Editorial: Fact and fiction get mixed in Reagan bio

Friday, Sept. 24, 1999 | 9:47 a.m.

Edmund Morris' authorized biography of former President Ronald Reagan hasn't been released yet but already there is controversy. Morris, the New York Times reported Saturday, has invented a character who serves as a narrator in the biography. The narrator is called "Edmund Morris," but that is where the similarity ends with the real-life author. In the book, "Edmund Morris" is an associate throughout Reagan's life and the biography includes "conversations" between the narrator and Reagan -- even before the real Morris was born. Despite this Random House is releasing "Dutch" as nonfiction with only a cursory mention that portions of the book have been fictionalized. Morris' approach may create a buzz and sell more books, but the end result will be a cheapening of the historical record.

Morris' blending of fact and fiction isn't unprecedented, though. Previous biographies of American presidents and other important figures in our nation's history have seen fact laced with fiction. For instance, the anecdote of a young George Washington confessing to cutting down a cherry tree was a myth created by an early biographer to display the first president's honesty. We still long for heroes, but in today's age such fables should be unacceptable, especially when documenting one of the most important figures of the 20th century.

Both supporters and critics of Reagan's presidency were looking forward to this work, considering Morris' previous Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of President Theodore Roosevelt. In addition, Morris' unprecedented access to high-level government meetings that included Reagan created a natural anticipation. But fictionalizing even a small portion of a lengthy biography is a terrible mistake. What could have been arguably the definitive word on the Reagan presidency instead could end up being remembered as a return to the since-discredited genre in which historians play loose with the facts.