April 2, 1987
Dear Dick:
After your four years of service in the White House and more than two years' service as the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, I can understand your decision to return to the private sector. I appreciate particularly your sense of your obligations to your family. Were it not for such considerations I would urge you to reconsider.
You have been at the center of much that we have done since the days of transition in late 1980. You have contributed invaluably to some of the most important accomplishments of my Administration: among them, the tax and budget acts of 1981; the Social Security compromise of 1983; the reorientation of international economic policy in 1985; and, in 1986, the enactment of the most comprehensive tax reform in America's history.
Your career in government -- spanning four administrations -- has been marked with distinction. Throughout, your commitment to the public interest has been clear, consistent, and unfailing. You can take justifiable pride in your contributions and achievements.
On behalf of the country for which I know you care so deeply, let me thank you personally for a job well done.
With heartfelt appreciation, Nancy and I wish you, Kathleen, Willy and Jonathan all future success and happiness.
Sincerely,
Ronald Reagan
Dear Mr. President:
This letter is difficult for me to write.
In November 1980, it was a privilege for me to be able to join the White House transition team. It was a greater privilege to be sworn in, in the East Room, on the morning of your first full day in office, as a member of the White House staff. And ever since, it has seemed to me a very special privilege to have had the opportunity to continue to serve as a member of your administration.
It is with mixed feelings, therefore, that I respectfully inform you of my conclusion that the time has come for me to resign. In the public sector, I have been fortunate to have had the chance to contribute to much that seems to me to have been of positive value. But, at this particular stage of my life, after more than six straight years in government, I conclude: I have family obligations that might better be met if I were in the private sector; there are interesting opportunities for me to serve in the private sector in ways that can combine challenge, reward, and socially valuable contribution; and I would welcome such new challenges.
I shall always be appreciative of the trust you showed in allowing me to assume the responsibilities of Deputy to the Chief of Staff, Assistant to the President, and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. I shall always be grateful for having had the opportunity to be involved with some of your distinctive achievements. And I shall always be proud to have been associated with a President who -- when the country desperately needed it -- helped restore America's pride, and helped renew the historic commitment to build a ``shining city upon a hill.''
Please accept my very best wishes for continued success -- along with my very deepest thanks for all that you have done for me personally and, most importantly, for all that you have done for our country.
Yours with continuing appreciation and respect,
Richard G. Darman