
doing his homework.

I go to my cabin.

I get a phone call,
"Hey, you wanna watch a movie?"

He says,
"What do you wanna watch?

Bedtime for Bonzo "
I said, "No." "Why?"

I said, "Listen, any time
the lead actor's a gorilla,

it's a crappy movie."

He walks in the bedroom, pissed.
Nancy's over there like this.

She goes, "Stu,
he loves Bedtime for Bonzo.

You're on thin ice." [laughs]

I said, "Okay. I'll watch
the goddamn picture."

[film reel whirring]

[Spencer] The whole weekend,
I watched the debate book.

It didn't move.

Two days later,
he screws up the debate.

I knew it. He knew it.

[applause]

Nancy made
her feelings very clear,

as only she could,
that her husband didn't win

with the quality
of his arguments.

[applause]
- He had to win by being

so familiar and friendly

that the facts wouldn't matter.

He was a performer at heart.

Having a wife who was able
to buck him up

and tell him that he...
He'd do fine in the next debate,

that was really important
for that second debate.

[man] I recall yet
that President Kennedy

had to go for days on end
with very little sleep

during the Cuba missile crisis.

Is there any doubt in your mind
that you would be able

to function
in such circumstances?

Not at all.

[Rollins] We kept him
very relaxed the second time.

All he had to do is not stand
up there and drool,

and he'd been just fine,
and he...

And he had this humorous line.

I will not make age
an issue of this campaign.

I am not going to exploit,
for political purposes,

my opponent's youth
and inexperience.

[laughter]

[Rollins] That was over.
The race was over.

I said, "Fuck.
Get that on the air, baby.

That's... That's the game."

[Alter] The line was so powerful

that everybody forgot the fact
that he had just kind of spilled

the beans about an illegal
operation in Nicaragua.

We have a gentleman
down in Nicaragua

who is on contract to the CIA,

advising supposedly on military
tactics the, uh, Contras.

Mr. President,
you are implying then

that the CIA in Nicaragua
is directing the Contras there?

I'm afraid I misspoke

when I said, uh,
a CIA head in Nicaragua.

There's not someone there
directing all this activity.

Uh, there are, as you know...

[Alter] Reagan accidentally
revealed a covert operation,

but hardly anybody noticed.

A couple of years later,

that would be close
to the center of the scandal

that nearly ended
the Reagan presidency.

[Stahl] Our job with presidents

is to hold their feet
to the fire.

I was encouraged to be
very tough at the White House.

But when Reagan came in,
my boss has changed direction.

They were taking out things
that sounded like criticism,

removing them.

Everybody was afraid
to contradict him.

The media was gentler on Reagan

because of public opinion,
I think.

[Wiley] Reagan knew exactly how
to play on the feelings

of the American public.

He could use his personality
and his effectiveness

as a communicator to say,
"Don't look at the truth.

Look at what I'm telling you."

Before we begin,

I know we never have enough time
or anything,

but I think it's appropriate.

Could you listen
to a bit of poetry?

- Yes. [chuckles]
- This is from Kipling.

It is always a temptation
to an armed and agile nation

to call upon a neighbor

and to say,
"We invaded you last night.

We are quite prepared to fight,

unless you pay us cash
to go away."

[Baker] President Reagan's
management style

was to hire people
that he had confidence in,

delegate responsibility to them,

and give them the authority
to perform.

[Powell]
The president was very clear

that he expected us
to get the work done.

He wasn't somebody who would
spend all his time dialing in

or digging
into what you're doing.

He gave us great flexibility,

sometimes too much flexibility,
and it got him in trouble.

Today I am announcing
the following reassignment

of responsibilities among two
of my most senior advisors.

I intend to appoint
Donald T. Regan

as Chief of Staff
and Assistant to the President

effective upon the date...

[Tumulty] When Don Regan
becomes Chief of Staff,

Nancy is not happy.

Along with Baker's departure

is the departure
of Michael Deaver,

who was a long-time advisor.

These were
Nancy Reagan's eyes and ears.

They were her early warning
system in the West Wing.

[indistinct chatter]

[birds chirping]

Don Regan,
Gordon told me he's golfed-out.

He's golfed-out? Well, I... I'm...

I've got
a couple of little things

up here he could do. - [laughs]

He could clear some brush,
a little variety.

How is he gonna clear a golf...
Brush with a golf club?

[chuckling]

He could do a little riding,
exercise some horses.

Mm-hmm.

He should have a change of pace.

- Mm-hmm.
- [chuckles]

- Don't you think?
- Yeah.

Okay. You tell him. [laughs]

- [man] So help me God.
- So help me God.

- Congratulations, sir.
- Thank you.

Thank you very much.
Just call me "Chief."

