Nancy Reagan
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Nancy Davis Reagan
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| In office January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 |
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| Preceded by | Rosalynn Carter |
| Succeeded by | Barbara Bush |
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First Lady of California
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| In office January 3, 1967 – January 7, 1975 |
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| Preceded by | Bernice Layne |
| Succeeded by | Anne Gust |
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| Born | July 6, 1921 Flushing, New York, U.S. |
| Spouse | Ronald Reagan (1952–2004) |
| Relations | Kenneth Seymour Robbins and Edith Luckett |
| Children | Patti, Ron |
| Alma mater | Smith College |
| Occupation | First Lady of the United States |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
| Signature |  |
Nancy Davis Reagan (born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921) is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and served as an influential First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Born in New York, her parents divorced soon after her birth; she grew up in Maryland, living with an aunt and uncle while her mother pursued acting jobs. As Nancy Davis, she was an actor in the 1940s and 1950s, starring in films such as Donovan's Brain, Night into Morning, and Hellcats of the Navy. In 1952 she married Ronald Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild; they had two children. Nancy became the First Lady of California when her husband was Governor from 1967 to 1975.
She became the First Lady of the United States in January 1981 following her husband's victory, but experienced criticism early in his first term largely due to her decision to replenish the White House china. Nancy restored a Kennedy-esque glamour to the White House following years of lax formality, and her interest in high-end fashion garnered much attention, as well as criticism. She championed recreational drug prevention causes by founding the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign, which was considered her major initiative as First Lady. Always protective of her husband, more controversy ensued when it was revealed in 1988 that she had consulted an astrologer to assist in planning the president's schedule after the 1981 assassination attempt on her husband's life.
The Reagans retired to their home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California in 1989. Nancy devoted most of her time to caring for her ailing husband, diagnosed in 1994 with Alzheimer's disease, until his death in 2004. Nancy Reagan has remained active in politics, particularly in relation to stem-cell research.
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[edit] Early life
Anne Frances Robbins was born on July 6, 1921[1][2] at Manhattan's Sloane Hospital for Women in New York,[3][4] the only child of car salesman Kenneth Seymour Robbins (1894–1972)[5] and his actress wife, Edith Luckett (1888–1987).[6] She lived for her first two years in Flushing, Queens in New York.[7] While her parents divorced soon after her birth, they had already been separated for some time.[8] As her mother traveled the country to pursue acting jobs, Nancy was raised in Bethesda, Maryland for the next six years by her aunt Virginia and uncle Audley Gailbraith.[9] Nancy describes longing for her mother during those years: "My favorite times were when Mother had a job in New York, and Aunt Virgie would take me by train to stay with her."[10]
In 1929, her mother married Loyal Davis (1896–1982), a prominent, politically conservative neurosurgeon who moved the family to Chicago.[1] Nancy and her stepfather got along very well;[11] she would later write that he was "a man of great integrity who exemplified old-fashioned values".[12] He formally adopted her in 1935,[1] and she would always refer to him as her father.[11] After the adoption, her name was legally changed to Nancy Davis (since birth, she had commonly been called Nancy).[13] She attended the Girls' Latin School of Chicago (describing herself as an average student), graduated in 1939, and later attended Smith College in Massachusetts, where she majored in English and drama and graduated in 1943.[14][6]
[edit] Acting career
Following her graduation, Davis held jobs in Chicago as a sales clerk in Marshall Field's department store and as a nurse's aide.[6] With the help of her mother's colleagues in theatre, including Zasu Pitts, Walter Huston, and Spencer Tracy,[11] she pursued a career as a professional actress. She first gained a part in Pitts' 1945 road tour of Ramshackle Inn,[6][1] then settled in New York City. She landed the role of Si-Tchun, a lady-in-waiting,[15] in the 1946 Broadway musical about the Orient, Lute Song, starring Mary Martin and Yul Brynner,[6] after the show's producer told her, "You look like you could be Chinese."[16]
