Deaver, Michael K(eith) 1938-

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DEAVER, Michael K(eith) 1938-

PERSONAL:

Born 1938, in Bakersfield, CA; son of Paul Sperling and Marian (Mack) Deaver; married Carolyn Judy; children: Amanda Judy, Blair Clayton. Education: San Jose State University, B.A., 1960.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Maryland. Office—Edelman Worldwide, 1420 K St. NW, Washington, DC 20005-2500.

CAREER:

IBM Corporation, administrative trainee, 1960-62; member of Republican Central Committee, Santa Clara County, CA, 1962-66; State of California, cabinet secretary, 1966-67, assistant to Governor Ronald Reagan, beginning 1967; assistant to U.S. President Reagan and deputy chief of staff, 1981-85; Michael K. Deaver, Inc. (public relations firm), Washington, DC, founder, beginning 1985; Edelman Worldwide (public relations firm), Washington, DC, vice chairman of international affairs and executive vice president and director of corporate affairs. Cast member of HBO television program K Street. Military service: Served in U.S. Air Force Reserve, 1961-66.

MEMBER:

American Council of Young Political Leaders.

WRITINGS:

(With Mickey Herskowitz) Behind the Scenes: In Which the Author Talks about Ronald and Nancy Reagan … and Himself, Morrow (New York, NY), 1987.

A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Nancy: A Portrait of My Years with Nancy Reagan, Morrow (New York, NY), 2004.

(Editor) Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Morrow >(New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael K. Deaver teamed up with Ronald Reagan early in the former actor's political career, and he remained loyally devoted to Reagan and his wife, Nancy, as they made their way beyond California and into the White House. Deaver is credited with much of Reagan's successful image-making. Yet Deaver also ran afoul of the law in Washington, D.C.; he was investigated for unethical lobbying activities and heavily fined for perjury, and left the tight-knit circle around Reagan shortly after the start of the president's second term. Deaver established his own public relations firm, using his skills to craft the images of the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, the South Korean government, and the Philip Morris tobacco company, among others. Deaver has discussed his association with the Reagans in three books: Behind the Scenes: In Which the Author Talks about Ronald and Nancy Reagan … and Himself, A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan, and Nancy: A Portrait of My Years with Nancy Reagan.

In Behind the Scenes, Deaver paints a picture of political life and its players. For his own part, Deaver was always less interested in ideological platforms than he was in advising Reagan on personal details such as his hair and skin tone. His relationship with Reagan, who was later diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, comes under closer scrutiny in his retrospective A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan. Here Deaver includes accounts of many notable events of the Reagan years, including the assassination attempt on the president. Deaver's loyalty to and admiration for the Reagans is much in evidence, and when he "sticks to telling stories about his old boss, he is fine, and Reagan's admirers will be glad to have them," commented Linda Bridges in National Review. Yet when Deaver "feels compelled to give his own reflections, the results range from the banal … to the preposterously overwritten."

Nancy Reagan was known to be fiercely devoted to her husband, a quality she shared with Deaver. The two of them had a very close relationship for many years, working together to protect and defend Ronald Reagan. In Nancy, Deaver provides insight into a woman whom he feels has been greatly misunderstood. In his book, Deaver does not seek to write a comprehensive biography, but rather to offer a tribute to Nancy Reagan. The most moving chapters, according to Booklist contributor Ilene Cooper, are those that tell of Nancy's role as caretaker to her husband in his waning years, after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. A Publishers Weekly writer found that Deaver's "poignant writing portrays a determined and courageous woman who throughout her life has been motivated by one thing: love."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Deaver, Michael K., and Mickey Herskowitz, Behind the Scenes: In Which the Author Talks about Ronald and Nancy Reagan … and Himself, Morrow (New York, NY), 1987.

Deaver, Michael K., A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Deaver, Michael K., Nancy: A Portrait of My Years with Nancy Reagan, Morrow (New York, NY), 2004.

Deaver, Michael K., Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Morrow (New York, NY), 2004.

PERIODICALS

America's Intelligence Wire, June 9, 2004, Bill O'Reilly, transcript of interview with Deaver.

Booklist, December 15, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of Nancy: Portrait of My Years with Nancy Reagan, p. 706.

Economist, March 26, 1988, Hedrick Smith, review of Behind the Scenes: In Which the Author Talks about Ronald and Nancy Reagan…and Himself, p. 93.

National Review, July 8, 1988, Christopher Buckley, review of Behind the Scenes, p. 41; July 23, 2001, Linda Bridges, review of A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan.

New Republic, November 16, 1987, Daniel Schorr, "The Confused Reagan Twilight," p. 4; February 8, 1988, Garry Wills, review of Behind the Scenes, p. 40; October 17, 1988, "Deaver's Furlough," p. 9.

Publishers Weekly, January 19, 2004, review of Nancy, p. 64.

U.S. News & World Report, April 30, 1984, "Michael Deaver: Image Maker to the President," p. 19; April 14, 1986, Michael Doan, "Washington's $18 Million Dollar Man," p. 8; May 26, 1986, Steve Huntley, "Michael Deaver Gives up Pass, Puts up Dukes," p. 6; June 9, 1986, "Michael Deaver Gets His Wish," p. 7; August 25, 1986, Brian Duffy, "A House Panel Drops a Dime on Deaver," p. 6; March 9, 1987, Donald Baer, "Challenging the Special Prosecutors," p. 24; July 27, 1987, Duffy, "For Reagan, a Bit of Relief," p. 14; November 2, 1987, Baer, "The Deaver Defense: The Drink Made Me Do It," p. 60; December 28, 1987, "Deever's Wrong Turn in a Limousine," p. 12; October 3, 1988, "Deaver's Due Bills," p. 10; February 16, 2004, Angie C. Marek, interview with Deaver, p. 11.

Washington Monthly, April, 1988, Timothy Noah, review of Behind the Scenes, p. 57.