Nofziger

Addressed as Lynwood by Ronald Reagan, called a myriad of sometimes unprintable names by the media and certain members of the Reagan inner circle--or not called anything by Nancy Reagan, who instead gave him the silent treatment whenever she was angry at him--Nofziger is a Reagan loyalist of some vintage: press secretary in Reagan's California gubernatorial campaign and administration during the mid-1960s; press secretary in the Reagan presidential campaigns, and holder of various posts in the Reagan White House. And although he served time in the Nixon White House and provides delicious gossip about its dramatis personae, the star turn in Nofziger's memoir belongs to the former actor, who, in this devotee's opinion, is an estimable man. Nofziger's facility as an expert propagandist is much in evidence here as he practices an art he is proud to have mastered, that of confusing them with the truth. He shows us politics in the back room and singles out those he considers masters of their craft: James Baker III, for one, is an operator who has slicked his way up to the most prestigious cabinet job going. As for the lazy and self-important Washington press corps, any member of the media who talks 'right to know' is talking absolute crap. But the sourest note in this otherwise comical journal is sounded when Nofziger recaps his 1988 conviction on three counts of violating the Ethics in Government Act, a sentence voided on appeal at a bitter cost to him of $1.8 million in legal fees. (Oct.)