Theodore White in his book In Search of History wrote, "Threading an idea into the slipstream of politics, then into government, then into history... is a craft which I have since come to consider the most important in the world." This was Ronald Reagan's gift ... and it is a rare gift indeed.
I grew up enthralled
with Theodore White’s Making
of the President series. Shirley’s book does not measure up to White, but
that has more to do with White’s mastery than with Shirley’s shortcomings. With
White no longer with us, I’m glad Shirley has picked up the mantle—at least for Ronald Reagan’s
campaigns.
This is a thoroughly
researched book, with a 32% of the contents dedicated to notes, bibliography,
and acknowledgments. Rendezvous
with Destiny offers a blow by blow narrative of the 1980 presidential
campaign. And there were some roundhouse slugfests to be sure.
Although
told more from of a Reagan perspective, Shirley tries to describe the ups and
downs, successes and failures of Reagan’s and Carter’s campaigns with the
disinterest of an impartial observer. Perhaps Rendezvous
with Destiny would have been a better read if Shirley had allowed his
inner-Reagonite to cut loose a bit more. The book’s major failing is that it does
not present new or deeper insights into Reagan’s character. For example: the
reader does not learn how much the candidate interjected himself at key moments
in the campaign. I suspect Reagan personally corrected the campaign course much more than Shirley was able to document with authoritative
citations. Here and there, properly noted guesswork and opinion might have raised
the drama of the story closer to how it was felt by the participants.
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