A Modest Millionaire

By Hugh Sidey

The political harping, and press posturing, that Ronald Reagan is extravagant, self-indulgent and acquisitive is a bad rap. True, he Likes to run with California millionaires. He is one himself. But, personally, Reagan is quite a different type.

His richman image ballooned when he accepted four pairs of $1,000 cowboy boots with gold Presidential Seals. Then the White House announced the purchase (with private donations) of 4,372 pieces of china for $209,508, or about $ 1,000 a place setting. For politicians, image is often everything. Just when a President is about to cut back on school lunches is not the time to buy teacups and start wearing cowboy boots made of calf and ostrich hide.

Yet fair is fair. Reagan may be worth $3 million or $4 million, but Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon were millionaires too. Of the past seven Presidents, ranked by wealth and indulgence, Reagan would be next to the bottom, tied with Carter. Jerry Ford would be low man. At the top of the acquisitive scale would be L.B.J. by several lengths. Estimates of his fortune varied from $3.5 million to $20 million. He collected land, cattle, boots, cars, airstrips, telephones, helicopters and anything else around--with his money or the taxpayers'. It sometimes didn't seem to matter.

Kennedy had tastes that were quiet, but proportionate to his estimated $10 million fortune and the $400 million family holdings that backed it up. He liked exclusive beach houses, boats and planes. Nixon had homes in San Clemente and Key Biscayne, improvements on which cost the taxpayers huge sums. Dwight Eisenhower had his magnificent Gettysburg farm fixed up and stocked by admirers.

Next to the Johnson abode on a 2,000-acre spread near Austin, Reagan's house on his 688-acre California ranch looks like a log cabin ("It is," protests Nancy). No central heat. No wine cellar. Two bedrooms. Three cattle. Six horses. Three McCulloch chain saws (for cutting firewood). One old Jeep. One decrepit tractor. (When a John Deere executive saw Reagan's tractor, he dispatched a salesman to make a deal. The President was told that for $58,000 and his old model, he could get the tractor of his dreams. "Forget it," Reagan answered.)

This President is not a dedicated collector. He owns one small Grandma Moses painting, one Charles Russell bronze statue of a boxer (a gift) and several contemporary western artworks. His modest gun collection came from gifts. He has no yacht-just a 12-ft. canoe, the Truluv. His stereo rig would be spurned by the average twelve-year-old. The Corum $20-gold-piece watch he sports is a ten-year-old gift from friends. A couple of years ago, he and Nancy made a pact for a mutual Christmas gift, a power log splitter.

Reagan looks spiffy in public appearances, but his tailor, Frank Mariani of Beverly Hills, insists that he sometimes wears his suits (now $1,000 each) for twelve years. Aide Mike Deaver claims that Reagan's advisers had to pry him out of a 35-year-old topcoat when he first came east. A friend spotted him wearing a new tie recently and asked about it. Reagan said that he knew the narrow widths would come back in style if he kept his old ties long enough.

When Reagan was Governor of California, he ignored the political boodle that lay all around for the taking, even the booze. The President dotes on macaroni and cheese, not quail. If left alone, he eats hamburger, or bacon and eggs.

Make no mistake, Reagan likes to go first class, but not raised to the tenth power. "He does not crave," says Nancy Reynolds, a former aide. "The only time I saw him have a bad case of the wants was when he looked at the ranch he has now. He loved it the moment he saw it." Meanwhile, think again about that new china the President and Nancy are getting for the White House. In 1968 the Johnsons (also with private money) purchased 2,200 pieces of china for $80,000, which in today's dollars is $210,000. The Reagans got a steal.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.