Former first lady Nancy Reagan dies at 94
STAR-BULLETIN / APRIL 1984
President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan visit Hawaii in April 1984.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this July 18, 1985, file photo, President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, wave from windows of his hospital room at the Navy Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The former first lady has died at 94, The Associated Press confirmed Sunday, March 6, 2016.\
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Los Angeles police officers salute as a hearse leaves the home of Nancy Reagan in the Bel-Air district of Los Angeles Sunday, March 6, 2016. Nancy Reagan, the helpmate, backstage adviser and fierce protector of Ronald Reagan in his journey from actor to president, and finally during his 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease, died Sunday morning. She was 94.
Nancy Reagan, the helpmate, backstage adviser and fierce protector of Ronald Reagan in his journey from actor to president â” and finally during his 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease â” has died. She was 94.
The former first lady died Sunday at her home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles of congestive heart failure, assistant Allison Borio told The Associated Press.
Her best-known project as first lady was the “Just Say No” campaign to help kids and teens stay off drugs.
When she swept into the White House in 1981, the former Hollywood actress partial to designer gowns and pricey china was widely dismissed as a pre-feminist throwback, concerned only with fashion, decorating and entertaining. By the time she moved out eight years later, Mrs. Reagan was fending off accusations that she was a behind-the-scenes “dragon lady” wielding unchecked power over the Reagan administration â” and doing it based on astrology to boot.
All along she maintained that her only mission was to back her “Ronnie” and strengthen his presidency.
Mrs. Reagan carried that charge through the rest of her days. She served as a full-time caretaker as Alzheimer’s melted away her husband’s memory. After his death in June 2004 she dedicated herself to tending his legacy, especially at his presidential library in California, where he had served as governor.
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She also championed Alzheimer’s patients, raising millions of dollars for research and breaking with fellow conservative Republicans to advocate for stem cell studies. Her dignity and perseverance in these post-White House roles helped smooth over the public’s fickle perceptions of the former first lady.
The Reagans’ mutual devotion over 52 years of marriage was legendary. They were forever holding hands. She watched his political speeches with a look of such steady adoration it was dubbed “the gaze.” He called her “Mommy,” and penned a lifetime of gushing love notes. She saved these letters, published them as a book, and found them a comfort when he could no longer remember her.
After Reagan was shot by John Hinckley just three months into his presidency, he was said to have famously wisecracked to her, “Honey, I forgot to duck.”
In announcing his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 1994, Reagan wrote, “I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience.” Ten years later, as his body lay in state in the U.S. Capitol, Mrs. Reagan caressed and gently kissed the flag-draped casket.
In a statement Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama spoke of the Reagan’s journey with Alzheimer’s disease.
“Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer’s, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives,” the Obama’s said.
As the newly arrived first lady, Mrs. Reagan raised more than $800,000 from private donors to redo the White House family quarters and to buy a $200,000 set of china bordered in red, her signature color. She was criticized for financing these pet projects with donations from millionaires who might seek influence with the government, and for accepting gifts and loans of dresses worth thousands of dollars from top designers. Her lavish lifestyle â” in the midst of a recession and with her husband’s administration cutting spending on the needy â” inspired the mocking moniker “Queen Nancy.”
But her admirers credited Mrs. Reagan with restoring grace and elegance to the White House after the austerity of the Carter years.
Her substantial influence within the White House came to light slowly in her husband’s second term.
Although a feud between the first lady and chief of staff Donald Regan had spilled into the open, the president dismissed reports that it was his wife who got Regan fired. “The idea that she is involved in governmental decisions and so forth and all of this, and being a kind of dragon lady â” there is nothing to that,” a visibly angry Reagan assured reporters.
But Mrs. Reagan herself and other insiders later confirmed her role in rounding up support for Regan’s ouster and persuading the president that it had to be done, because of the Iran-Contra scandal that broke under Regan’s watch.
She delved into policy issues, too. She urged Reagan to finally break his long silence on the AIDS crisis. She nudged him to publicly accept responsibility for the arms-for-hostages scandal. And she worked to buttress those advisers urging him to thaw U.S. relations with the Soviet Union, over the objections of the administration’s “evil empire” hawks.
Near the end of Reagan’s presidency, ex-chief of staff Regan took his revenge with a memoir revealing that the first lady routinely consulted a San Francisco astrologer to guide the president’s schedule. Mrs. Reagan, who had a longtime interest in horoscopes, maintained that she used the astrologer’s forecasts only in hopes of predicting the safest times for her husband to venture out of the White House after the assassination attempt.