After passing a screen test,[6] she signed a seven-year contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios (MGM) in 1949;[1] she later remarked, "Joining Metro was like walking into a dream world."[17] Davis appeared in 11 feature films, usually typecast as a "loyal housewife",[18] "responsible young mother", or "the steady woman".[19] She kept her professional name as Nancy Davis even after marrying. Her film career began with minor roles in 1949's The Doctor and the Girl with Glenn Ford, and followed with East Side, West Side starring Barbara Stanwyck.[20] She played a child psychiatrist in the film noir Shadow on the Wall (1950) with Ann Sothern and Zachary Scott; her performance was called "beautiful and convincing" by New York Times critic A. H. Weiler.[21] She co-starred in 1950's The Next Voice You Hear..., playing a pregnant housewife who hears the voice of God from her radio. Influential reviewer Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that "Nancy Davis [is] delightful as [a] gentle, plain, and understanding wife."[22] A later critic admired the film's effort to convincingly portray Davis as pregnant—many other films from the time neglected to do so.[23] In 1951, Davis appeared in her favorite screen role,[24] Night Into Morning, a study of bereavement starring Ray Milland. The Times' Crowther said that Davis "does nicely as the fiancée who is widowed herself and knows the loneliness of grief,"[25] while another noted critic, The Washington Post's Richard L. Coe, said Davis "is splendid as the understanding widow."[26] Davis left MGM in 1952, seeking a broader range of parts.[27] She soon starred in the 1953 science fiction film Donovan's Brain; Crowther said that Davis, playing the role of a possessed scientist's "sadly baffled wife", "walked through it all in stark confusion" in an "utterly silly" film.[28] In her last movie, Hellcats of the Navy (1957), she played nurse Lieutenant Helen Blair and shared the screen for the only time with her husband, playing what one critic called "a housewife who came along for the ride".[29] Another reviewer, however, stated that Davis plays her part well, and "does well with what she has to work with".[30]
Noted author Garry Wills believes that Davis was underrated as an actress overall, because her constrained part in Hellcats was her most widely seen performance.[19] Davis seems to have downplayed her Hollywood goals: MGM promotional material in 1949 said that her "greatest ambition" was to have a "successful happy marriage";[19] decades later, in 1975, she would say, "I was never really a career woman but [became one] only because I hadn't found the man I wanted to marry. I couldn't sit around and do nothing, so I became an actress."[19] Ronald Reagan biographer Lou Cannon nevertheless characterized her as a "reliable" and "solid" performer who held her own in performances with better-known actors.[19] After her final film, she appeared in television dramas such as Wagon Train and The Tall Man until 1962, when she retired as an actress.[20] During her career, she served on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild for nearly 10 years.[31]
[edit] Marriage and family
During her career as an actress, Nancy Davis dated actors in Hollywood; she later called Clark Gable, whom she dated briefly, the nicest of the stars she had met.[11] On November 15, 1949, she met Ronald Reagan,[32] who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild. Concerned that she would be confused with another actress of the same name who appeared on the Hollywood blacklist, she contacted Reagan to help maintain her employment as a guild actress in Hollywood, and for assistance in having her name removed from the list.[11] The two began dating and their relationship became publicly visible; one Hollywood press account described their nightclub-free times together as "the romance of a couple who have no vices".[32] Ronald Reagan was skeptical about marriage, however, following his painful 1948 divorce from Jane Wyman, and he still saw other women.[32] He eventually proposed to Davis in the couple's favorite booth at the Beverly Hills restaurant Chasen's.[32] They married on March 4, 1952—in a simple ceremony designed to avoid the press[33]—at the Little Brown Church in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The only people in attendance were actor William Holden, the best man, and his wife, the matron of honor.[34][32] The couple's first child, Patricia Ann Reagan (better known by her professional name, Patti Davis), was born on October 21, 1952. Their son, Ronald Prescott Reagan, was born six years later on May 20. Nancy Reagan also became stepmother to Maureen Reagan (1941-2001) and Michael Reagan (born 1945), the children of her husband's first marriage to Jane Wyman.