[laughter]

[Baker] Don Regan,
I don't think,

after he replaced me
as Chief of Staff,

ever really understood
that this Chief of Staff's job

is primarily a staff job,
not a chief job.

How are we doing
with the immigration issue?

[Rollins] He didn't give Nancy
much reverence.

As a matter of fact,
he made the comment,

"I'm not hired to be
the fucking Chief of Staff

to the First Lady."

Her political antenna
were far more sensitive

than President Reagan's were.

Happy birthday, dear Donald

[Ron Jr.] You could call
my father gullible

to a certain extent.
He was trusting of people.

She was not. My mother was not.

That was not her default
position... trust in people.

[Spencer] Nancy had a great deal
of power with her husband,

but she had to hide it
in different roles.

[Baker] When we would have
an important thing to schedule,

I would go to Dever and I'd say,
"Now what about doing this

on such and such a day?"

He said, "Let me check.
I'll get back to you."

That happened a few times,
and I started thinking, hmm.

I knew we were checking
with Nancy,

but I didn't know we were
checking with an astrologer.

Are you serious, Ms. Quigley?

What do you mean, am I serious?

I mean, the wife of the
President of the United States

would call Joan Quigley

and would talk to her
for a couple of hours

on the telephone. - Yes.

And would talk about what time
a treaty should be signed or...

Yes, but I'm a very good
technical astrologer,

and I know how...

[Kelley] The Reagans dealt
with many astrologers

for many years, but the most
famous became Joan Quigley.

[Ruth Quigley] When Nancy
wanted a new astrologer,

she called Merv Griffin 'cause
she and Merv were great pals.

And he said, "Oh, well,
the one that always tells me

the right things
is Joan Quigley."

[Kelley] Nancy Reagan
relied on Joan Quigley.

She would call her sometimes
eight times a day

for almost everything,
down to unbelievable details,

including the takeoff
and landings times

for Air Force One.

It was astrology
that charted their way.

But nobody knew that
at the time.

[Ruth] Joan timed
all of the press conferences,

the State of the Unions.

She defused so many
difficult situations for them.

She would say, "Make no foreign
pronouncements on this day,"

or when Ronald Reagan wanted
to arm twist a congressman,

Joan could tell him
when to do it.

[Spencer] People have always
asked me on that question

of astrology and Nancy,
"What about the husband?"

He and I had the conversation.

That's her thing.
Leave her alone.

[applause]

[Tumulty] For her,
astrology was a crutch.

Nancy did not have religion
to fall back on,

and Ronald Reagan
had a very deep religious faith.

He truly believed
that God had a plan for him.

[cheers and applause]

Religious America is awakening

perhaps just in time
for our country's sake.

[applause]

[Alter]
Reagan's religious background

and conservative ideas
really resonated with a group

of right-wing
evangelical Christians

who decided to get more
heavily involved in politics,

and Reagan saw that
as an opportunity.

[Spencer] And Christian right,
then termed a Moral Majority,

it was a very large voting bloc.

And on a lot of the issues,
social issues particularly,

we had an inside track.

Reagan and I would go out to pay
our allegiances to Falwell.

The reverend's thing
was Roe vs. Wade.

When we left,
I said, "Mr. President,

are you gonna give
serious thought

to reversing Roe vs. Wade?"

He turned to me with that
big Irish smile, and he says,

"Stu, do I look insane?"

Well, he got politically close,

as close as we could
get away with,

and we got a lot of money
out of 'em.

[woman] Claiming to receive
$400,000 a week

in contributions,
the Moral Majority movement

believes that all of America's
problems are the byproduct

of moral decadence and runaway
Democratic liberalism.

[Ron Jr.]
To some extent, at least,

my father did let the genie
out of the bottle

with the link
between the Republican Party

and the evangelical right...

The unholy alliance
that we see now.

[Shearer] Ronald Reagan
didn't go to church a lot,

and for him to then embrace
the Moral Majority, I think,

was pure political opportunism,
which he did well.

[man] What's happened?

Twenty million Americans
have herpes,

incurable venereal disease.

Many more have AIDS,

incurable
and in most cases fatal.

God was angered,
and God has judged a society.

Suspenseful music plays

What?

[laughter]

There was
a lot of willful blindness

to... to what was happening
all around them.

[Ron Jr.] I don't mean
to be making excuses for him

because it's not defensible,
but when he took office,

there was no such thing as AIDS.

It existed, obviously,
but nobody knew what it was.

There was this mysterious
illness that seemed

to be affecting mostly gay men
and IV drug users.

Not big Republican,
you know, constituents.

They had gay friends,
but he probably

would have put them
in a different category.

You know,
not our kind of gay people.

