“And the occasional slip-up, like wearing Gucci loafers at a
country fair” so quipped (almost critiqued) Fox News reporter, Carl
Cameron, on all-but-declared presidential candidate Fred Thompson’s
performance at the recent Iowa State Fair, bought to mind an
anecdote from my late friend and former boss, Lyn Nofziger, on
Ronald Reagan.
Lyn was Reagan’s longest serving adviser — working for the
Gipper from 1965 to 1988 — the beginning to the end. He had many
Reagan stories but his favorite campaign anecdote involved him and
the then candidate for California governor, Ronald Reagan.
Lyn was his press secretary at the time and it had to do with an
incident at Reagan’s ranch.
A woman named Nancy Reynolds, who later became an aide in
Reagan’s governor’s office, was a reporter for KPIX, a San
Francisco television station. She came to Lyn one day and suggested
that it would be a great story if she could interview Reagan while
she and Reagan were riding horseback. Lyn agreed. And got Reagan to
agree.
So one fine day Lyn and Reagan drove out to Reagan’s ranch.
Reagan went into the ranch house to change into riding clothes.
He came out wearing jodhpurs.
Lyn was aghast.
“What the hell are you wearing?” Lyn asked. Very much not
exactly happy.
“This is what I always wear when I ride,” Reagan responded.
“Ron,” Lyn said. “We’re trying to win an election. You wear
jodhpurs and people will think you’re one of those eastern sissies.
I want you to be a westerner, a cowboy. California voters want you
to be a cowboy.”
(Jodhpurs are riding britches that connect to shoes. Not exactly
cowboy material.)
After further discussion and some grouching on Reagan’s part he
reluctantly changed into Levis , put on true cowboy boots, and
threw a western saddle on his horse and the horse Miss Reynolds was
to ride. Soon after, she arrived with her film crew. And she and
Reagan rode off down a dirt road, with the film crew ahead of them
in a Jeep shooting the interview, and Lyn trotting behind on foot.
(No cowboy was Lyn Nofziger, except perhaps in his great
novels.)
And, apparently, the interview turned out to be an awesome hit
and a tremendous plus for the gubernatorial campaign.
When Ronald Reagan was elected president, there was fear and
trepidation in the eastern liberal establishment and among the
souls of Western Europe that the United States had elected a
cowboy.
A cowboy in their eyes was a wild man from out West, who rode
horses, had a shotgun, and favored nuking Moscow and sundry other
bastions of Communism. He was not to be trusted with his finger
anywhere near the nuclear button.
And Reagan in their eyes was just such a cowboy. He was, after
all, a right-winger from the West and they all had seen him playing
a cowboy in the movies. They knew that anyone who rode a horse that
well, shot a gun that well, and wore a Stetson titled so rakishly
had to be a cowboy.
But they were wrong. Reagan just wasn’t.
With Rudy Giuliani leading the polls, Mitt Romney’s millions
chopping at everyone’s heels, and John McCain lurking in the
background waiting for someone to falter so he can jaunt back into
the spotlight, the former Senator from Tennessee can’t afford to be
seen wearing Gucci shoes at the Iowan State Fair.
One cannot help but think that Fred Thompson is wondering just
at this moment where was his Lyn Nofziger when he decided to don
those expensive Italian slippers.
Thomas Cheplick worked for Lyn Nofziger from 2004 to
2006.
