Was Reagan Out of It?

Memoirs out of Washington lately all seem to have an explosive revelation, the better to have a crack at the best-seller list. Lyndon Johnson's aide Richard Goodwin writes that the former President, near the end of his term, had become paranoid. Former White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan gave us Government- by-astrology; former Reagan Spokesman Larry Speakes told of making up quotes for the President. In addition, recent news stories have reminded the nation of Richard Nixon's ugly displays of anti-Semitism. Now comes Landslide: The Unmaking of the President: 1984-1988 by Reporters Jane Mayer and Doyle McManus. They reveal that many White House aides believed Ronald Reagan was so depressed and inattentive after cancer surgery and the Iran-contra affair last year that the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him was raised in a memo to White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker.

According to Baker Aide James Cannon, who wrote the memo, some aides had taken to signing Reagan's initials on official documents because he was so out of touch. But Cannon says that when he and Baker observed the President at their first meeting together, he was back in top form. Cannon told TIME he made his recommendation after talking to 15 to 20 White House aides, who convinced him that Reagan's short days and heavy delegation of responsibility had become a serious problem. Reagan, relaxing at a White House picnic, said, "There isn't an iota of truth to the whole story."