In ‘Dutch’

On a signing tour for his controversial biography, “Dutch,” author Edmund Morris stopped Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, where staff were cool but polite and one prominent figure was notably absent.

Had former First Lady Nancy Reagan been present she would have heard Morris pledge to archive the notes for his book to the library, where Morris’ once-powerful and now ailing subject will one day be buried.

The wife of the movie star--turned governor--turned president, Nancy Reagan has not spoken with Morris since the release last month of the book, which described the former president as the consummate performer--publicly charismatic and awesome, but privately ordinary and shallow long before Alzheimer’s took away his critical abilities.

In a brisk introduction, the presidential foundation’s executive director, Mark Burson, simply invited Morris to the microphone to speak on “his recent book.”

A Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Theodore Roosevelt who in 1985 became Reagan’s official biographer, the Kenyan-born Morris acknowledged in a gentle British accent his sense that his hosts had mixed feelings about his presence.

He told Burson, “In the spirit of free speech . . . I thank you for having me here, even though you must have been worried.”

Describing Reagan’s “public majesty,” he told a crowd of readers and journalists that Reagan was the greatest American president to follow Harry Truman. He credited him with dismantling the Soviet Union and other threats to democracy. He also could not resist sharing with the audience Reagan’s theory that a brownish cloud along the coastline must be the ozone layer.

Burson later said Morris’ appearance was planned months before the release of the book. He also said he had yet to read the book but would “get to it.”

Morris has faced harsh criticism from historians and reviewers for his decision to use fictional characters to make observations that Reagan did not make--observations that Morris says saved the book from being boring and a failure.

In his remarks, he asserted his technique was perhaps “more honest” than traditional biography, because it revealed to readers upfront how a biographer injects his own perspective into the telling of his subject’s story.

Although some critics have pointed out factual inaccuracies and insufficient political analysis, Morris defended the integrity of his work as a whole.

He observed a dichotomy between professional critics and the general public. “The response I’m getting from ordinary readers is overwhelmingly positive, so perhaps it’s all going to turn out for the best,” Morris said.

Inside the museum gift shop, the public proved Morris right. More than 50 Southern California residents waited in line for him to sign copies of the book.

Reagan fan Bea Cleveland of San Dimas said she respected Morris’ technique. “He wanted to get in touch with who Ronald Reagan was, not just as president. It wasn’t just intellectual talk. He sincerely loved the man himself.”

Bruce Oxford of Thousand Oaks said he was intrigued by the writer’s style. “I’ve been fascinated by the interviews I’ve watched on television of Mr. Morris, because I’ve known Mr. Reagan for so many years,” said the retired butcher who said he carved Reagan’s cattle into cuts of meat many years ago.

Gayle Schindler of Northridge got Morris to sign seven copies, which she plans to sell at her online bookstore for $57 each. The list price on the book is $35.

A San Fernando Valley woman who did not want her name used said her husband would add their signed copy to his collection of 600 books by and about U.S. presidents.

David Bridge, an archivist technician at the library who lives in Santa Clarita, said he didn’t think the book was as good as the Roosevelt biography, and creating fictional characters makes it a memoir, not a history book. Still, he said, “it’s pretty good.”

To Andrew Klaczak of Ontario, who worked the graveyard shift at his job in Culver City and drove straight to Simi Valley to meet the author, Morris’ fictional observers seemed no stranger than his own life.

Klaczak grew up in Poland, he said, watched westerns and other American films and dreamed of escape. When he finally got to the United States in 1981, one of his boyhood heroes had just become president.

Morris said it makes no difference that Reagan is now too ill to read or comment on his book. “If he still had all his faculties, he would not be particularly interested,” he said. “He was not curious about what people thought of him. He had no curiosity about himself.”

Still, Morris predicted, “He would at least acknowledge I’ve written a fair book about him.”

The Reagan library was the third stop on Morris’ tour, a publicist said. Morris is scheduled to appear today in San Francisco, on Thursday morning at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda and on Thursday evening at the central branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. Reservations are required for the L.A. library event, and may be made by calling (213) 228-7025.