Ed Meese: Reagan's Humor 'Infectious'
NewsMax Wires
Monday, June 7, 2004
Ronald Reagan not only had a wonderful sense of humor when it came to his adversaries, he could also laugh at himself when was the butt of a good deed gone awry, said former Attorney General Ed Meese
In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Meese recalled an incident concerning the White House correspondence section which answers letters sent to the president.
"When he was president he would have the correspondence section give him about 30 letters every month that he would answer personally. They came from all kinds of people. One particular day he got a letter from a lady - this was during those hard times economically - and she said that she and her husband had a small construction company out in the Midwest and they were about to lose it and was there anything he could do," Meese recalled.
The president went to work, Meese said. He called the Small Business Administration personally, he called the Department of Commerce and asked a couple of people if there was anything legitimately that the federal government could do to help.
"About two weeks later he got a letter from the woman's husband which said 'Dear Mr. President: I've been trying to get rid of this company for years. Frankly, Mr. President, I'd appreciate it if you'd just butt out.'"
"He had a remarkable sense of humor and I'll bet he just laughed and laughed over that - he got a big kick out of that."
His humor, Meese said was "infectious - it was part of his optimism, it created a working environment where everybody enjoyed what they were doing. Reagan, Meese said, could just walk down the hallway and everybody, secretaries, assistants cabinet members would get a lift from seeing him walk by.
"He'd always stick his head into offices and say hello to people - it was just part of his nature."
Meese said President Reagan not only relished getting his quota of jelly beans, he sometimes used them to calm an argumentative cabinet meeting.
"When things got hot and heavy he would reach over and grab the jelly bean jar, put a couple in his mouth and then pass it around the table." People, Meese explained, couldn't get very angry "if they were chomping on jelly beans."
Reagan's good humor and the good will he exuded should be a good lesson for all of today's politicians, Meese concluded. |
