Lynn Nofziger died yesterday. He was 81. Nofziger, I always thought, was an perfectly good fellow. I liked him. He was one of the early friends of the Ashbrook Center, spoke here in December, 1983 (soon after President Reagan opened the Center), and then again in 1992. He also wrote for us from time to time, see this and this . He was an agreeable, tough, and smart political consultant. He spoke his mind: "I am a Republican because, like Ronald Reagan, I believe that freedom is America’s most important product." He hated neckties, which he called an ornament of surfeit, and he never could pull his tight. If a well-tied tie is the first serious step in life, he was not a very serious fellow. Maybe that’s why I liked him.
I once told him that the fellow who invented the necktie was having a tough time in Dante’s ninth circle, and I wasn’t really feeling sorry for the SOB at all. He laughed and agreed but then he told me that it was probably Louis XIV (even better, said I). He liked some Croat (hence cravat) soldiers’ red neck cloths when they marched in front of him celebrating a victory over the Turks and then began using something like it on himself and some of his soldiers. Lynn was an altogether good fellow. May he Rest in Peace.
Do I remember rightly, that Lynn Nofziger was responsible for the newsletters that RR sent out for a couple of years before he ran for President? What were those called? I probably saved a couple somewhere, as they were very well done, cogently making a case for conservatism. In our case, at any rate, it was a highly effective means of building grass-roots support. We felt that we knew RR through his writing and were howling for him to be president by the time he was actually running.
The Bush administration could use a Lyn Nofziger.
One of the few who was bigger than his jobs. I will miss Lyn.