
NOVAK: There's no question. There's not even a close second. Ronald Reagan was really the only fundamentally successful president in my half century. And it's because--I didn't really fully realize it at the time--he didn't get bogged down in details. He wasn't a micromanager. He really had very few things he was trying to do: Win the Cold War, restore the economy through some tax cuts; and restore the faith of the American people. He hit all three.