In memory of a friend.

• Position: Off The News

DONALD T. REGAN was a brash, dashing, and thoroughly charming U.S. Treasury Secretary. He had style but style was not what he was all about. Regan wanted to make a difference and his accomplishments prove that he did. He was a major figure in the development and implementation of two of the most important tax policy changes in U.S. history: The 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act that dramatically cut income tax rates for individuals and businesses, and the Tax Reform Act of 1986 that further cut individual income tax rates to their lowest levels in modern memory. But it is too simplistic to characterize Regan as a low-tax anti-government Reaganite. He had a tough enforcement mentality and believed that every citizen had a duty to pay his share of taxes, especially if the system was designed fairly. Regan, always a friend to this magazine, was an inter nationalist who believed in cooperative effort with U.S. trading partners and initiated the Latin America debt restructuring of the 1980s. But he liked friendly competition and was too much of a "markets man" to support political attempts to structure exchange rates.

Don Regan was a great cabinet secretary to work for. His early morning staff meetings were comprehensive and exciting, like the planning of a military campaign from his earlier Marine Corps days. Everyone was accountable, but you also felt part of a special team and wanted to do your best...