Nofziger Unleashes His Poetic Inner Self

Insight on the News, June 19, 2000 by Stephen Goode

Lyn Nofziger, Ronald Reagan's longtime associate and adviser, has written a collection of satirical poems on politicians and the political world, with a special passion for the Democrats.

Lyn Nofziger, Ronald Reagan press secretary, political adviser and longtime associate, is the author of a new collection of satirical verse he's titled Unbridled Joy: The Verse of Joy Skilmer. The fictitious Joy Skilmer, of course, is a pun on Joyce Kilmer, the author of "Trees," the famous (and oft-mocked) poem that begins, "I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree."

Nofziger makes use of Kilmer's easy rhymes and meter to write verse that lambastes the ways and habits and deeds of Democrats, though a Republican or two, such as Newt Gingrich, comes in for some ribbing. There also are poems in the book that celebrate Nofziger's love of sport, especially baseball: "The days of dull at last are gone,/The baseball season's coming on."

Mostly these verses are fun but sometimes ornery. "I think that Bill has gone too far/With what he does with a cigar," begins one, aptly named "The Cigar," which ends with this couplet: "One thing we know, and that 's enough/This president's not up to snuff."

But Nofziger can praise, too, as in the book's last poem on Reagan: "I think of things Ron never did:/He never built a pyramid./ ... Optimism he brought the land./Taxes were cut at his demand./ ... Most men depart without a trace./He left the world a better place."

Insight: Do you recall when you first heard Joyce Kilmer's poem "Trees"?

Lyn Nofziger: Oh, when I was a kid! I must have been in grammar school, the third or fourth grade, somewhere along there, which would put the time somewhere in the early 1930s. It's got such a simple meter to it that it sticks to you. But, you know, some poetry just does that. I still can recite parts of "Horatius at the Bridge," Thomas Babington Macaulay's poem [of 1842, frequently memorized by American grammar-school students during the 100 years before World War II].

Insight: Do you have favorites among the verses in your new book?

LN: There are some that are less favorite than others [laughs]. But I do like the one on [Illinois Republican Rep.] Henry Hyde. It begins, "I'm glad some folks are on my side,/And one of those is Henry Hyde."

And I like the one that begins, "Now who is left who can deny/The Democrats all love the lie" [which is about the willingness of congressional Democrats to ignore President Clinton's dishonesty].

Insight: You especially are eloquent when you write about the vice president.

LN: I always refer to him as Algore, all one word, and I notice others do, too. He's got a name that rhymes easily and that helps.

Insight: The current administration has provided you a great deal of material, as well as inspiration.

LN: Oh, they have. I am very grateful to them.

Insight: Do you think the Republicans are going to get together this year and be unified?

LN: I think so. It always takes a little while after a mean primary and the only good thing about having early primaries is that it provides more time to get together after the bruising. The best thing going for us is Algore. I cannot conceive how the American people could elect him. On the other hand, I couldn't conceive how they could elect a Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton -- especially Clinton in '96.

Insight: Any political recommendations?

LN: If I were managing the Bush campaign, I would run a TV spot every day saying just one thing: "This man [Gore] wants to get rid of the internal-combustion engine. That is your car and mine. That is the tractor that makes it possible to grow the abundance of food you eat. That is the airplane that takes you to visit your relatives. Here is a picture of the man who is calling for abolition of the intern-combustion engine! It's in his book, Earth in the Balance. Here's a copy, and just within the last three months he's said he would not change a word in this book."

I would beat him to a frazzle with that -- just that one thing. He's the man who will take away your automobile and your metro bus. He's the man who will take away your lawn mower, the whole kit and caboodle.

Insight: Do you think the American people have moved to the left since the 1960s, or have they become more conservative?

LN: I wouldn't put it that way. I think the American people have become more reliant upon government and less reliant upon themselves and that they now tend to put security ahead of freedom, but I think freedom is the most important aspect of our lives.

Insight: What did you think of Edmund Morris' biography of Ronald Reagan, Dutch, where Morris makes himself a fictitious character in the biography?

LN: That's a discouraging book because he had such a tremendous opportunity -- an opportunity that no presidential biographer ever has had of sitting in on things at the White House and being around a president with unprecedented access.

There was a while when I was casually friendly with Morris and we had lunch several times. One time he showed me his files at his townhouse on Capitol Hill. He had all this stuff on 3-by-5 cards and pulled out drawer after drawer -- he literally had thousands of cards. I think what happened to him is that he had so damn much material that he didn't know what to do with it all.