The Clothes Have No Emperor Part 19

9/1/86.

"Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere."

--President Reagan, as quoted in a Fortune Fortune interview for its cover story "WHAT MANAGERS CAN LEARN FROM MANAGER REAGAN" interview for its cover story "WHAT MANAGERS CAN LEARN FROM MANAGER REAGAN"

9/1/86.

Dan Rather begins closing his nightly news broadcast with the word, "Courage." Says Rather, "It's a good word. I think I'm going to use it for a while." The resulting mockery insures that the while lasts one week.

9/2/86.

With national drug hysteria peaking, Dan Rather hosts 48 Hours on Crack Street 48 Hours on Crack Street, a two-hour special on the country's latest cocaine scourge. A Tom Brokaw c.o.ke special airs three days later.

Meanwhile, in Indiana, a 13-year-old summons police to his home to confiscate less than an ounce of marijuana and arrest his parents.

9/4/86.

"When the chapter on how America won the war on drugs is written, the Reagans' speech is sure to be viewed as a turning point."

--White House announcement of an upcoming anti-drug speech amusingly billed as the Reagans' first "joint address"

9/8/86.

Addressing the continuing Soviet incarceration of Nicholas Daniloff, President Reagan reiterates, "There will be no trade."

9/14/86.

Sitting on a couch in the White House living quarters, the Reagans urge a "national crusade" against the "cancer of drugs." Four months later, after the election is over, the President proposes drastic cuts in funding for anti-drug programs.

9/15/86.

Welcoming a group of Soviet children to City Hall, Ed Koch is compelled to tell them their government "is the pits." Says one 14-year-old, "I want to get on the bus and go far away from this place." Observes The New York Times The New York Times, "He sounded like a cranky old man who needs a stray Airedale to kick."

9/15/86.

Michael Jackson's manager Frank DiLeo reveals that the singer has installed a hyperbaric oxygen chamber in his home, which he thinks will help him live to 150. Says DiLeo, "I can't figure him out sometimes."

9/15/86.

A People People excerpt from Kitty Kelley's Sinatra biography excerpt from Kitty Kelley's Sinatra biography His Way His Way reveals that, before it became necessary to suck up to the Reagans, Frank thought Ronnie was "a real right-wing John Birch Society nut dumb and dangerous" and called Nancy "a dope with fat ankles who could never make it as an actress." reveals that, before it became necessary to suck up to the Reagans, Frank thought Ronnie was "a real right-wing John Birch Society nut dumb and dangerous" and called Nancy "a dope with fat ankles who could never make it as an actress."

9/17/86.

William Rehnquist is confirmed as Chief Justice, 65-33 the highest negative vote ever received by a confirmed justice.

Then, having exhausted themselves, members debate for about five minutes before confirming, by 98-0, the at least as conservative Antonin Scalia.

9/21/86.

Imelda Marcos explains that the reason there were so many shoes in her closets was, "Everybody kept their shoes there. The maids ... everybody."

9/22/86.

"My name is Sydney Biddle Barrows. For a while, I ran a very successful business in New York. The story of that business is told in my new book, Mayflower Madam Mayflower Madam. That's right. That's me. My book is now appearing in the Daily News Daily News. It's all there in this Daily News Daily News series: how I started my escort service, how I recruited my girls and screened my clients. The story of the Mayflower Madam my story now appearing in the series: how I started my escort service, how I recruited my girls and screened my clients. The story of the Mayflower Madam my story now appearing in the Daily News Daily News."

--New York TV ad 9/26/86.

President Reagan vetoes a bill that would impose mild economic sanctions against South Africa. The veto is soundly overridden.

9/26/86.

After months of conjecture about how Patrick Duffy would return to Dallas Dallas, the producers boldly reveal that Bobby Ewing wasn't really killed after all. His death, and the entire last season, turn out to have been Pam's bad dream. Meanwhile, on the Dallas Dallas spin-off spin-off Knots Landing Knots Landing, where grief over Bobby's demise was a major plot point last season, he remains dead.

9/30/86.

Eighty-five minutes after Soviet spy Gennadi Zakharov is allowed to fly home to Moscow, a plane carrying Nicholas Daniloff lands in Was.h.i.+ngton. A trade? The President claims there is "no connection" between the two events.

