What was Ronald Reagan like? Peggy Noonan, former White House speechwriter, explains with “the bathroom story.”
A few days after Ronald Reagan had been shot, when he was well enough to get out of bed, he wasn’t feeling well, so he went into the bathroom that connected to his room. He slapped some water on his face and some of the water slopped out of the sink. He got some paper towels and got down on the floor to clean it up. An aide went in to check on him, and found the president of the United States on his hands and knees on the cold tile floor, mopping up water with paper towels. “Mr. President,” the aide said, “what are you doing? Let the nurse clean that up!” And he said “Oh, no. I made that mess, and I’d hate for the nurse to have to clean it up.”
Paradox of Power by Pat Williams
