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Mr. and Mrs.President

See How They Ran

For many historians, the relief that Edmund Morris finally released his long-delayed authorized biography of Ronald Reagan has turned to dismay. In Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan Morris inserted himself and imaginary family members as fictional foils into the Reagan story supporting the unacknowledged subterfuge with fabricated footnotes. Such make-believe is entertaining, but it violates Morris's duty to fellow biographers and to the nation.

While still president, Ronald Reagan gave Edmund Morris an historic opportunity: to observe the president in action and then write the definitive biography. Reagan's blessing opened all kinds of doors. Morris witnessed key events and some behind-the-scenes deliberations. Reagan's aides, relatives, and friends granted him many hours of interviews: these "co-contributors," as Morris calls them, are virtually a who's who of the Reagan power elite. And Morris had the run of the Reagan papers, including access to the president's half-million-word private diary, which is restricted to scholars.

The rest of us who toil in the fields of Reagan scholarship do not have it so easy. Most of the millions of documents in the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, remain unprocessed and unavailable. Despite the best efforts of the Reagan Library staff, Freedom of Information Act requests drag on for as long as two years. Once processed, the collections come to researchers picked clean of most goodies – filled with what the bureaucrats call P-5s, the restriction code claiming that release of the documents "would disclose confidential advice between the President and his advisers, or between such advisers" -- which is, of course, precisely what historians seek.

During the fourteen-year wait for Morris to share his research findings with the rest of us, Morris guarded his Reagan franchise well. Through periodic speeches, television appearances, and articles, Morris reminded the world that he had the keys to the Reagan research kingdom. In the process, Morris became the 800-pound gorilla of Reagan scholarship, scaring off many researchers before they even started, and a force to be reckoned with for those of us obstinate enough to persevere nevertheless.

With the Disneyfication of book publishing, too many people believe that each subject can merit only one book, because if you are not going to write a blockbuster you are wasting your time. I have yet to have a conversation with an agent, a publisher, or a former Reagan administration official without being asked a polite version of the question: why are you bothering to write about Reagan when Random House has three million dollars committed to Edmund Morris's work? I always reply that Morris's book on Reagan is a win-win for Reagan scholars. If it is a hit, it will prove there is a market for Reagan books; if it is a bust, it will intensify the search for someone who can write a good book explaining Reagan. Besides, scholars are not competing with Morris – one percent of Morris's three-million dollar advance is big bucks for most authors.

I wish Edmund Morris's book well. I hope it rekindles interest in the many compelling questions about Reagan and his era. No one book, however authoritative, however accurate, could possibly address all the questions we need to explore about Reagan's life, his domestic policy, his foreign policy, his ideology, his cultural significance, his role in shaping the 1980s, his ultimate legacy. It is nearly twenty years since Ronald Reagan's election as president -- the time has come for historians to study him more intensely, without simply rehashing the political arguments of the 1980s or throwing up their hands because the man is too enigmatic.

Unfortunately, by blurring the clear and critical line between fact and fiction, Morris has discredited his own contribution to Reagan scholarship. He has also polluted the stream of future works, which depend on the integrity of each preceding work. It is difficult even for those of us trained in research methodology to detect all of Morris's ploys. Professors are going to spend the rest of their careers reading student papers that unsuspectingly quote as real Morris's fictional characters, fabricated documents, and synthesized reminiscences. Not only are these unexplained in the text and footnoted, but Random House's brief mention of Morris's literary technique in the book jacket will not make it to most library shelves.

The postmodernist what-is-truth debate aside, it still seems that Morris simply wasted his time and squandered his opportunity. Primary evidence is useful because it is untainted by knowledge of what subsequently occurred. As historians, we want to know what contemporaries actually thought of Reagan's now-famous 1964 fundraising appeal for Barry Goldwater -- has "The Speech" taken on retrospective importance because Reagan eventually became president? It is not that valuable or interesting to see what Morris in the 1990s had his fake son pretend to say about it back in 1964. Similarly, the actual Hollywood fanzine profiles of Ronald Reagan as "Mr. Norm" are fascinating enough, why did Morris have to "compile" portraits from one "profile" here, "a publicity file" there, and "the author's conversations with RR."

Considering the great gift Reagan gave him, Morris's emphasis is misplaced. With all the counterfeit intrusions, the first two-thirds of this tome function as a quirky, self-indulgent, precious, yet highly readable historical novel wherein Edmund Morris's imaginary self observes the growth of Ronald Reagan, the man and the legend. Morris chose to spend 409 of his 674 pages telling the story of Reagan before the presidency, and merely 113 pages describing the period when the biographer actually observed the President in action. The index lists more pages referring to Morris's fictional father (nine) than to Tip O'Neill (eight); Justice Sandra Day O'Connor merits only one mention, Judge Robert Bork none at all.

Even worse, the reaction of the Reaganites and Reagan's family to the Morris book will have a chilling effect on future researchers. These critical oral history sources feel abused by Morris. They are likely to be wary about cooperating with other historians.

Fortunately, there is something Morris can do to rectify his error. His notes – transcripts of interviews, xeroxes of memoranda, and contemporaneous accounts of events he witnessed – must be a treasure trove. When appearing on "60 Minutes" Morris proudly showed Lesley Stahl his meticulously organized -- and impressively extensive -- files.

Morris should open these papers and make them easily accessible to students of the Reagan years. He should try to secure the approval of all those who cooperated with him, so that these actual, accurate, fully-documented insights into this most influential president can be shared with the world. Such an act of generosity would allow Morris to have his cake and eat it too. It would allow him to indulge his creativity without hurting the rest of us who rely on each link in the evidentiary chain –be it a primary or a secondary source, a memo to Reagan or a book about Reagan – to be as solid as possible.

In his farewell address, President Reagan urged his fellow citizens to pay "more attention to American history." The retiring president warned that "If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are." Ronald Reagan's momentous presidency helped define the last two decades of American life. It is time for Ronald Reagan's authorized biographer to do what Reagan chose him to do: help us understand the true history of Ronald Reagan and his era.