OCTOBER 1986.

10/2/86.

Bob Woodward reveals the US strategy, devised by National Security Adviser John Poindexter, of lying to the media about Libya in order to undermine Qaddafi. "We are not telling lies, or doing any of these disinformation things," President Reagan lies, but a more candid George Shultz defends the scheme. "If I were a private citizen ... and read that my government was trying to confuse somebody who was ... murdering Americans, I'd say, 'Gee, I hope it's true.'"

Woodward also reports that Reagan livened up a recent meeting by asking, "Why not invite Qaddafi to San Francisco, he likes to dress up so much?" To which Shultz replied, "Why don't we give him AIDS?"

10/3/86.

"Mystery guest" Nicholas Daniloff inexplicably turns up at the celebration of Disney World's 15th anniversary, though he rushes off stage before he can be embraced by someone in a Mickey Mouse costume. "We didn't force anything," says a Disney PR man. "If he didn't want his picture taken with Mickey, that's okay."

10/4/86.

Dan Rather is accosted on Park Avenue by two well-dressed men who beat him up while repeatedly demanding, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" The incident is never explained you know, just another one of those Rather-y things but it does eventually inspire a great R.E.M. song.

10/5/86.

Three American mercenaries die on a supply run to the contras when their cargo plane is shot down by Nicaraguan government forces. Survivor Eugene Hasenfus is captured in the jungle. The White House, the State Department, the Defense Department and the CIA all claim noninvolvement.

10/5/86.

Sitting next to pianist Vladimir Horowitz as President Reagan thanks him for his White House concert, Nancy Reagan on the edge of a three-foot-high stage s.h.i.+fts in her chair and tumbles into a box of potted chrysanthemums. "Honey," quips the President, "I told you to do that only if I didn't get any applause." Everyone laughs and laughs.

10/9/86.

Despite President Reagan's statement that the downed cargo plane had "absolutely" no connection to the US government, Eugene Hasenfus says from a prison in Managua that his mission was supervised by the CIA.

10/10/86.

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) suggests that the Foreign Relations Committee question Lt. Col. Oliver North, a National Security Council member reportedly close to the Nicaraguan rebels, in connection with White House involvement in the private arming of the contras.

10/11/86.

In Reykjavik, Iceland, President Reagan reprises his I'm-so-vigorous-I-don't-need-an-overcoat act as he greets Mikhail Gorbachev at Hofdi House, where they hold their first summit session. Raisa who has shown up despite Nancy's understanding that the wives were staying home comments on the First Lady's absence. "Maybe she had something else to do," she suggests. "Or maybe she is sick."

10/12/86.

The summit collapses in Reykjavik amid mutual charges of intransigence and confusion about just which and how many weapons President Reagan suggested getting rid of.

"I don't know what else I could have done," Gorbachev reportedly says, as the two leaders walk grimly to their limousines.

"You could have said yes," Reagan reportedly says.

"The Soviets are the ones that refused to make the deal," barks Donald Regan. "It shows them up for what they are ... The Soviets refused to trade. Would you please get it straight? The President didn't refuse to trade." Observes George Shultz, "The President's performance was magnificent."

10/12/86.

Vice President Bush denies any involvement in contra resupply efforts, despite having met twice with former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez, whose job that resupply has been.

10/17/86.

George Shultz releases the text of the President's arms control proposal to prove that Reagan did not not suggest getting rid of all nuclear weapons. Larry Speakes says the President may have been as, despite his reputation as "the Great Communicator," he curiously seems so often to be "misunderstood." suggest getting rid of all nuclear weapons. Larry Speakes says the President may have been as, despite his reputation as "the Great Communicator," he curiously seems so often to be "misunderstood."

10/17/86.

Staking out the little-explored territory of "adversarial portraiture," guerrilla artist Robbie Conal goes out in the middle of the night and puts up posters of his latest work, MEN WITH NO LIPS MEN WITH NO LIPS which depicts President Reagan, Donald Regan, Caspar Weinberger and James Baker as putrescent figures rotting from the corruption of power on traffic light boxes and construction sites around Los Angeles. which depicts President Reagan, Donald Regan, Caspar Weinberger and James Baker as putrescent figures rotting from the corruption of power on traffic light boxes and construction sites around Los Angeles.

10/18/86.