Anne Frances Robbins, nicknamed Nancy, was born on July 6, 1921, in New York City. Her parents separated soon after she was born and her mother, film and stage actress Edith Luckett, went on the road. Nancy was reared by an aunt until 1929, when her mother married Dr. Loyal Davis, a wealthy Chicago neurosurgeon who gave Nancy his name and a socialite’s home. She majored in drama at Smith College and found stage work with the help of her mother’s connections.
In 1949, MGM signed 5-foot-4, doe-eyed brunette Nancy Davis to a movie contract. She was cast mostly as a loyal housewife and mother. She had a key role in “The Next Voice You Hear …,” an unusual drama about a family that hears God’s voice on the radio. In “Donovan’s Brain,” she played the wife of a scientist possessed by disembodied gray matter.
She met Ronald Reagan in 1950, when he was president of the Screen Actors Guild and she was seeking help with a problem: Her name had been wrongly included on a published list of suspected communist sympathizers. They discussed it over dinner, and she later wrote that she realized on that first blind date “he was everything that I wanted.”
They wed two years later, on March 4, 1952. Daughter Patti was born in October of that year and son Ron followed in 1958. Reagan already had a daughter, Maureen, and an adopted son, Michael, from his marriage to actress Jane Wyman. (Later, public spats and breaches with her grown children would become a frequent source of embarrassment for Mrs. Reagan.)
She was thrust into the political life when her husband ran for California governor in 1966 and won. She found it a surprisingly rough business.
“The movies were custard compared to politics,” Mrs. Reagan said.
California’s Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown released a statement on behalf of all Californians.
“Nancy Reagan lived a remarkable life and will be remembered for her strength and grace,” Brown said.
I am saddened by the passing of my step mother Nancy Reagan…She is once again with the man she loved.God Bless…
…— Michael Reagan (@ReaganWorld) March 6, 2016
63 responses to “Former first lady Nancy Reagan dies at 94”
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Reagan was a very bad president but Nancy Reagan’s best moment came when she advocated for stem cell research.
You weren’t there (grown up) at the time. You didn’t live “the pride”, witness his class, nor benefit from his term in office. He was known as the great communicator. He could lead people without dividing them.
“lead people without dividing them”? Really? Reagan opened his 1980 campaign with a speech about “states rights” (a popular Republican dog whistle that is still in heavy use) in Neshoba County, Mississippi, where 3 civil rights workers (Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner) were slaughtered. What do you think the “great communicator” was communicating? The cheering, white crowd knew exactly what he was saying.
Exactly. And his willful and disgraceful abandonment of the search for the cause and treatment of HIV. The list of his manifest failures is long and horrible.
agree and his terrible human rights record, his funding of murders in central America, are a bloody moral shame. No, he was just a horrible president.
Wow…even in the death of a woman who never harmed a fly, the liberal hate mongers have come out in force this morning. No surprise. The liberal party of “tolerance and diversity” can hardly let a dead body cool off, before they all start in on how bad Reagan was, how evil Republicans and conservatives are, how divisive and bad his presidency was…..sigh….don’t you people have anything better to do on a Sunday morning. What sad and pathetic lives you lead. You wake up, pop open the SA and start your negative, hateful, bashing first thing in the morning. Awesome. You don’t even have the grace to simply ‘let it go’ for 20 minutes??? How truly sad that the “comment” all of you have worth your time to sit there and actually write it, is a negative thought aimed at simply furthering the divide between yourself and others who you disagree with. This reality, initiated by the death of a woman who never did anything to you personally. That’s a greatly to live your life. Awesome. Right here in the land of “Aloha”. Way to go.
People are stating their opinions. If you don’t want to read them, then don’t. Who cares what you think anyway?
WHAT??? You are the one who puts down everyone’s opinion who does not agree with you. LOL
aomohoa: I’ve already suggested that you might avoid reading my comments. I don’t care what you think about them. Really.
It’s how they roll. Always has been.
I agree with Pilot16–a great woman has died and these Hawaiian Liberals who love the high taxes, highest cost of living, worst state to do business turn this into a political saga. Let’s give some respect to Nancy Reagan–all the deeds she has done–a call act.
no pilot. We are stating our views on the actual record.
Not her’s her husband. Show a little respect!
Well said, although it won’t slow down the moronic comments from the haters..
I do agree that this is about a woman who at least deserves a comment RIP.
“A very Bad President”? Bad? you want Bad? Better see who’s in the White House now,this IS BAD! However, You got that right about stem cell research.
