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Politics

Adviser shaped Reagan's image

He drew scorn and admiration for making sure the president played to the camera.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 19, 2007

WASHINGTON - Michael K. Deaver, a close adviser who directed Ronald Reagan's picturesque and symbolic public appearances, died Saturday (Aug. 18, 2007). He was 69.

Mr. Deaver, who had pancreatic cancer, died at his home in Bethesda, Md., according to a statement from his family that was issued by Edelman, the public relations firm for which he served as vice chairman.

Mr. Deaver was celebrated and scorned as an expert at media manipulation for focusing on how the president looked as much as what he said. Reagan's chief choreographer for public events, Mr. Deaver protected Reagan's image and enhanced it with a flair for choosing just the right settings, poses and camera angles.

"I've always said the only thing I did is light him well," Mr. Deaver told the Los Angeles Times in 2001. "My job was filling up the space around the head. I didn't make Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan made me."

Mr. Deaver's own image suffered a setback in 1987. He was convicted on three of five counts of perjury stemming from statements to a congressional subcommittee and a federal grand jury investigating his lobbying activities.

He blamed alcoholism for lapses in memory and judgment. He was sentenced to three years' probation and fined $100,000 as well as ordered to perform 1,500 hours of public service.

Mr. Deaver brought a public relations background and a long association with Reagan to his work as White House deputy chief of staff from 1981 to 1985. He, Edwin Meese III and James A. Baker III were known as "the troika" that, in effect, managed the presidency.

Mr. Deaver steered the president away from reporters when he could, instead arranging Reagan in poses and settings that conveyed visually the message of the moment.

One example was Reagan's visit to the beaches of Normandy, in France, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe during World War II. Mr. Deaver arranged for Reagan to appear on a cliff overlooking the English Channel and address D-Day veterans, which yielded dramatic video and still images.

Michael Deaver was born April 11, 1938, in Bakersfield, Calif., the son of a Shell Oil Co. distributor. He played piano in bars while studying political science at San Jose State College.

Mr. Deaver's work with Reagan began when he joined the gubernatorial staff in Sacramento after Reagan's election in 1966. Mr. Deaver formed his own company after Reagan left the state capital and then joined Reagan in Washington after his 1980 election.

Survivors include his wife, Carolyn, and two children, Amanda Deaver of Washington and Blair Deaver of Bend, Ore.

[Last modified August 19, 2007, 01:48:01]