Observers described Ronald and Nancy Reagan's relationship as close, real, and intimate.[35] As President and First Lady, the Reagans were reported to display their affection frequently, with one press secretary noting, "They never took each other for granted. They never stopped courting."[36][37] Ronald often called Nancy "Mommy"; she called him "Ronnie".[37] While the President was recuperating in the hospital after the 1981 assassination attempt, Nancy Reagan wrote in her diary, "Nothing can happen to my Ronnie. My life would be over."[38] In a letter to Nancy, Ronald wrote, "whatever I treasure and enjoy … all would be without meaning if I didn’t have you."[39] In 1994, President Reagan wrote, "I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's disease … I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience."[36] In 1998, while her husband was severely affected by the disease, Nancy told Vanity Fair, "Our relationship is very special. We were very much in love and still are. When I say my life began with Ronnie, well, it's true. It did. I can't imagine life without him."[36] Nancy was known for the focused and attentive look, nicknamed "the Gaze", that she fastened upon her husband during his speeches and appearances.[40] President Reagan's death in June 2004 ended what actor Charlton Heston called "the greatest love affair in the history of the American Presidency."[36]
Nancy's relationship with her children was not always as close as that with her husband; she frequently quarreled with her biological children and her stepchildren. Her relationship with Patti was the most contentious; Patti flouted American conservatism and rebelled against her parents by joining the nuclear freeze movement and authoring many anti-Reagan books.[41] Nancy's disagreements with Michael were also shown publicly. In 1984, she was quoted on television as saying that the two were in an "estrangement right now". Michael responded that Nancy was trying to cover up for the fact she had not met his daughter, Ashley, who had been born nearly a year earlier.[42] They eventually made peace, however. Nancy was thought to be closest to her stepdaughter Maureen during the White House years, but each of the Reagan children experienced periods of estrangement from their parents.[36]
[edit] First Lady of California, 1967–1975
Reagan was First Lady of California during her husband's two terms as governor. She disliked living in Sacramento, which lacked the excitement, social life, and mild climate to which she was accustomed in Los Angeles.[43] She first attracted controversy early in 1967, when, after four months' residence in the California Governor's Mansion in Sacramento, she moved her family into a wealthy suburb because fire officials had described the mansion as a "firetrap".[44] Though the Reagans leased the new house at their expense,[43] the move was viewed by many as snobbish. Nancy defended her actions as being for the good of her family, a judgement with which her husband readily agreed.[44][43] Friends of the family later helped support the cost of the leased house, while Nancy Reagan supervised construction of a new ranch-style governor's residence in nearby Carmichael.[45] The new residence was finished just as Ronald Reagan left office in 1975, but his successor Jerry Brown refused to live there. It was eventually sold in 1982, and California governors have been living in improvised arrangements ever since.[45]
In 1967 Nancy Reagan was appointed by her husband to the California Arts Commission,[46] and a year later was named Los Angeles Times' Woman of the Year; in its profile, the Times labeled her "A Model First Lady".[47] Her glamour, style, and youthfulness made her a frequent subject for press photographers.[48] As First Lady, Reagan visited veterans, the elderly, and the handicapped, and worked with a number of charities.[49] She was involved with the Foster Grandparent Program,[50] helping to popularize it in the United States, then in Australia.[51] She later expanded her work with the organization after arriving in Washington,[50] and wrote about it in her 1982 book To Love a Child.[52] The Reagans also held dinners for former POWs and Vietnam War veterans while Governor and First Lady.[53]
[edit] On the campaign trail
Governor Reagan's term ended in 1975, and he did not run for a third; instead, he met with advisors to discuss a possible bid for the presidency in 1976. His advisors approved of the bid, but Reagan still needed to convince a reluctant Nancy.[54] Once she had approved, she contributed to his campaign by overseeing personnel, monitoring her husband's schedule, and occasionally providing press conferences.[55] Reagan lost the 1976 Republican nomination to the incumbent President Gerald Ford, but he ran again for the presidency in 1980 and succeeded in winning the nomination and election. During this second campaign, Nancy's management of staff became more apparent.[55] She arranged a meeting between feuding campaign staffers John Sears and Michael Deaver with her husband, which resulted in Deaver leaving the campaign and placing Sears in charge. After the Reagan camp lost the Iowa caucus and fell behind in New Hampshire polls, Nancy organized a second meeting and decided it was time to fire Sears and his associates; she gave Sears a copy of the press release announcing his dismissal.[55]
