For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
May 11, 2005
Vice President's Remarks at "A Nation Honors Nancy Reagan"
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
Washington, D.C.
8:08 P.M. EDT
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you, Diane. And
I'd like to respond to Diane's introduction. (Laughter.) But Lynne is
here tonight, and I'd better not. (Laughter.)
But I'm delighted to be with all of you this evening on a very
special occasion for Lynne and me to pay tribute to a great and beloved
American, Nancy Reagan.
We're pleased as well to be joined by the congressional leadership;
by members of the Reagan administration; current and former members of
the Cabinet; and President Reagan's first appointee to the Supreme
Court of the United States, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. (Applause.)
So many of you here this evening have worked at the White House, or
have been guests there from time to time. And you'll recall that one
of the first rooms that visitors see is called the Vermeil Room, just
off the corridor on the Ground Floor. If you go into the room, you see
Aaron Shikler's portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy -- a painting that calls
to mind a period of elegance and renewal in the White House. And just
a few steps away you see another portrait -- equally stunning, painted
by the same artist -- of a lady in red. She is Nancy Davis Reagan, and
she, also, defined the beauty and the style of an entire era.
(Applause.)
To this day our whole nation admires the wife of our 40th President
for her graciousness and good taste, for the respect she held for the
presidency and for the symbols of that office, for the causes she has
served so generously and, above all, for the personal courage she has
displayed in all the seasons of her life.
Nancy Reagan has never been one to speak of her own
accomplishments, but her entire life is a story of great talent, of
persevering character, and many successes. She is a graduate of Smith
College who decided to become an actress, then made her own way in show
business. The woman we honor this evening has appeared on Broadway,
performed with touring companies, and starred in motion pictures with
Gary Cooper, Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Gene Kelly,
and Ronald Reagan.
In fact, long before she ever met her husband, Nancy Davis had a
contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and her beautiful face was familiar
to millions of Americans.
Nancy had extraordinary, loving parents, and they both lived long
enough to see their only daughter become a movie star, a devoted wife
and mother, First Lady of California, and First Lady of the United
States.
Her father, Loyal Davis, M.D., was chairman of the department of
surgery at Northwestern University Medical School. For many decades,
Dr. Davis was one of the most respected physicians in the United
States, and he is remembered, professionally and personally, as the
finest of men.
Nancy's mother was Edith Luckett Davis -- also a beautiful and
kind-hearted woman, a former actress, and by all accounts a person of
unlimited warmth and humor. A Catholic priest once told Nancy about
the day he introduced Nancy's mother to the Bishop of Phoenix. He said
he very cordially presented Mrs. Davis to the Bishop, and she curtsied
in a very proper fashion. Then she turned to the priest and said,
"Well, aren't you and I going to kiss? -- we always do that when the
bishop isn't here." (Laughter.)
The Davis family included a devoted son-in-law. And every year on
his wife's birthday, Ronald Reagan sent Edith Davis a bouquet of
flowers, to thank her for giving birth to Nancy -- the woman who, in
his words, "made my life complete."
The future President and First Lady of the United States were
married at the Little Brown Church in Los Angeles. And ever after,
both Nancy and Ronald Reagan would refer to the 4th of March, 1952 as
the day their lives truly began.
For 52 years Nancy Reagan was at the side of this great man -- and
she has shared with us so many wonderful stories of their life
together. In her memoir Nancy explains that Ronald Reagan was not an
early riser. She tells of the time in 1980 when her husband complained
about campaign events being scheduled way too early in the day. A
member of the staff said, "You'd better get used to it, Governor. If
you become President, that fellow from the NSC is going to come in to
brief you at 7:30 a.m. each morning." Reagan said, "Yeah, then he's
going to have a hell of a long wait." (Laughter.)
As the Reagan presidency unfolded, our leader and his wife faced
many challenges -- among them, of course, the shooting of the President
and serious illnesses for both of them. Yet, perhaps because of the
great strength they gained from each other, neither the President nor
Nancy seemed to get older. Once somebody asked Ronald Reagan, "How
come when I keep seeing new pictures of you on horseback, you always
look younger?" The President replied, "That's easy, I just keep riding
older horses." (Laughter.)
To think back on the Reagan years is to recall a time of rising
prosperity in our country, and rising hopes for freedom in our world.
In that era our national confidence was revived, our faith in the
presidency was renewed, and the White House itself never looked
better.
For eight years as First Lady of our land, Nancy Reagan was the
very ideal of grace, and loyalty, and compassion. It wasn't just
Ronald Reagan that she helped. She is the First Lady who gave new life
to the Foster Grandparents Program, which has meant so much to older
Americans and to children in need. She is the First Lady who enlisted
herself in the fight against drugs and kept at it year after year, and
without a doubt deserves a lot of the credit for a serious decline in
drug use among teenagers. She now brings that same spirit to the cause
of defeating Alzheimer's Disease -- not for any gain that could come to
her, but because she is a woman of deep understanding and feeling.
I am very fortunate to know Mrs. Reagan, and to have known her
husband. It has always seemed to me that no photograph could ever
capture the true closeness of the Reagans. But if you spent any amount
of time in their company, you could sense just how much Nancy meant to
him, and how proud she made him every day. She once wrote, "I have
never doubted for one single instant that Ronnie and I belong
together." Our whole nation has always felt the same way. When we
think of President Reagan, we always see Nancy beside him, and our
respect for their service to America only grows with time.
Nearly a quarter century has passed since this remarkable woman
stepped into American history as First Lady. Yet Nancy Reagan is still
giving to our country, and still bringing happiness into the lives of
others. She is a warm and familiar presence in American life. She
remains one of the most admired women of our time. And we are joyful
to be in her presence this evening.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END 8:18 P.M. EDT
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