The Gipper's Favorite Magazine

Dear Friend,

The Gipper's favorite magazine was National Review.

No surprise that. Still, it is worth remembering, especially now, as we celebrate our 60th Anniversary, and as we encourage readers to support NR in our end-of-the-year Webathon.

One of the best pieces I have ever read about the Ronald Reagan and his love for NR and his deep friendship with Bill Buckley is a new essay by Laurence Jurdem -- Ronald Reagan and His Favorite Magazine. Here's one selection:

Reagan had been a fervent admirer of National Review from its earliest years, and he continued to read it throughout his tenure as governor and then president. "I'd be lost without National Review," Reagan wrote in a note to Buckley in June of 1962. While many of the positions that defined Reagan's political beliefs -- like anti-Communism and a devotion to limited government and lower taxes -- were based on his own experiences in Hollywood as head of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1953, much of the information that clarified Reagan's views about specific domestic and foreign-policy issues was acquired from NR. "Reagan had an incredible memory for things he'd read years before," recalls longtime National Review contributor Aram Bakshian Jr., who served as the director of speechwriting in the Reagan White House from 1981 to 1983, "and he drew on that from his own memory all the time." In the late Fifties and early Sixties, as he traveled the country as a spokesman for General Electric, Reagan slowly and deliberately digested the ideas of Buckley and NR Senior Editors James Burnham and Frank Meyer on how to roll back the New Deal and the hegemonic appetites of the Soviet Union. Reagan continued that practice during his presidency, and the information and analysis he obtained from NR assisted him in formulating policy while in the Oval Office.

National Review was (is!) able to be so influential because its readers (you!) consider NR to be a cause, a cause terribly vital to freedom, a cause worthy of financial support.

Regardless of the number of zeros before the decimal point, your contribution matters. If you come to NR again and again, to draw comfort from the intellectual camaraderie, to gain wisdom from the terrific writers (Jonah, Jay, VDH, Andy, David, Rich, Mona, Ramesh, Kat, Jillian, Eliana, Charlie, Kevin, et al.) then admit -- this is an enterprise that deserves my support.

Please support National Review. Heck, we need it. But you need it too. Freedom needs it.

If The Gipper were here, he'd agree.

Be part of this critical mission. You can make your generous contribution here.

Best,

Jack Fowler
Publisher
National Review

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