When you meet the President [Reagan] you ask yourself, How did it ever occur to anybody that he should be governor, much less President? Henry Kissinger, April 1986
Former aides say Ronald Reagan was a man who read his horoscope and the ‘funnies’ before the rest of the paper. They say he wasn’t only indulging his wife – that the former president also believed in astrology. Andrea Mitchell, NBC News 1989
If you can control the access of the press to [Reagan], you have a hell of a lot better chance of him not screwing up. Lyn Nofziger, Reagan’s campaign press secretary, interview Mark Hertsgaard
He [Reagan] demonstrated for all to see how far you can go in this life with a smile, a shoeshine and the nerve to put your own spin on the facts. David Nyhan
He [Reagan] knows less about the budget than any president in my lifetime. He can’t even carry on a conversation about the budget. It’s an absolute and utter disgrace. Tip O’Neill
The deaths lie on him [Reagan] and the defeat in Lebanon lies on him and him alone ... The trouble with this fellow is he tries to be tough rather than smart. Tip O’Neill
Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise. Donald Regan, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington
Emerging from a particularly credulous Southern California culture, Nancy and Ronald Reagan relied on an astrologer in private and public matters – unknown to the voting public. Some portion of the decision-making that influences the future of our civilization is plainly in the hands of charlatans. Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World
Poor dear, there’s nothing between his [Reagan’s] ears. Margaret Thatcher to official, cited Peter Jenkins, Mrs Thatcher’s Revolution
The epitaph of the Reagan presidency will be: When Ronald Reagan became President, the United States was the largest creditor nation. When he left the presidency, we were the world’s largest debtor nation. Lester Thurow, MIT professor of economics
Ronald Reagan in my view was the greatest of post-World War II American presidents. John Howard, Australian prime minister
And so the CIA and Ronald Reagan and Bill Casey and George Bush (Vice President George Bush) were running the whole operation; we know that now. They circumvented the will of Congress and there was this explosion of drug trafficking all throughout Central America, coordinated by the CIA. Mike Ruppert, former CIA drug enforcement officer, interview with Guerrilla News Network, 2000
Starting with Ronald Reagan, the holy grail of deregulation has been sold to the public. But the news media has largely ignored its disastrous results. Orwell Rolls in His Grave 2003
Under Reagan in 1987 the fairness doctrine was eliminated. ibid.
If Reagan’s arms build-up and belligerent speeches unnerved the ageing Soviets, this was just the beginning. Only two weeks after the Evil Empire speech Reagan announced his most expensive, technically-demanding weapons project to date: the Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as Star Wars. 1983: The Brink of Apocalypse
I haven’t felt this awful since we saw that Ronald Reagan film. Airplane 1980 aka Flying High! starring Leslie Nielsen & Robert Hays & Julie Hagerty & Peter Graves & Lloyd Bridges & Robert Stack & Lorna Patterson & Stephen Stucker & Frank Ashmore & Jonathan Banks & Kareem Abdul-Jabbar et al, directors Jim Abrahams & David Zucker & Jerry Zucker, woman on plane
Donald Rumsfeld: Mr Aspartame ... In the late ’70s he was Chairman and Chief Executive of Searle. Searle was the manufacturer of Aspartame ... The Food and Drug Administration in the States had tested Aspartame and had seen that it was the cause of brain cancer and brain tumours in rats, so the FDA refused to give it a licence. Donald Rumsfeld and Searle – they financed very significantly Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign. Within forty-eight hours of Ronald Reagan being sworn in the Presidency, Ronald Reagan had removed the head of the FDA and replaced him with a guy Donald Rumsfeld had put forward, and within two weeks was given a licence. Ian R Crane, Hidden Agenda lecture, Glastonbury 2006
It was an inch from his heart. But who was the gunman? A bizarre motive. A crime that shocked America: the shooting of Ronald Reagan. Crimes of the Century: Reagan Shooting, ID 2016
While Reagan was in surgery, the suspect John Hinkley junior was being questioned. ibid.
They found was a history of despair, deceit and delusion. ibid.
This is the story of how the world’s most powerful man [Ronald Reagan] declared war on terrorism in the Lebanon, fought it with words and lost. States of Terror: Men of God, BBC 1993
Lebanon: One image still haunts America: the ruins of its embassy shattered by a suicide-bomber. ibid.
Sorrow and anger were to cloud his judgment as the tragedy unfolded … humiliated in the Lebanon by a handful of fanatics driving trucks. ibid.
There have been times in this office when I’ve wondered how you could do the job if you hadn’t been an actor. The Reagan Show, 2017
He was always out of touch. He was never in charge. ibid. opponent
Together we’ll make America great again. ibid. Reagan
Before he was President, Reagan acted in 53 Hollywood movies. ibid. caption
A stupefying shambles at the very heart of American policy-making. ibid. Denis Healey
In the fall of 1986 the White House is mired in scandal. America’s most dangerous enemy: Iran. With the profits diverted illegally to fund a right-wing guerrilla group in Nicaragua, the Contras. Bad news for Reagan but worse for his loyal deputy George Bush. Iran/Contra could kill his own presidential plans. Race for the White House s1e3: George H W Bush v Michael Dukakis, CNN 2016
Reagan didn’t get the Berlin wall torn down by apologising to commies. Lilyhammer s2e3: Fiddler’s Green, Frank, Netflix 2013
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and US president Ronald Reagan were in power together for eight years, most of the 1980s. They saw the beginning of the end of the Cold War as the world emerged from the shadow of nuclear Armageddon. Thatcher & Reagan: A Very Special Relationship I, BBC 2022
During her 1981 visit, Mrs Thatcher spent time with Reagan at not one but two gala dinners. ibid.
Their most striking achievement so far was the imminent arrival of hundreds more American nuclear missiles across western Europe. Thatcher & Reagan: A Very Special Relationship II
The big disagreement over Grenada came at an important time for Reagan. He was trying to find a way out of the nuclear arms race. ibid.
There was so much Reagan propaganda going on. Kurt Cobain, cited Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, HBO 2015