Former Treasury Secratary and White House Chief if Staff Donald Regan dies
Sammy Finkelman
Reagan Chief of Staff Donald Regan Dies
MARTIN CRUTSINGER
Associated Press
Regan's gruff Marine Corps manner had served him well on Wall Street,
but it failed to help him survive the political minefields of
Washington, especially after he drew the ire of Mrs. Reagan. AP file
WASHINGTON - Donald T. Regan, who served Ronald Reagan as treasury
secretary and chief of staff before being forced from office in the
Iran-Contra scandal, died Tuesday. He was 84.
Regan, forced to resign from the administration in 1987, published a
famous tell-all biography in 1988 which revealed that former first
lady Nancy Reagan consulted frequently with an astrologer while her
husband was president.
Regan died of cancer after a brief hospitalization at Williamsburg
Community Hospital in Virginia, according to Merrill Lynch spokesman
James R. Wiggins.
Regan's gruff Marine Corps manner had served him well on Wall Street,
where he rose to head brokerage giant Merrill Lynch, but it failed to
help him survive the political minefields of Washington, especially
after he drew the ire of Mrs. Reagan.
Regan had won praise for his first job in the Reagan administration as
treasury secretary from 1981 to early 1985. Then, in a famous job
switch, he swapped places with James A. Baker III, who had been the
president's first chief of staff. Regan took over that job and Baker
became Treasury secretary.
Regan, however, quickly ran into trouble as chief of staff, drawing
complaints from the first lady for what she perceived as an imperious
operating style.
When Ronald Reagan underwent cancer surgery in July 1985, Regan
aroused Mrs. Reagan's ire by ordering a White House helicopter to fly
him to Bethesda Naval Hospital. He changed plans and went by
automobile instead after an irate phone call from Mrs. Reagan.
It was only the first of many clashes with Mrs. Reagan who complained
that Regan was scheduling her husband for too much activity during his
recovery from the cancer surgery.
Then came revelations that the Reagan administration had sold arms to
Iran while seeking freedom for American hostages and that some of the
money had been funneled to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
When the presidential board headed by former Sen. John Tower made its
report of the controversy in February 1987, it found Regan responsible
"for the chaos that descended upon the White House."
"He, as much as anyone, should have insisted that an orderly process
be served," the board said.
Regan's characteristically blunt response: "Does a bank president know
whether a bank teller is fiddling around with the books? No."
However, rumors flew that Regan would be quickly replaced and on Feb.
27, 1987, the president chose former Senate Republican Howard H. Baker
Jr. of Tennessee as his new chief of staff. Regan heard the news from
then-national security adviser Frank Carlucci, who had seen it on a
television news report.
It took Regan only 15 months to gain a measure of retribution when he
published a best-selling memoir, "For the Record: From Wall Street to
Washington."
In that book, Regan revealed for the first time that Mrs. Reagan used
astrology to determine the timing of the president's speeches and
travel.
Other than the controversy stirred up by the book, Regan chose to live
quietly in retirement, taking up painting in his studio at his
Williamsburg home.
"After Wall Street and the government, I decided there had to be more
to life than the stock market, golf and drinking," he said in
explaining his new passion for landscape painting.
Regan is survived by his wife of 60 years, Ann Buchanan Regan of
Williamsburg, Va., and four children: Donna Regan Lefeve of
Alexandria, Va.; Donald T. "Tom" Regan Jr. of Sarasota, Fla.; Richard
W. Regan of Denver, Colo.; and Diane Regan Doniger of Sante Fe, N.M.
He also is survived by nine grandchildren.
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NAME - Donald T. Regan
BIRTHDATE - Dec. 21, 1918, Cambridge, Mass.
AGE-DEATH - 84; June 10, 2003.
EDUCATION - B.A., Harvard University, 1940; lieutenant colonel in the
United States Marine Corps.
EXPERIENCE - Chief of staff under President Reagan, 1985-1987;
secretary of the treasury under President Reagan, 1981-1985; chief
executive officer of Merrill Lynch & Company, Inc.; chairman pro
tempore of the Cabinet Coucil on Economic Affairs.
FAMILY - Wife Ann Buchanan; four children.