Khachigian Reflects on Working Behind the Scenes with President Reagan

He said that his involvement with politics and political campaigns had started with a letter sent to Presidential candidate Richard Nixon in 1967, requesting to volunteer in his campaign, and the rest is history. His experience working for Nixon then led to his career work in nine presidential campaigns. He served three presidents and was instrumental in guiding George Deukmejian to victory as governor of the state of California.

One of Khachigian’s most memorable achievements, as a chief speech writer, senior political advisor, and special consultant to President Reagan, was the “Holocaust Proclamation,” signed by the President on April 22, 1981. It says, “Like the Genocide of the Armenians before it, and the Genocide of the Cambodians which followed it — and the too many other such persecutions of too many other people — the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.”

Khachigian admitted that he had cleared this speech with two senior members of the National Security Agency before presenting it to Reagan. Such measures were necessary, he noted, to make sure that there were no international political repercussions harmful to the United States.

In the course of his professional work with President Reagan, Khachigian was a frequent visitor of Camp David. He also once visited the president’s Santa Barbara ranch, which President Reagan used for rest and relaxation.

During the question-and-answer session that followed the lecture, Khachigian anticipated one question raised by a member of the audience and answered right away, saying; no, I was not the author of the famous line “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall.”c