Richard Wirthlin
Strategist and Pollster

On Reagan's Vision

A defining moment that showed me how Ronald Reagan viewed his role as President of the United States came when we were having our great successes with the economy. I was in the first family's private residence in the White House. It was just me, the President, and Nancy. We were talking about the great things that had been accomplished in those first days. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the President stopped me in mid-sentence.

"Dick, do you know what I really want to be remembered for?" he asked. "No, Mr. President, what is it that you want to be remembered for?"

"I want to be remembered as the President of the United States who brought a sense and reality of peace and security. I want to eliminate that awful fear that each of us feels sometimes when we get up in the morning knowing that the world can be destroyed through a nuclear holocaust."

It was a revealing moment not because I was unaware of the President's passion for peace, but because it showed me just how deeply he had internalized his vision. In his own mind, he had defined his legacy in terms of leaving the world a more peaceful place than he found it. I was touched that he would open himself up that way and share his heart with me. Even in the midst of great policy successes, here was a President who kept his eyes fixed firmly on ultimate ends, on his vision for America.

On Reagan's Sense of Humor

Reagan could be rib-achingly funny. One time I walked into the Oval Office for a meeting with just the President and Don Regan. The President was preparing to travel abroad. Before we got down into our discussion, I asked him if he had packed his bags in preparation for his trip. He said he had and went on to explain he liked to pack light. "I find that I can usually get away with wearing the same dress shirt twice." I confessed that I sometimes did the same. Don Regan, who never quite lost the sartorial flair of a Wall Street executive, cocked his head and shot us both a funny look.

"Really?! I guess I'm not like you two. I have to wear a fresh shirt during business hours and then another shirt in the evening."

Reagan leaned forward in his chair, looked Don in the eyes, and said, "What are you trying to say, Don? That Dick and I smell bad?"

On Reagan's Use of Polls

Critics often claimed that my polling data and counsel drove the President's agenda. In truth, Ronald Reagan was one of the best users of opinion research I've ever worked with because he clearly established the administration's objectives and understood the relative strengths and weaknesses of how those objectives interlaced with public attitudes. For example, in 1994 the President was kind enough to deliver a speech marking my firm's 30th anniversary. In his address, he shared with the audience the thoughts that filled his mind every time we sat in the Oval Office sifting through the myriad pages of my polling data. He said, "For every number, I saw a face. The numbers represented the people, and we had to remember that the people are the ones who sent us there."

In sum, Reagan got it. He never lost sight of the fact that government was meant to serve the people, not the other way around. Where other politicians would have seen numbers, Reagan saw faces. And that, in part, is what made him so special.