"They've taken the pot, there is no more pot. You can't get any more pot. If you give us back the pot, we'll forget about the crack."

--Comic Sam Kinison attacking government drug policies on Sat.u.r.day Night Live Sat.u.r.day Night Live, from which timid NBC censors bleep the joke for West Coast viewers 10/19/86.

"I used to play poker with him, and any guy who could screech over losing 40 bucks I always thought shouldn't be President of the United States."

--Tip O'Neill on Richard M. Nixon 10/20/86.

Was.h.i.+ngton Post: BUSH AWARE OF CONTRA OPERATION, HASENFUS SAYS 10/21/86.

TV evangelist and presidential hopeful Pat Robertson files a $35 million libel suit against former California congressman Pete McCloskey, who served with him in the Marines and has been more than happy to share his "single distinct memory" of Robertson: waving goodbye from the dock in j.a.pan as the others were going off to combat in Korea, explaining "with a big grin on his face" that his father a US senator had pulled some strings to keep him safe.

10/22/86.

"I was in such a hurry, I wrote my last name first."

--President Reagan, after signing his tax reform bill "Reagan Ronald"

10/23/86.

New York Times: MEESE SAYS HIGH COURT DOESN'T SET 'LAW OF LAND' / a.s.sERTS RULINGS OF TOP JUSTICES BIND ONLY THOSE IN CASE 10/24/86.

Campaigning for the re-election of Oklahoma senator Don Nickles, President Reagan calls him "Don Rickles."

10/30/86.

Ed Meese urges employers to begin spying on workers in "locker rooms, parking lots, s.h.i.+pping and mail room areas and even the nearby taverns" to try to catch them using drugs.

10/30/86.

Nancy Reagan appears as a guest on The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers. "You're such a warm person," says Rivers. "There's such a warmth coming out of you, it's incredible!" Rivers' recent reference to President Reagan as a "turkey neck" does not come up.

10/31/86.

"In a seeming paradox, those who approve of lying were much more likely to believe the Administration tells the truth ... The paradox was explained by the fact that almost all of those who approved of not telling the whole truth were supporters of the Administration."

--The New York Times, in a story headlined MOST RESENT LIES BY WHITE HOUSE 10/31/86.

Campaigning in Spokane for the re-election of Was.h.i.+ngton senator Slade Gorton, President Reagan calls state GOP chairman Jennifer Dunn "Dunn Jennifer."

NOVEMBER 1986.

11/1/86.

Appearing in a Manhattan court to answer a weapons charge, Floyd Flow, 24, is arrested when a bag stuffed with 76 vials of crack is found on his person. Says Flow, "I forgot I had it with me."

11/1/86.

A Texas hospital takes its phone off the hook after a computer glitch in the Dallas GOP's get-out-the-vote drive results in a four-hour barrage of recorded messages from President Reagan.

11/2/86.

Hostage David Jacobsen is released in Beirut. When a reporter asks whether President Reagan might try to use his release to boost the chances of GOP Senate candidates, the query upsets Larry Speakes. "You're within one inch of getting your head lopped off with a question like that," he says.

11/3/86.

In Lebanon, the pro-Syrian magazine Al s.h.i.+raa Al s.h.i.+raa reports that the US has secretly been supplying arms to Iran. reports that the US has secretly been supplying arms to Iran.

11/4/86.

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, speaker of the Iranian Parliament, says that former NSC adviser Robert McFarlane and four other Americans, carrying Irish pa.s.sports and posing as members of a flight crew, recently traveled to Iran on a secret diplomatic mission to trade military equipment for Iran's help in curbing terrorism. Rafsanjani says the men brought a Bible signed by President Reagan and a cake in the shape of a key, which was said to be "a key to open U.S.-Iran relations."

11/4/86.

Despite President Reagan's careening around the country on behalf of Republican candidates, the Democrats pick up eight seats and reclaim the Senate, 55-45. Clearly a referendum on Reagan's second term 12 of the 16 candidates he campaigned for lost this effectively serves notice that America has gone as far right as it's going on this particular swing of the pendulum.

11/5/86.

"Was.h.i.+ngton ain't seen nothing yet!"

--President Reagan addressing a White House post-election pep rally, unaware of the ironic, double-edged nature of this phrase about to be revealed 11/13/86.