Political analyst and former journalist Richard Reeves has spent decades watching the political scene, and Tuesday evening he revealed several little-known facts about three U.S. presidents.
Promoting his trilogy of books on the lives of John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, Reeves spoke to more than 40 students and staff members about past and present presidents at the Annenberg Center.
Reeves, a visiting professor from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, said Reagan didn't make a strong first impression on him.
When he first met Reagan in 1967, Reeves said, the future president first asked him, a New Yorker, whether he had ever been to the top of the Empire State Building.
"We thought he was a regular cowboy from California," Reeves said. "Could he have gotten through Penn? Probably not."
Yet Reeves acknowledged Reagan's success as president and attributed it to the fact that "the presidency is not about IQ. ... It's about judgement."
He added that Reagan's determination to end, rather than contain, the Cold War brought it to a close 10 years earlier than would have happened had anyone else been president.
College senior Helen Leung said that Reeves "shed some new light on how Reagan is traditionally depicted."
Reeves "was honest but also gave [Reagan] some well-deserved credit," she said.
On Kennedy, Reeves said that he decided to write the biography Kennedy: Profile of Power because at the time it was published, the "two great pillars" of Kennedy literature were more than 25 years old.
"There was room for me to do something different," Reeves said.
He added that, in his opinion, the Vietnam War was Kennedy's worst mistake, while his decisions to federalize the National Guard and to racially integrate the University of Alabama in 1963 were his greatest achievements.
"His presidency was ... a man changing history, putting government on the side of minorities," Reeves said.
He added that he titled his biography on Nixon Alone in the White House because Nixon, unlike most American presidents, was extraordinary introverted.
The biographer had harsh words for President Bush, who he said is trying to replicate Reagan's presidency.
Compared to Reagan, Bush is "a mini-me," Reeves said. "The ambition is there, but not the capability. ... He is almost totally ignorant of history."
College senior Jen Stutsman said Reeves' speech has inspired her to further look into his work.
"I feel very fortunate to get to hear someone like [Reeves]," Stutsman said, "I'm excited to read his book."
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