The next chapter, in which President Reagan introduces “Chairman Moe” of Liberia.

7/2/82 Caught off guard at his 12th press conference by Sarah McClendon’s question about “sex harassment of women” working in government, President Reagan waggles his head and says, “Now, Sarah, just a minute here with the discussion or we’ll be getting an R rating.” Many reporters – Sarah not among them – find this inane quip amusing enough to actually laugh at.

8/2/82 Seeking to convey the Administration’s displeasure with Israel over its attacks on Beirut, the White House points out the difference between a February 1981 photo in which President Reagan is sitting next to Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir and laughing, and today’s photo, in which Reagan frowns at him from across a table.

8/11/82 President Reagan tells Time’s Hugh Sidey that he sometimes feels trapped in the White House. “You glance out the window and the people are walking around Pennsylvania Avenue and you say, ‘I could never say I am going to run down to the drugstore and get some magazines,’” he says. “I can’t do that any more.”

8/17/82 Introducing Liberian head of state Samuel Doe, President Reagan says, “Ladies and gentlemen, Chairman Moe of Liberia is our visitor here today, and we’re very proud to have him.”

9/6/82 The Washington Post reports that of President Reagan’s first 72 nominees to the judiciary, 68 are white males.

9/14/82 Defending his support of anti‑abortion legislation, President Reagan says, “I think the fact that children have been prematurely born even down to the three‑month stage and have lived to, the record shows, to grow up and be normal human beings, that ought to be enough for all of us.” Later, aide Peter Roussel acknowledges that the record shows nothing of the kind: the youngest surviving fetus was four‑and‑a‑half months old. (A three‑month‑old fetus is, at most, three‑and‑a‑half inches long.) Was Reagan aware of this? “He knew,” says Roussel, “but he said three instead of four and a half.”

9/30/82 Two days after President Reagan commits the Marines to an indefinite stay in Lebanon, David L. Reagan (no relation) becomes the first Marine to be killed in the conflict.

10/4/82 President Reagan suggests – and not, by any means, for the first time – that since he sees big help wanted sections in the Sunday papers, unemployment must be caused by a lot of lazy people who’d just rather not work.

10/4/82 Addressing an Ohio veteran’s group, President Reagan discusses plans to strengthen three military divisions in Western Europe, “two of which are in Geneva, and one, I believe, still in Switzerland.”

10/8/82 The unemployment rate hits 10.1%, the highest in 42 years. This does not overly concern President Reagan, who soon puts it in perspective. “Just remember,” he says, “for every person who is out of work, there are nine of us with jobs.”

All entries are excerpted from the “Reagan Centennial Edition” of my 1989 book The Clothes Have No Emperor, available here as an enhanced eBook. More to come.