[Kelley] It is hypocritical
because with Nancy,

everybody around her

that helped her,

and made her look good
and feel good was gay.

But because the politics
of the time,

she kept that façade.

[Shearer] When he came
to Yale University in 1967,

end of the first year
as governor,

I asked Reagan
whether he thought homosexuals

had the right
to serve in government.

Well, I think we're getting
into an area now

where we can debate, uh,
what is an illness

or whether it is an illness
or not.

I happen to subscribe
to the belief

that it is a tragic illness.

[Shearer] And then
he kind of thought and he said,

"And it should be illegal."

[man] I would like to ask you
if you also think

that certain
other tragic illnesses

like tuberculosis,
cancer, mental illness,

and heart disease should
also be considered illegal?

We recognize this as a form
of illness and neurosis.

As a result of that illness,

they are not content
to simply suffer

the illness themselves
but they seek to get others

who'll catch the ailment.

And from that standpoint, yes,
I believe that we have right

to a protection
with regard to the practice

that follows such an illness.

People knew very little
about homosexuality.

In the summer of 1981

when the first cases
were identified,

we were seen
as an inherent danger.

This was the transition
from homosexuality

being on a list
of biblical vices

to being a person
you need to be afraid of,

a person who is
an inherent threat to society,

to your family.

It felt like there was
a bull's eye on our back.

It really felt like
we were targeted.

[man] What is your response
to those who say

that only a small, unsavory
group of people is affected by
it?

To say that only a small
unsavory group of people

are affected
with it is really...

is outlandish
because we know that the virus

can and is infecting a variety
of people in the population.

And to say because someone
has a particular lifestyle

that they're unsavory,
I think is objectionable.

It just seemed that Reagan

was being fed or accepting

that this was a bad thing

because of the people involved
and not because of the virus.

I was very frustrated.

We're seeing
an emerging catastrophe,

and he wanted
nothing to do with it.

[Alter]
It was a political calculation

that his evangelical base
did not want him to deviate

from their premise which is that

AIDS was God's revenge.

You ever get
the feeling sometimes

that if we let this be
another Sodom and Gomorrah,

that maybe we might be
the generation

that sees Armageddon? - Yes.

Reagan believed
that he was President

because he was called
to be President.

He saw himself as placed
at that time in history

to move the world away
from Armageddon.

[indistinct chatter]

[Adelman] This notion of
Armageddon scared the dickens
out of him.

So whenever the president
talked about Armageddon,

basically
we would just slough it off

or, you know, not answer it.

What do you do about Armageddon?

[projector whirring]

[Alter] From Goldwater in 1964

through the 1980 campaign,
he was a hawk's hawk.

[explosion ]

[Alter] But then a movie
changed his mind.

[Adelman]
It was Reagan's viewing

of The Day After...
Made him anti-nuclear.

He had an image of that
in his mind...

That's what the world's
gonna look like if we fail.

That was a massive shift
in his political position.

[Ronald] My fellow Americans,

let me share with you a vision
of the future which offers hope.

It is that we embark
on a program to counter

the awesome
Soviet missile threat

with measures
that are defensive.

- Well, what is it?
- The inertia projector.

It's a device
for throwing electrical waves

capable of paralyzing alternate

and direct currents
at their source.

All right, Hayden.

Focus that inertia projector
on 'em and let 'em have it.

[engine droning]

[man] By any name,
Star Wars or SDI,

it is an anti-missile system
which already carries

a $26 billion development
price tag.

It is not proven,
may not be feasible,

and Congress has yet to agree
to pay for it.

[man] Mr. President,
would this not create,

instead of an offensive arms
race, a defensive arms race?

Well, would that be all bad?
Uh...

If you've got everybody
building defense,

uh, then nobody's
gonna start a war.

And, uh, that's maybe part
of the idea.

[Scheer] It was based
on a movie that he was in

with a laser beamed apparatus.

It never was gonna happen.

It's a cockamamie idea

that was a fantasy
from beginning.

[rings]

dramatic music plays

[cheers and applause]

[McFarlane]
Ronald Reagan carried a belief

that the other side
ought to know

that they're not dealing
with a patsy here.

He was conveying
a moral judgment about

what he thought
about the Soviet Union.

He really felt
that this was an evil empire.

[woman] Soviet television
had the announcement

this morning
that President Andropov

had died after a long illness.

Today we've learned of the death
of the head of state,

Konstantin Chernenko,

and I've sent my condolences...

to the Soviet leadership
and people

[Shearer]
For the first five years,

Reagan didn't directly deal
with the Communists.

Reagan's interaction
with the Russians changed

because the Russians changed.

Gorbachev was a younger,
more modern guy.

