From the LA Times:Lyn Nofziger, the irascible and outspoken aide who served Ronald Reagan most prominently as communications director during his two terms as California governor, died Monday. He was 81.
Nofziger died at his home in Falls Church, Va., family members said. For the last year, he was battling kidney cancer that had spread throughout his body. Until his health took a turn late last year, Nofziger was working as a political consultant and contributing to his blog Lynnofziger.com.
A former Washington correspondent for the Copley News Service, Nofziger joined Reagan's campaign for governor during the summer of 1965 and advised him through the rest of his political career.
"He understood the press and how to weed out the important things with the press," said Stu Spencer, the campaign manager of Reagan's gubernatorial race. "He was a very important cog in the original Reagan effort."
Nofziger went with Reagan to Sacramento, serving as communications director. One of his lasting contributions to the Reagan effort, according to reporters who covered the capital at the time, was his success in getting Reagan to hold a weekly televised news conference.
Years later, he speculated about the impact of those forums.
The voters "see Reagan on television," Nofziger said. "They identify with him. He comes across to them as a nice man and a decent man. And they just don't believe that he's capable of doing [bad] things. And I think, maybe if there were no television, there could well be no Ronald Reagan."
A raucous man who often sported Mickey Mouse ties and other colorful apparel, Nofziger was so irreverent at times that he was considered ill-suited for the role of White House press secretary after Reagan was elected president in 1980. Nofziger became assistant to the president for political affairs instead.
He confessed later that he was a bad fit even for that job. When he left the White House after only two years to become a lobbyist, he declared that he was tired of attending staff meetings and remarked, "I don't like government. Some do. Some don't. It's like spinach."
But Nofziger's finest hour, Spencer told The Times on Monday, was after the president and his press secretary, James Brady, were shot outside a Washington hotel a little over two months after Reagan took office. Nofziger stepped into the breach for the fallen Brady and served as press spokesman during the early days of the crisis.
In a statement Monday, former First Lady Nancy Reagan said she was deeply saddened by Nofziger's death.
"Lyn was with us from the gubernatorial campaign in 1965 through the early White House days, and Ronnie valued his advice — and good humor — as much as anyone's," she said. "I spoke with him just days ago and even though he knew the end was near, Lyn was hopeful and still in good spirits."
Godspeed, Lyn...tell The Gipper hello for us.
More--Human Events Remembers Mr. Nofziger.
