Word: deaver
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Deaver's role often puts him over his head on matters of great substance. Nonetheless he somehow forces decisions to be made. When the Israeli bombing of Beirut dragged on ruinously in 1982, Deaver got Reagan alone. The attacks had become repugnant, he told the President with some passion. Children's limbs were being blown off, and Reagan was the only man on earth who could stop it. The President listened intently, telling Deaver that he too had been agonizing about it. Then Reagan summoned Secretary of State George Shultz and put in a call to Israeli Prime...
Sometimes Deaver's influence turns up in unexpected ways. When he traveled to Japan in 1983 to lay out Reagan...
East trip, Deaver had two discussions alone with Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. As they talked, Nakasone pulled out a photograph of his house in the mountains. Did Deaver think, the Prime Minister asked hesitantly, that the Reagans would visit him there? Deaver accepted immediately, adding gracefully that Nakasone's wife sounded very much like Nancy Reagan worrying about the Queen of England visiting the Reagan ranch. Then Nakasone turned more serious. He wanted Deaver to tell the President something important: He could not say it publicly now, but after the Japanese election, Nakasone would be ready to tackle head...
This sort of personal message carrying is one of Deaver's key roles, and Reagan's less ideological counselors use him in this way constantly. If the President's mind is set, say White House moderates, and Mike Deaver is not with them against the hardliners, nothing will turn Reagan away from old and comfortably held views. With Deaver on their side, they at least have a chance...
...personal influence, Deaver chooses to behave more like a steward of the presidential image than a shaper of public policy. He is the master of the household, the Lord High Chamberlain of the White House...