And so Gorbachev reached out,

and Reagan did respond.

[Spencer]
He was willing to deal,

make the deals
that had to be made

as long as our country
wasn't hurt.

And he lucked out.

Gorbachev came along,
who had the same frame of mind.

[woman] In Warsaw today,
Soviet leader Gorbachev,

said he sent a personal letter
to President Reagan,

a letter which could lead
to a summit.

It's, uh, different than things

that we've heard in the past
leaders in the Soviet Union.

- [man] How is that?
- [man] Thank you.

That's enough.

Well, it's just about
the first time that anyone

has ever proposed to actually
eliminating nuclear weapons.

To Reagan's credit,
with the help of his wife,

when Gorbachev came
on the scene,

he realized that
he could change course,

shed that old image
of the Cold War era,

and take advantage
of this historic opportunity.

[Joan Quigley] I talked to Nancy
for two or three hours,

convincing her that Gorbachev
was a kind of man

that was not only tough
but intelligent,

open to new ideas,
and that he had vision

like Ronald Reagan did,

and that these two men

have a fantastic chemistry
between them.

[Ruth Quigley] When
Nancy called Joan, she said,

"Gorbachev, from his chart,
was an intellectual,

and he was a man
that loved ideas

and could be influenced."

Gorbachev had gotten
to where he was

through the assistance
of older men.

And Ronnie was 20 years older
than Gorbachev,

so there would be that sort of

subconscious respect
for someone older.

I also affected
definitely the relationship

between the superpowers
because of my reading

of Gorbachev's horoscope.

And I... the minute I read it,
I knew that I had to change

the evil empire attitude
before he...

they had their first summit,
and I went about that.

[Ruth Quigley]
Joan convinced Nancy that

if Ronnie kept an open-mind,
using his super salesmanship

on Gorbachev, it would work.

[Kelley]
In a sense, it was harmless.

On the other hand,

this is the man who has his hand
on a nuclear button,

and his actions

are being dictated
by astrologers.

[Ronald]
We have serious problems

with the Soviet positions
on a great many issues,

and success is not guaranteed.

But if Mr. Gorbachev
comes to Iceland

in a truly cooperative spirit,

I think we can make
some progress.

That's my goal.

That's my purpose
in going to Iceland.

[Adelman] After the first
morning of the Reykjavik Summit,

we were summoned into the room
within a room

in the U.S. Embassy.

It had a kind of
vault-like entrance,

and so it was absolutely secure.

Reagan start to tell us
that Gorbachev

really wants to do this.

And Reagan, from his memory,

gives us some numbers
that are in his head.

After about five minutes

of absolute agony
of groping around,

he goes into his suit pocket

and he takes out
a piece of paper, he said,

"Oh, Gorbachev handed me this."

So we all dived
for the paper and we found out,

holy cow, this guy really wants
to use this weekend

to get something done
in arms control.

Gorbachev says,
"Yes, we made great progress,

but you know what?
It's all tied to canning SDI."

[Shultz]
President Reagan rejected that.

This man has strong opinions

but he understands
why he has the opinion.

So that means he's gonna stick
to something that he decides on.

[Adelman] Reagan told us
that he had made a pledge

to the American people
to see SDI through.

None of us
had ever heard the pledge.

That was the first time...

but you know,
it was a part of his imagination

that he must have done it
or should have done it,

and that he wasn't
gonna give it up.

[man] Do you think he missed
an opportunity back then?

Yes. I think he did,

'cause in retrospect we know
that SDI doesn't work, you know?

So he wouldn't have been
giving up anything actually.

I think, you know,
we could be living in a world

with many fewer nuclear weapons
right now

if he just had, you know,
given in on that.

But he thought he was...

he thought Gorbachev
is trying to hustle him.

[man] After three hours
and 42 minutes

of that last meeting,
disappointment.

Ronald Reagan,
his jaw set grimly,

and an unsmiling
Mikhail Gorbachev walked out,

telegraphing failure.

[Shultz] So in the end...

...we are deeply disappointed...

...at this outcome.

[Ruth Quigley] In January 1986,
Ronald Reagan was really moving

into a very bad period,
astrologically.

When Nancy called Joan,

she could see
the horrible aspects gathering

for poor Ronald Reagan,

and Joan had to do
what she could to minimize it.

So she didn't let him
have press conferences

because those could have
assassinated him

in a different way.

Ronald Reagan held fewer

than one press conference
every other month.

That's not accountability.

That is hiding from the press.

[Tom Brokaw] It is taking shape
as one of the most

controversial
foreign policy developments

of President Reagan's years
in office.

The reports of
a secret White House operation

to ship Iran military supplies

in exchange for help in freeing
three American hostages.

