An intimate portrait of Ronald Reagan, from his political mentor, ally and friend, William F. Buckley Jr.William F. Buckley Jr. first met Ronald Reagan in 1960, when Reagan, then a well-known actor, was assigned to introduce Buckley to an audience of Californian doctors. On discovering that the microphone couldn't be turned on without breaking into a locked control room, Reagan climbed out of a window in his tuxedo, cat-walked some thirty yards to the correct window, broke a pane with his elbow, let himself in and turned on the mic. He then proceeded to deliver a warm and flawless introduction. It was, Buckley came to realise, a perfect Reagan moment.This book, a reminiscence of thirty years of friendship, is full of such moments. Buckley and Reagan were more than political allies: they and their wives were also close friends, who holidayed together and shared inside jokes. Reagan, in Buckley's view, was the most genuine of politicians: he acted out, in the smallest details of his life, the same ideals he brought to governing America. Under Reagan, Buckley argues, the US was about something. It had a sense of mission it has not enjoyed since. This book is a personal and political appreciation by an author uniquely qualified to speak to both aspects of the subject.