I agree, The only good thing he did was to break the 20 year curse. (hopefully) But I suppose only 666 could do this?
Such a blanket statement for a former POTUS shows a lot about your comment. Mr. Reagan, like all of our former presidents had their strengths and weaknesses. To simply state that he was a bad president is very sophomore statement and at the very least shows disrespect for his wife who has passed away. There are certain things that one does not do and that is to attack a person’s character after one passes away. Nancy did the best that she could and with what she believed in. I am not in any way excusing her for any of her mistakes. But we all make mistakes in our lives and I am sure I will make more than my share. But to attack her or her husband’s moral character as some have chosen to do here is just really petty. I would hope that one would place one’s self in the other’s shoes before making such a comment. We need to have a certain decorum or class and in this case, it is well needed.
President Reagan’s greatest legacy was that he was a great communicator in that he urged the USSR to tear down the Berlin Wall. Those who lived through President Reagan’s two terms know of these accomplishments first hand. Then there are those who were born in the 1980s and the 1990s, who only now know the history of the 1980s, 1970s, 1960s, 1950s and 1940s. Those born in the 1930s are now into their 80s and so on and so forth. Godspeed Nancy Reagan, as you meet Ronnie in heaven.
You believe that the Berlin wall was taken down because President Reagan urged them to do it? Is that what you meant to write?
Yes, yavol, si, hai, . . .
I wonder if the death of Nancy Reagan, along with the death of Antonin Scalia and the impending philosophical changes in the Supreme Court, combined with the rise of Donald Trump heralds the end of Reaganism as a powerful force in American politics.
The greatness of our Nation was demonstrated during his administration. She was his confident and sounding board that helped shape the policy that brought about the demise of the Soviet Union and the ultimate unification of Germany. Much of the rumor about her reliance on astrology was started by a former adviser of the President who was ultimately fired as result of policy disagreement with the 1st Lady who was in full support with the President. The president could not come to grips with the firing, but in order to protect the President’s legacy as peace maker it was accomplished much through her efforts. She was his enforcer.
Reagan taught Republicans that it was OK to spend money we didn’t have. He was very good at that.
yes..and his record of supporting murderous death squads in central America still haunts the region and our country’s honor.
Agreed. He was a really terrible President. The mythology that Republicans have shrouded around him is remarkable. Like none of the crimes and failures ever occurred.
We are doing the exact same thing today under this president only in greater amounts. The deficit has skyrocketed on his watch.
Nancy Reagan was a role model for First Ladies. Together with Ronald Reagan they set an example for class. Something that has been surely missing for 7+ years.
And when you wake up tomorrow, Mr. and Mrs. Obama will still be black. So yet another bad day for you. You’ve made the depth of your racism very clear.
It’s unfortunate that your myopic focus on racism so permeates your life. When you wake up tomorrow, you’ll still be a “hater”, cloaked in the religion of liberalism.
I’m sorry that you are presumably an adult who knows nothing.
Bingo…
Klastri, maybe Serious was referring to Michelle’s “need” for a staff of 20 to fondle her through her busy tenure as first lady. How many did Nancy have, by the way?
You’re probably referring to the internet myth that no First Lady has had as many staffers as Mrs. Obama. You can debunk that yourself simply by reading the annual White House staff reports to Congress. You can lie all you want. It doesn’t help your case.
Klastri you hater Obama is only half black and what difference does it make. Also, if you will go back and look at the condition of this country when your liberal President Carter left office you will see hostages in Iran, a terrible economy etc.
I’m not sure why you brought up President Carter. If you have a lousy argument, always be sure to change the subject. That always works!
The reason I brought up carter is because he was the President before Reagan. Don’t let you hate blind you to history
Hitaxpayer: That’s an interesting argument. So you’re saying that Mr. Reagan spent the U.S. into a ditch because of what Mr. Carter did? I suppose that makes about as much sense as anything else you write. Mr. Reagan presided over fantastic budget deficits because of his impossibly failed tax policy.
No hon. She was a racist and a rather malignant figure. Barrack and Michelle are classy, well educated, and a model for the nation.
I’ll hold out for something better.
yes, vote Trump or the hypocritical Cruz? No, I vote the flawed Hillary just because to want to protect myself from the horror of any of the Republican candidates (other than Kasich).
Allie if you like Kasich guess I’ll have to rethink my support for him.