[man] Mr. President,
do we have a deal going

with Iran of some...
Of some sort?

- [man chuckles]
[camera shutter clicking]

No comment.

[man] Mr. President,
the Iranians are saying

that if you'll release
some of those weapons,

they'll intercede to free
the rest of the hostages.

Will you?

Good evening. President Reagan
is about to hold

his first formal news conference
since August.

Mr. Reagan holds these sessions
so infrequently

that when he does, just the fact

he's meeting with reporters
becomes news.

But with all the controversy

swirling about
secret arms deals,

this one promises
more newsworthy than usual.

I have a few words here
before I take your questions.

Just some brief remarks.

18 months ago,
as I said last Thursday,

this administration began
a secret initiative

to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

However,
to eliminate the widespread

but mistaken perception

that we have been exchanging
arms for hostages,

I have directed
that no further sales of arms

of any kind be sent to Iran.
I further...

[Rollins] It all started
with the hostages.

And the first rule is
you never let the president

be talked to by the families
of the hostages.

Don Regan got tired
of listening to the sister

of one of the hostages.

And finally one day, he just put
him through to Reagan.

It became not about
the big picture.

It became the picture of what
would take to get them home.

And now I'll take
your questions. Helen?

Mr. President,
in the recent past,

there was an administration
whose byword was

"Watch what we do,
not what we say."

How would you assess
the credibility...

[McFarlane] The President had
empathy for the hostages

to a fault.

I briefed the President
along with the risks.

And before long,

to show evidence
of our good faith,

was the transfer of weapons.

Mr. President,
you have stated flatly,

and you've stated flatly again
tonight

that you did not trade weapons
for hostages,

and yet the record shows

that every time an American
hostage was released,

there had been a major shipment
of arms just before that.

Are we all to believe
that was just a coincidence?

Chris, the only thing I know
about major shipments of arms...

[Ron Jr.] I came back
to the White House,

and I was very blunt with him.

"What are you talking about?

You need to admit
what has on here."

But he had convinced himself

this wasn't really
an arms for hostage deal.

That he was simply
making an overture

to more moderate Iranians,

and that a side benefit of that

would be the freeing
of the hostages.

But you wanted to say to him,

"You're not saying things
that jive with reality here."

Sir, if I may, the polls show

that your credibility
has been severely damaged.

Can you repair it?

What does it mean
for the rest of your presidency?

Well, I imagine
I'm the only one around

who wants to repair it,
and I didn't do...

Have anything to do with this...
Damaging it.

[Tumulty] After Reagan comes out
in this press conference,

the poll numbers plummet.

It's a real key turning point.

For the first time ever,

the American people
do not believe

that Ronald Reagan
is being straight with them.

Dramatic music plays

Republicans and Democrats alike
are calling it a crisis,

some call it a scandal,
others a tragedy.

Today's startling revelation

that up to $30 million dollars

from the secret arms deal
with Iran

ended up in the hands
of anti-government forces

in Nicaragua, the Contras.

[McFarlane] Covert activities
are difficult enough to maintain

the operational security
of one of them,

and you certainly
don't want to mix

two separate covert operations
together.

[James] [laughs]
They broke the law, okay?

They violated
the Boland Amendment.

I know this is
very self-serving,

I don't think it would
have happened if I were there.

There is a growing
public perception

that something is very wrong
in the White House

when it comes to foreign policy.

A president who says
he knew nothing

of the first arm shipments
to Iran

until after the fact,
and perhaps most important,

serious questions
about who is running

the foreign policy
of the United States.

We are told that
three military men

used to carrying out orders
from their superiors

failed to tell
the commander-in-chief

what they were up to.

NSC Advisor
Admiral John Poindexter,

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North,

and former
National Security Advisor

Colonel Robert McFarlane.

I don't intend this to be
somehow in justification,

but I knew that
if I had stayed around,

if I had intervened
emphatically,

I could have prevented this,
I think.

[man] So far,
Colonel North's testimony

means trouble for
the White House in two ways...

His image as
a one-man band overachiever

was useful for the White House

because it meant he wasn't part
of the organization.

Today, he dispelled the image

of an out-of-control
lieutenant colonel,

and he said he assumed
the president knew a lot

about what was going on.

That doesn't help Mr. Reagan.

He was being put in
this terrible position

and had put himself
in this... in this, uh,

in this terrible position,

that Poindexter and company
had been going behind his back.

[Tumulty] Nancy Reagan
begins to realize

that impeachment
is a real possibility here.

She is singlehandedly
organizing the rescue effort.

She decides that Don Regan
has got to go.

[Rollins]
And she made it happen.

She took him out at the knees.

Chris, what's the latest
on the strain

reported between Mrs. Reagan

and White House Chief of Staff
Donald Regan?

