Presidents and their Advisers: Ronald Reagan and Michael Deaver
Ronald Reagan had three principal advisors who were dubbed "the Troika" by the media. James Baker III was Reagan's Chief of Staff during his first administration and served as his campaign manager in 1984. Edwin Meese was the Chief of Staff for Reagan's transition team, his legal counsel and later his Attorney-General. But according to Nancy Reagan, it was Michael Deaver that Reagan was closest to. Deaver was Reagan's Deputy Chief of staff from 1981 to 1985, and he was the man Reagan relied on primarily for political advice.
Michael Keith Deaver was born on April 11, 1938 in Bakersfield, California. He received his bachelor's degree in political science from San Jose State and he worked for IBM, before serving in the United States Air Force. He later became executive director of the Santa Clara County Republican Party and when Ronald Reagan was running for governor of California, Deaver worked as a political field representative for the California Republican Party. After being elected governor, Reagan's chief of staff recruited Deaver to the administration where he began a 30-year career working for Reagan, and building a very close friendship with Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
Deaver formed his own consulting company after Reagan's term as governor ended. The Reagan presidential campaigns were his clients. Once, during the 1976 campaign, Deaver performed the Heimlich maneuver on Reagan in the campaign plane in order to dislodge a peanut stuck in his throat. Reportedly he saved the Reagan's life.
When Reagan was elected President, Deaver did not want to move to Washington, D.C., but Reagan convinced him to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Reagan administration in 1981. Deaver was responsible for Reagan's schedule of events and speeches, and public relations. Deaver worked primarily on media management. He was Reagan's main spin doctor, shaping the public perceived Reagan. He would engineer press events so that the White House set the media agenda for covering the president.
Deaver was sometimes accused by conservatives of drawing Reagan away from his conservative roots. In October 1983, when Mr. Baker sought to move from the chief of staff job to the position of national security adviser, the plan was for Deaver to become chief of staff, but conservative opponents blocked the change. Deaver was angry about the situation. Reagan’s diary said. “It was an unhappy day all around.”
On one occasion, Deaver’s advice failed Reagan. When Reagan visited a German military cemetery in Bitburg in 1985, where 49 of Hitler’s elite SS troops were buried, many Jewish leaders were furious. To counter this criticism, Deaver added a stop at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Deaver left the White House in 1985. He formed Michael K. Deaver, Inc. and became a lobbyist. For a time he was in partnership with another Reagan aide, Peter D. Hannaford in the public relations firm Deaver and Hannaford. The firm's clients included Canada, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, TWA and Philip Morris. But on March 18, 1987 Deaver was convicted on three counts of perjury for lying to a House subcommittee and a federal grand jury about efforts to use the White House in his lobbying efforts. Deaver blamed his alcoholism for lapses in memory and judgment. He was sentenced to three years' in prison, but the sentence was reduced to three years of probation and a fine of $100,000. Deaver was also ordered to perform 1,500 hours of public service. In the final days of Reagan's presidency the question of a pardon arose, but according to Reagan's diary, Deaver would not accept a pardon.
In his later years, Deaver wrote three books: Behind the Scenes (1988; co-written with Mickey Herskowitz), A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan (2001; foreword by Nancy Reagan), and Nancy: A Portrait of My Years with Nancy Reagan (2004). In 2005, he edited and published a collection of essays titled Why I Am a Reagan Conservative. He worked at the Washington, D.C. office of Edelman, a public relations agency, from 1992 to 2006.
Michael Deaver died of pancreatic cancer on August 18, 2007 at age 69 at his home in Bethesda, Maryland. In a statement, Nancy Reagan, said that Deaver "was the closest of friends to both Ronnie and me in many ways, and he was like a son to Ronnie. We met great challenges together. I will miss Mike terribly."
Michael Keith Deaver was born on April 11, 1938 in Bakersfield, California. He received his bachelor's degree in political science from San Jose State and he worked for IBM, before serving in the United States Air Force. He later became executive director of the Santa Clara County Republican Party and when Ronald Reagan was running for governor of California, Deaver worked as a political field representative for the California Republican Party. After being elected governor, Reagan's chief of staff recruited Deaver to the administration where he began a 30-year career working for Reagan, and building a very close friendship with Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
Deaver formed his own consulting company after Reagan's term as governor ended. The Reagan presidential campaigns were his clients. Once, during the 1976 campaign, Deaver performed the Heimlich maneuver on Reagan in the campaign plane in order to dislodge a peanut stuck in his throat. Reportedly he saved the Reagan's life.
When Reagan was elected President, Deaver did not want to move to Washington, D.C., but Reagan convinced him to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Reagan administration in 1981. Deaver was responsible for Reagan's schedule of events and speeches, and public relations. Deaver worked primarily on media management. He was Reagan's main spin doctor, shaping the public perceived Reagan. He would engineer press events so that the White House set the media agenda for covering the president.
Deaver was sometimes accused by conservatives of drawing Reagan away from his conservative roots. In October 1983, when Mr. Baker sought to move from the chief of staff job to the position of national security adviser, the plan was for Deaver to become chief of staff, but conservative opponents blocked the change. Deaver was angry about the situation. Reagan’s diary said. “It was an unhappy day all around.”
On one occasion, Deaver’s advice failed Reagan. When Reagan visited a German military cemetery in Bitburg in 1985, where 49 of Hitler’s elite SS troops were buried, many Jewish leaders were furious. To counter this criticism, Deaver added a stop at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Deaver left the White House in 1985. He formed Michael K. Deaver, Inc. and became a lobbyist. For a time he was in partnership with another Reagan aide, Peter D. Hannaford in the public relations firm Deaver and Hannaford. The firm's clients included Canada, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, TWA and Philip Morris. But on March 18, 1987 Deaver was convicted on three counts of perjury for lying to a House subcommittee and a federal grand jury about efforts to use the White House in his lobbying efforts. Deaver blamed his alcoholism for lapses in memory and judgment. He was sentenced to three years' in prison, but the sentence was reduced to three years of probation and a fine of $100,000. Deaver was also ordered to perform 1,500 hours of public service. In the final days of Reagan's presidency the question of a pardon arose, but according to Reagan's diary, Deaver would not accept a pardon.
In his later years, Deaver wrote three books: Behind the Scenes (1988; co-written with Mickey Herskowitz), A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan (2001; foreword by Nancy Reagan), and Nancy: A Portrait of My Years with Nancy Reagan (2004). In 2005, he edited and published a collection of essays titled Why I Am a Reagan Conservative. He worked at the Washington, D.C. office of Edelman, a public relations agency, from 1992 to 2006.
Michael Deaver died of pancreatic cancer on August 18, 2007 at age 69 at his home in Bethesda, Maryland. In a statement, Nancy Reagan, said that Deaver "was the closest of friends to both Ronnie and me in many ways, and he was like a son to Ronnie. We met great challenges together. I will miss Mike terribly."