Famed Reagan quote

[Garson O'Toole]

Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Many sources assert that Ronald Reagan said in 1966 that "Politics is
> just like show business."
>
> Tell it!  But the statement isn't in YBQ, and I'm too busy to look
> into it at the moment.

The reference "Presidential Campaigns: from George Washington to
George W. Bush" (2004) by Paul F. Boller has a version of this
quotation attributed to Reagan on page viii. Footnote 5 directs the
reader to a 1981 book by journalist Elizabeth Drew titled "Portrait of
an Election: the 1980 Presidential Campaign".

Elizabeth Drew was writing about the campaign for the New Yorker. Here
is the relevant citation:

Cite: 1980 September 29, The New Yorker, A Reporter at Large: 1980:
Reagan by Elizabeth Drew, Page 206 and 207, F. R. Publishing
Corporation, New York. (Online New Yorker archive; Accessed 2011
December 6)

[Begin excerpt]
Stuart Spencer says that in 1966 Reagan remarked to him, "Politics is
just like show business." When Spencer asked Reagan what he meant, he
explained, "You have a hell of an opening, you coast for a while, you
have a have a hell of a closing."
[End excerpt]

If Boller gave the best citation then this Reagan attribution may be
based on the memory Stuart Spencer of an event 14 years in the past.

Here is a thematically similar quotation from 1948 (not by Reagan).

Cite: 1948 October 09, The New Yorker, Letter From A Campaign Train:
En Route with Truman by Richard H. Rovere, Page 69, Column 1, F. R.
Publishing Corporation, New York. (Online New Yorker archive; Accessed
2011 December 6)

[Begin excerpt]
Politics is a branch of show business, and life aboard a Presidential
campaign train - a peculiar and somewhat wearing form of existence
that I have been sampling on and off during the past couple of weeks -
is like life in a fast-moving road carnival.
[End excerpt]

The interface to the New Yorker online archive is one the worst I have
experienced. Please double-check all this information if you plan to
use it. Typos etcetera are likely.
Garson

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