Well, Tom, a source
very close to Mrs. Reagan

told me today
that she purposely...

Mrs. Reagan purposely
leaked the story

that she's no longer talking
to Donald Regan,

to try to force Donald Regan
out of the White House.

I think this is one

that has been bandied about
in the press.

That is fiction,

and I think it is
despicable fiction.

And a lot of people ought
to be ashamed of themselves.

But the idea that she's involved

in governmental decisions
and so forth

in all of this and...

being kind of a dragon lady,

there is nothing to that and no
one who knows her well...

[Thomas]
Well, you know who said it.

...would ever believe it.

[Thomas] You know who said
"Dragon lady"?

Your Chief of Staff.

[Regan] No, no, Helen,
I didn't say that.

[laughter]

[Stahl] I came to believe
that in the second term,

Nancy Reagan was taking
the reins behind the scenes,

and directing
more and more policy.

And I also saw

the president would dip in
and out of attention.

I met with the president

and he's just standing there,

not paying any attention at all.

And he could hardly talk.

And I thought, "What's going on
with the president?"

And the press secretary,
to jolt him out of this,

screamed very loudly,
"Her husband is a screenwriter."

And honestly,
he popped... I'm not kidding,

his neck tightened,
the age spots disappeared.

He popped up and wanted to talk
about movies and there he was.

I never could diagnose it.

So I never said anything.

[Ron Jr.]
As his son, I just thought,

hmm, something just
a little bit off here.

I don't know what it is.

It could just be
that he's getting older.

He's now in his 70s,
and you tend to slow down a bit.

But there's something
just a little odd here.

[Tumulty] All these people
who dismissed Nancy Reagan

as an empty-headed
fashionista socialite,

suddenly see her exercising
a lot of power

at a time when her husband

seems incapable
of getting his own footing.

[Spencer] Got a phone call from
Nancy Reagan and Ken Duberstein

who was assistant Chief of Staff
at the time.

They said,
"We like you to come back

and talk to the president

and try to help us work
our way through this problem."

[Adelman] We started questioning
the president.

Every which way of Sunday,

to figure out whether or not

he was telling the truth
to the American people.

And what did he know
and when did he know it.

[Parvin]
You got a very historic sense

that this is how...

presidencies can fall.

Are you saying
the president made mistakes?

Yes, the president
made mistakes.

I think that's...
That's very plain English.

The president did make mistakes.

I believe that,
uh, the president was

poorly advised
and poorly served.

[Alter] Nancy tries
to do anything she can

to try to straighten this out.

The new objective
is to change the narrative.

[man] Mr. President,
what do you think have to do

to restore your credibility?

Ask me that question
after the speech tonight.

[Thomas] So you're not going
to apologize tonight

to the American people?

Tune in.

[Nancy] You'll be great.

I'm gonna break a leg.

No, what... No. Good luck.

[laughs]

[Parvin] The big question
was whether the president

would admit he traded arms
for hostages.

The problem was that
he didn't, in his heart,

believe that he did.

So I went around and around,
how do I bridge that gap

that he would accept?

And so what I
finally came up with was...

A few months ago,
I told the American people

I did not trade arms
for hostages.

My heart and my best intention
still tell me that's true.

But the facts and the evidence
tell me it is not.

As the Tower board reported,

what began as
a strategic opening to Iran

deteriorated
in its implementation...

[Alter] That line is just...
vintage Reagan.

His heart
is telling him one thing

and the facts
are telling him another?

Really? I mean, only Reagan
could get away with saying that.

And that just tells you

how deep he was
into fantasyland.

[Ron Jr.] He was depressed.

He knew that the public
wasn't on his side.

He knew there's something

almost unfathomable
to him was happening.

You deserve the truth...

[Spencer]
The speech he finally gave

was, um, not a mea culpa at all.

Uh, it was in my mind,
it was continually in denial

knowing anything about it.

And... but the truth is who knows?

Contemplative music plays

[dog yapping]

[Tumulty] The next day,
The New York Times writes

it's the biggest
presidential mea culpa

since John F. Kennedy
and the Bay of Pigs.

But whatever the reality,

it does the trick.

Ronald Reagan's poll numbers
go up overnight

because the American people
really feel for the first time

that he's being honest
with them about this.

[helicopter blades whirring]

[Stahl] I remember thinking
that Iran-Contra

was gonna destroy him
completely.

Nope. He bounced back.

But Don Reagan,

after Nancy got rid of him,

wanted to embarrass her

and hurt her image.

So, he got back at her.

Donald Regan,
former Treasury Secretary

and White House Chief of Staff,

out this morning
with a new controversial book

about the Reagan administration.

