How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life
Peter Robinson
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2003 Regan Books
ISBN: 0060523999

Six years as a speechwriter in the Reagan White House molded the author's outlook just as he was coming into his own.

The example Reagan set: as a confident, passionate, principled, generous-spirited older man gave Peter Robinson an outlook on life of “Hard work. A good marriage. A certain lightness of touch. The longer I studied Ronald Reagan, the more lessons I learned.”

& at the core of How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life are the ten life lessons gleaned from observing our beloved 40th President in action -- principles that have guided Peter Robinson ever since. It also offers a warm & memorable portrait of a great yet ordinary man who touched the individuals around him as surely as he did his millions of admirers around the world.

Drawing on journals from his days at the White House, as well as interviews with those who knew the President best, Peter Robinson etches his portrait with fresh observations, telling detail, & that “certain lightness of touch” which recalls the master himself. The result is nothing less than a love story -- an account of the profound respect & affection that one young man came to feel for the President who changed his life.

My interest in our 40th President was, naturally, piqued by his death after a long life, his decade of Alzheimer's twilight & our National mourning. I was a fan of The West Wing in its early seasons, until 9/11 happened & then all its drama seemed ... well ... melodramatic. I continued to watch, mostly because I wanted to see what life was like for those who worked for a President. With Peter Robinson's book, a cross between a memoir & a human potential seminar, I have gotten a better much more realistic glimpse, as seen from a lowly, inexperienced, & relatively callow speechwriter.

I like Peter Robinson's style. I like his lessons, most of which I already knew (perhaps because of my own immersion, 30 years ago, in a human potential movement & my oft-mentioned dotage) however, on reading How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life I got clearly what a huge presence this all-American man was, how he walked his walk & talked his talk & in doing so became a mentor, albeit unwittingly, to a young man with a bunch of education & little direction.

No matter your politics this is a book worth reading, worth learning from. Peter Robinson has a fluency & articulateness that is both charming & informative. What he has to tell, to teach, is eminently useful as we go about our own lives earning our quota of daily bread, &, perhaps most importantly, how to live a fully savored life.

I like the way he seamlessly blends his thoughts about marriage: the Reagan's as well as his parents', his progressively unsatisfying bachelorhood, & how he met his wife.

I like the way he peels the orange to explain about making one's place in the history of one's own world. Essentially what Peter Robinson learns from his mentor is to show up & be present, do the work that comes to your hands, treat all you meet with attention & dignity, look at things from different perspectives, & remember to bring some laughter along with you.

How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life is a keeper. A book every young professional could do with reading. It is profound & humorous, interesting & whimsical. It is filled with vignettes & cameo appearances, history & philosophy ... all written with a light touch.

Peter Robinson is the host of the PBS television program, Uncommon Knowledge. A fellow at the Hoover Institution, he lives in Stanford, California.

More from Peter Robinson:
It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair With The Gop
Snapshots From Hell: The Making Of An MBA
(06/27/04)

Rebecca