Reagan letters reveal man driven by idealism

WHILE recuperating from an assassination attempt in 1981, President Reagan wrote a heartfelt four-page letter to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, asking if they could work together to reduce the tensions between their nations, according to a new book about Reagan’s letters.

The book, produced with the cooperation of Nancy Reagan and excerpted in Time magazine, suggests Reagan was more involved in the day-to-day responsibilities of the presidency than some of his critics and former aides have suggested.

The Reagan in the letters seems a modest, plainspoken man driven by idealism.

“My Dear Mr. President,” he said in the Brezhnev letter, “I regret and yet can understand the somewhat intemperate tone of your recent letter. After all we approach the problems confronting us from opposite philosophical points of view. Is it possible that we have let ideology, political and economical philosophy and government policies keep us from considering the very real, everyday problems of the people we represent?”

“Reagan: A Life in Letters,” goes on sale tomorrow, a day after the latest issue of Time, which includes 14 of the letters. The book includes more than 1,000 letters discovered by author Kiron K. Skinner, now a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who found them while researching a book on the Cold War.

Time said Reagan’s aides objected to his Brezhnev letter, saying it was inappropriate to send such a personal message.

At one point, the State Department drafted an alternative letter, but Reagan insisted that both be sent.