The book portrays
President Reagan as a hesitant

and unassertive chief executive

controlled to a large extent
by a scheming image-conscious

first lady who depended heavily

on the predictions
of an astrologer.

[Stahl] This was
Don Reagan's sweet revenge.

You call it, "for the record.

Why didn't you call it
"Don't Get Mad, Get Even"?

Because that's what appears
to be to a lot of people.

It is not a story about
Mrs. Reagan or anyone else.

If it's embarrassing to them,

it's only
because it's true history.

[Ruth Quigley]
Nancy was very upset about it.

And on Nancy's last conversation
with Joan, she said,

"Joan, you can't say anything.

Lie if you have to. Just lie."

And Joan said
that was the last word

she and Nancy ever exchanged was

Nancy saying to her,
"Lie if you have to. Just lie."

I am a serious
political astrologer,

and I object to the whole
circus atmosphere

surrounding this situation.

And she put up shield over him...

What we used to call
the mantle of heaven.

Nancy Reagan was gonna
make sure they were protected,

that his image was protected
no matter what.

Suspenseful music plays

[indistinct chatter]

[crowd chanting]
...own fault, just fire it up.

Won't take his own fault,
just fire it up.

Fight back, fight AIDS!
Fight back, fight AIDS!

AIDS is spreading
so fast in America

that within five years,

it will have killed
179,000 people.

That is just one of many
alarming numbers to emerge

from a federal government
forecast on the disease today.

By 1987, uh, the epidemic
is raging out of control.

[crowd] We've got to fight AIDS.

[Sean]
The advocacy in the streets

had reached a whole new level.

There is rampant
discrimination based on AIDS

and that this is hampering the
public health control efforts.

[Fauci]
The more the activists pushed,

the more the administration
drew back.

And it was sort
of a self-defeating

phenomenon that we were seeing.
- [crowd shouting]

[Kramer] People die every day.
Friends get sick every day.

I don't... it's like
being in the trenches.

There is such anger
in the community,

and it is coalescing in a way
that has never been done before.

[cheers and applause]

dramatic music plays

[Taylor] The issue that
was becoming steadily worse,

and it was still in the closet.

People would not talk about it.

[woman] The very public death

of her close friend,
Rock Hudson,

first brought the disease
out of the shadows

and into the American spotlight.

It brought attention
to the Reagans

in kind of a personal way
because the friendship

and they had this long history
together in Hollywood.

This was so clearly
invading their life as well.

[Ron Jr.] First Lady isn't
as isolated as the president is.

So she was talking
to her friends

and talking to me,
and she got it before he did.

[man] With conservatives saying
the president should not support

what amounts
to gay rights legislation,

well, the First Lady is known

to have strong views about
protecting AIDS victims.

The White House
was basically dragged

into addressing
the AIDS issue in a speech.

At Elizabeth Taylor's
urging, Mrs. Reagan

realized they were
behind the curve,

and she got things rolling.

The White House
speechwriting staff was...

It was hardcore conservative.

Mrs. Reagan didn't want
the AIDS speech

to fall into those hands.

That's why I was hired.

Things were so behind
that when I talked

to Sergeant General Koop,

I realized he had never even met

with the president on AIDS.

I just couldn't believe it.

With everything that's going on
in the country, how can that be?

[indistinct chatter]

This was six years
into the epidemic.

There were probably
20,000 people dead by then,

maybe 30,000 people dead
by then.

[Parvin] Certain conservative
members of the cabinet

got involved,

pushing against what
we could and could not say.

It was just battle after battle.

For example, should the
president use the word "condom"?

[woman] The setting was gala,

but the mood distinctly was not.

It was Ronald Reagan's

first major address
on federal policy on AIDS.

AIDS is
surreptitiously spreading

throughout our population,

and yet we have no accurate
measure of its scope.

It's time we knew exactly
what we were facing.

[Sean] It was more important as
a political opportunity for him

than it was
as a humanitarian crisis.

I've asked HHS to add
the AIDS virus to the list

of contagious diseases

for which immigrants and aliens

seeking permanent residence
in the United States

can be denied entry.

[audience shouting and booing]

[Sean] Some of us were able to
get tickets into the event.

We would boo him,
and then we were getting,

like, hushed
or kind of booed back

from the audience,
you know, to drown us out.

[Ronald] Now, let me turn
to what the States can do.

[applause, crowd booing]

[cheers and applause]

I mean,
there was so much hurt...

um, that people were feeling.

It was not the speech
I would have given,

but it was the speech...

that went as far as I could
get it to go.

[Ronald] It's something that

a young man with AIDS
recently said,

"I am going to fight the disease
with every breath I have."

Ladies and gentlemen,
so must we.

