In 1983, President Reagan was asked this question:

Mr. President, Ed Lecius from Nashua, New Hampshire. We’ve been reading in the Union Leader in recent weeks and hearing from our senior Senator Gordon Humphrey, that they feel that you’re moving away from the policies and principles that got you elected. How would you react to those statements by them?

President Reagan responded:

Well, I had a fine conversation with Nackey Loeb recently. We ran across each other when I was in Boston. And I know that it can look that way.

I’m not retreating an inch from where I was. But I also recognize this: There are some people who would have you so stand on principle that if you don’t get all that you’ve asked for from the legislature, why, you jump off the cliff with the flag flying.

I have always figured that a half a loaf is better than none, and I know that in the democratic process you’re not going to always get everything you want. So, I think what they’ve misread is times in which I have compromised — for example, our entire economic program.

I proposed three 10-percent-a-year cuts in the income tax, retroactive to January 1st, 1981. There was no way I could get that with the House of Representatives dominated by the other party. So, I settled for a 5-percent cut the first year, not retroactive but on October 30 — or on October 1st, the beginning of the fiscal year; then two following 10-percent cuts. Well, I think 25 percent, a little delayed in starting, was better than going down fighting and not getting anything at all.

And I wish that I could get more people to realize, no, I have not retreated from what was our original purpose. I am very stubborn in that regard. And I’m just going to have to try and communicate better, and make people realize that, you know, I come back and I ask for more the next time around.