..and of course Allie, you know all of this because you know them personally, right?
the record is public hon
Death Valley Days was how I initially knew of Ronald Reagan. The top 20 in 1970 with “Knock Three Times” by Dawn in the newpapers, the KKUA Top 20, was how I initllialy knew of Michael W. Perry. i knew of Joe Moore as a sportscaster for KGMB-TV in the mid-1970s, with his staccato speaking style carried over to his “number one” newscasts that never left KHON2, even after the emergence of Fox. What goes around comes around. I am sure Obama No Care will order half staff flag flying over the nation, and even if he does not, many out of respect for President Reagan will do so. In fact, it would be sour grapes if Barrylicious ignored Nancy Reagan. If Michelle died of any reason other than a natural death within the next five years, Barry would summon all of his Chicago based Religious backers to mourn Mrs. Obama, even before Sasha and Malia were to fully recognize their life’s dreams. So there you go: not again, just there you go … The nation needs to mourn the death of First Lady Nancy Reagan.
Did you read your comment before posting it? This is how very, very small your mind is?
liastri, I really think you need adult supervision. You are sick.
You’ve already been taken off here once for your disgusting racism. Your opinion means absolutely nothing to me. Zero.
My mind probably has an IQ of at least 115. I do know a person who has an IQ of 85 and “He Ain’t Heavy … He’s My Brother”. Fact that Nancy was only 5′-4″ in a very frail body compared to say Heidi Klum and Cheryl Tiegs, did not deter Ronnie and Nancy from becoming one and all. I did not like the Stock Market crash of 1987 though, which indicated a sort of “irrational exuberance” before the time of the 2000 Market Crash, which occurred during The Clinton Administration. So take it or leave it: u want money, u rob a bank or work diligently or become a Realtor, like Myron Kirisu, or become the 47th President of the United States of America: Jonathan Fitzgerald Patrick. Live long and prosper, sir. I shall await your reply and I don’t camp out on staradvertiser.com anymore like most of u, I just visit when I feel like it, when I am not playing poker, when I am not frying French fries, when I am not making a salad or when I am not taking a dump. Over and out. Mele Kalikimaka and Hauoli Makahiki Hou, nine months ahead of December 25, 2016, when I will turn 2016 years old, or as some of u may believe, 159 years old.
Ronald Reagan was the Best President of our time “Hands Down”!!While others ,Democrat and Republicans alike try to emulate this great man,they always fail!
Like the saying goes “for every great man ,there is a Great Woman”….so true!
GODSPEED Nancy!
Thanks for encouraging Obama on lifting the restrictions on “Stem Cell” reasearch,this technique has saved many lives will continue to do so.RIP!
lol, and what made the great 666, the best president of our time? Was it inheriting a budget deficit under 50 billion and blowing it up to over 200 so that the nation can finance the worlds largest military industrial complex? Perhaps it was his lying about Iran Contra? Obviously balancing the budget wasn’t it or bringing peace to the world.
Imagine what a class act Nancy Reagan was; now imagine Hillary Clinton. Yeah, pretty disgusting.
Ha!ha!ha!ha! Good one Peanut!
The affluent and wealthy republicans in Hawaii loved the Reagans. They includes the Chinese and the Whites.
Only one State went for the Mondale ticket in 1984, and that was his home state. Obama similarly had a 75% support in 2008, however he did not “need” our measly four electoral votes, which is why he “probably” wants to reside in Chicago. In 2008, California pushed him over the top to become POTUS #44. Imagine in nearly 250 years of existence of the USA, there have been only 44 distinct presidents. Compare to Great Britain, our staunchous ally during World War II, which has one requirement for the monarchy: that they would be descendants of past Kings or Queens. In my entire lifetime, only Queen Elizaberh II has been on the throne. Next I suppose we will have King William. Anyway if England’s model was duplicated in America, we would soon need to look forward to Queen Sasha, and for that to happen, Barry would need to unilaterally change our Constitution and even BHO cannot do that, no matter how slick of a used car salesman that he is.
I’m sure that you intended this to make sense. Didn’t you?
u sound like a prosecutor when u accuse someone with a cross-examination type of comment such as “Didn’t u?”
I probably sound like a prosecutor because I was a prosecutor. The question remains: Do you intend your comments to make sense?
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes and if u r Keith Kaneshiro then please come out of your cocoon and tell us how u would like to be King Kaneshiro !!!!!
No matter what your opinion is politically you must admit they had a wonderful love story.
Their children grew to hate them, but they did have each other!
May she rest in peace. May she be joined in happiness with her husband once again.
Amen.