[edit] First Lady of the United States, 1981–1989
[edit] White House glamour
[edit] Renovation
Nancy Reagan became the First Lady of the United States when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as President in 1981. Early in her tenure as First Lady, Reagan stated her desire to create a more suitable "first home" in the White House, as the building had fallen into a state of disrepair following years of neglect.[56] Rather than use government funds to renovate and redecorate, she sought private donations.[6] Nancy directed a major renovation of several White House rooms, including all of the second and third floors[57] and the press briefing room.[58] The renovation included the conversion of the master bedroom's closet into a beauty parlor and dressing room, as well as the West bedroom into a small gymnasium.[59] The addition of a Chinese-pattern handpainted wallpaper to the master bedroom, as well as many other significant changes, took place as a result of the renovation and refurbishment.[60]
Nancy drew controversy by announcing the purchase of 4,370 pieces of scarlet, cream and gold state china service for the White House at a cost of $210,399.[61] Although the china was paid for by private donations, some from the private Knapp Foundation, the purchase raised eyebrows, for it was ordered at a time when the nation was undergoing an economic recession.[62]
[edit] Fashion
Another of Nancy Reagan's trademarks was her interest in fashion. After the presidencies of Gerald Ford (who favored the Michigan fight song over "Hail to the Chief") and Jimmy Carter (who dramatically reduced the formality of presidential functions), Nancy brought a Kennedy-esque glamour back into the White House.[63] Nancy favored the color red, calling it "a picker-upper", and wore it accordingly.[63] Her wardrobe included red so often, that the fire-engine shade became known as "Reagan red".[64] She chose dresses and gowns made by luxury designers, including James Galanos and Oscar de la Renta; her 1981 Galanos inaugural gown was estimated to cost $10,000.[63] She hired two private hairdressers that would do her hair on a regular basis in the White House.[65]
Her elegant fashions and wardrobe were also controversial subjects. In 1982, she revealed that she had accepted thousands of dollars in clothing, jewelry, and other gifts, but defended herself by stating that she had borrowed the clothes and that they would either be returned or donated to museums,[66][63] and that she was promoting the American fashion industry.[67] Facing criticism, she soon said she would no longer accept such loans.[67] In practice, in addition to often buying her clothes, she continued to borrow and sometimes keep designer clothes throughout her time as First Lady, which came to light in 1988 based upon statements of several designers,[68] for whom the arrangement was good for their businesses[68] as well as for the American fashion industry overall.[69] After first denying any such activity, none of which had been included on financial disclosure forms,[68] Nancy acknowledged that she had "broken her little promise"[69] by continuing to take loans and expressed through her press secretary "regrets that she failed to heed counsel's advice" on disclosing them.[70] Such gifts and fashion loans were later determined to be worth about $3 million;[71] the non-reporting of loans under $10,000 in liability was in violation of a voluntary agreement the White House had made in 1982, while the non-reporting of more valuable loans or of any clothes not returned that thus constituted gifts was in violation of the Ethics in Government Act.[68][70][72]
The new china, White House renovations, expensive clothing, and her attendance at the wedding of Charles and Diana, Prince and Princess of Wales, [73] gave her an aura of being "out of touch" with the American people during an economic recession.[6] This and her taste for splendor inspired the derogatory nickname "Queen Nancy".[6] In an attempt to deflect the criticism, she self-deprecatingly donned a baglady costume at the 1982 Gridiron Dinner and sang "Second-Hand Clothes", mimicking the song "Second-Hand Rose".[74]
Nancy Reagan reflected on the criticisms in her 1989 autobiography, My Turn. Reagan describes lunching with former Democratic National Committee chairman Robert Strauss, wherein Strauss said to her, "When you first came to town, Nancy, I didn't like you at all. But after I got to know you, I changed my mind and said, 'She's some broad!'" Nancy responded, "Bob, based on the press reports I read then, I wouldn't have liked me either!"[75]