- Thank you.
[cheers and applause]

[crowd booing]

[Sean] I can tell
the president was shaken.

I mean, you could just tell.

[Fauci] I was gratified
that he said AIDS,

but I had a big feeling
of it's about time.

It was puzzling
to a number of people,

myself included,

why Nancy Reagan
did not push a bit more

to have the president
and the people around him

using the bully pulpit
of the presidency

in the beginning,
warning people.

[applause]

[Sean] If it hadn't been
for Elizabeth Taylor

really insisting and cleverly
lobbying and setting it up

so that Reagan
would speak at that,

he might have never given
a significant address on AIDS.

And that was nearing
the end of his second term.

[Sean] Had he all the way
taken the steps

in the early 1980s,

but his administration did not
allow those things to be done.

And instead, he abdicated
responsibility on AIDS.

And that abdication
brought pain and suffering

to so many.

And we still see
the reverberations of it today.

What you essentially had

near the end
of Reagan's presidency

was a man who had to be
propped up by his wife,

members of his staff,

by loyalists
in his administration

to redefine the myth
of the Reagan presidency.

[Ron Jr.] He wrote in his diary
during his presidency

about flying over the canyons
of the West Coast of California,

familiar canyons to him,

couldn't remember
any of their names.

That struck him enough
that he put it in his diary

with a kind of slightly alarmed,
you know, tone.

Contemplative music plays

[Ron Jr.] Was something going on
in his mind at the time?

Well, we know that Alzheimer's
takes about 10 years at least

to develop to the point
where you end up with dementia.

So, he has the disease
while he's in the White House.

That's really pretty
much unquestionable.

I ran that
by his neurologists, too,

who confirmed that
that had to be the case.

[Johnson]
It was Nancy recognizing

more than the press
was willing to admit

that he was entering
the early stages of Alzheimer's

became concerned
with his legacy.

She wanted to transform him
into the man

who stares down the Soviet Union
and saves this country,

saves the world
from nuclear conflict.

[Alter] The Reagans understood

the theater
of the American presidency,

the stagecraft that's involved,
and the importance of creating

an emotional connection
to the audience

to make that performance
a winning one.

[cheers and applause]

Mr. Gorbachev,
tear down this wall.

[cheers and applause]

[Shultz] They're great friends.

And there were some people
in the State Department

and also in the NIC Staff

who thought
it was too provocative.

And they tried
to get it knocked out.

But the president kept it in.

[cheers and applause]

It became the signature line
of Reagan's eight years.

[cheers and applause]

[Johnson]
Reagan's success was in part

because he was
the ultimate pitchman,

and this is important
to understand.

Ronald Reagan's
ultimate sales pitch

wasn't to the American people.

It was to journalism.

He completely flipped
the media industrial complex

in America on its head.

And by the time
he left office in 1988,

he was not just a hero
to the Republican Party,

he was a hero to American media

because he had given them
the sort of televised president

that they had always
wanted to see.

[Stahl] They manipulated us
by making sure we had pictures

with the president in the scene
that we absolutely had to use.

And they fed us
gorgeous pictures.

When the pictures are stronger
than what you're saying,

the pictures will override,
and people won't even hear you.

[Scheer] He was particularly
gifted in manipulation

by being an actor
and being able to follow scripts

and play a folksy person.

He was destructive
to the people who trusted him

and caused a great deal of harm.

Ronald Reagan
was famously affable.

But I think
it's important to know

that he was a friendly man
with one friend,

and he married her.

[Spencer] She was playing
the role of the wife,

but I think she wanted
the world to know

that she was the power
behind the throne.

I do.

[Johnson] Ronald Reagan believed

that a mythological America
never existed.

He didn't really care
about taking us back to it.

He thought that
it still existed.

It was just covered over

in civil rights
and government regulation.

And if you move those things
out of the way,

this America that never existed

that he magically believed in
was going to come back.

[Ron Jr.] My father
was not comfortable with

a lot of negativity.

If America was a great country,

then it needed to be great
through and through.

So, whether it was racism,
misogyny, wealth and inequality,

these systemic issues,
you might say, with America

made my father
very uncomfortable.

So he would edit it out.

[Wiley]
And it was all mythmaking.

It was all brilliant acting.

Ronald Reagan remains
an incredible societal myth,

the myth
of the perfect president.

[David] You're the only
movie actor I know of

who ever got elected
to a high office.

Do you learn anything
as an actor

that has been useful
to you as president?

[Ronald] I'm tempted
to say something here.

- [David] Go ahead and say it.
- Well, I'm gonna say it.

- [David] Go ahead.
- There have been times

in this office when I wondered

how you could do the job
if you hadn't been an actor.

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