Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House of people screaming and yelling and waving flags. Alfred had a Mercedes with a sunroof, and Jerry was hanging out of the sunroof, screaming and yelling, and we were waving at the people—oh, that was such fun! When we got to the Century Plaza Hotel, we all ran in. Alfred just left the car there. He said, ‘The hell with the car.’ And we went upstairs to the suite where Nancy and Ronnie were.”
Acknowledgments
I owe so much to so many, starting with Nancy Reagan, without whose cooperation this book would not have been possible. Mrs. Reagan has been extraordinarily generous with both her time and memories; she made herself available to my seemingly endless phone calls, granted me special access to the personal papers of the Reagan and Davis families held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and on two occasions invited me to her house in Bel Air, which was generally off limits to visitors during the former president’s long illness. I especially valued our lunches at the Hotel Bel Air, sometimes with the tape recorder running, sometimes not. I am also exceedingly grateful for her introduction to her stepbrother, Dr. Richard Davis, at the 2000 Republican convention in Philadelphia, and to Dr. Davis for the five lengthy telephone interviews he gave in which he shared his recollections and insights regarding their family life with frankness and sensitivity.
In addition, because I had Nancy Reagan’s blessing, her closest friends, many of whom have a built-in allergy to journalists and biographers, welcomed me into their homes in Los Angeles and Palm Springs and granted me interviews. These include Betty Adams, Lee Annenberg, Frances Bergen, Armand and Harriet Deutsch, Anne Douglas, Marje Everett, William Frye and the late James Wharton, Merv Griffin, David Jones, Jean French Smith, Erlenne Sprague, Robert Tuttle, Connie Wald, Charles and Mary Jane Wick, William Wilson, and Mignon Winans. I am especially grateful to Betsy Bloomingdale and Marion Jorgensen for opening their social records to me, and for never tiring of my requests for yet another guest list or menu. I am also indebted to Jane Gosden, Wendy Stark Morrissey, and Denise Hale for their wisdom and advice about the world of the Reagans and their friends.
I am deeply beholden to Joanne Drake at the Office of President and 5 0 7
5 0 8
Acknowledgments
Mrs. Reagan for reviewing and granting permission to quote from documents in the personal papers of President and Mrs. Reagan; to archivist Cate Sewell for her cheerful and unstinting help at the Ronald Reagan Library; and to Frederick Ryan, chairman of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, for including me among the foundation’s friends at such events as the Reagan administration alumni reunion in Simi Valley in 1999 and the christening of the USS Ronald Reagan in Newport News, Virginia, in 2002. Also deserving of special mention is Robert Higdon, for employing his special brand of diplomacy on my behalf in countless ways, including arranging an interview with former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in London.
Others who gave me very useful and much appreciated interviews for this first of two volumes and the Vanity Fair articles that preceded it were Martin and Annalise Anderson, Brooke Astor, Howard Baker, James A.
Baker III, the late Bill Blass, Robert and Justine Bloomingdale, Frank Bogert, Tom Bolan, William F. Buckley Jr., Serena Carroll, William Clark, Eleanor O’Connor Clarke, Judy Hargrave Coleman, Jan Cowles, Douglas Cramer, Sue Cummings, Arlene Dahl, Michael Dart, Carolyn Deaver, Michael Deaver, the late Fred de Cordova, Janet de Cordova, Angie Dick-enson, Barry Diller, Eric Douglas, Mica Ertegun, William Fine, Ron Fletcher, James Galanos, Angie Galbraith, John Gavin, Kenneth Giniger, the late Katharine Graham, the late C.Z. Guest, the late Richard Gully, Homer Hargrave Jr., Ed Helin, Reinaldo Herrera, Marcia Hobbs, Nancy Holmes, Leonora Hornblow, Linda LeRoy Janklow, Morton Janklow, the late Steven Kaufman, Nan Kempner, Arthur Laffer, Kenneth Jay Lane, Paul Laxalt, Liza Lerner, Gordon Luce, Aerin Magnin, Martin Manulis, the late Jacques Mapes, the late Jean Wescott Marshall, Jean Hayden Mathison, Peter McCoy, Bruce McFarland, Edwin Meese III, Nolan Miller, George Montgomery, Chase Morsey, Patricia Neal, Lyn Nofziger, China Ibsen Oughton, Charlotte Galbraith Ramage, Bess Reagan, Lyn Revson, Nancy Reynolds, Daniel Ruge, Ann Rutherford, Lily Safra, Laurie Salvatori, São Schlumberger, Peter Shifando, George Shultz, Tina Sinatra, Stuart Spencer, the late Robert Stack, Rosemarie Stack, Kevin Starr, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Michael Thornton, Tucker Trainor, Florence van der Kemp, Helene von Damm, Lanetta Walhgren, Mike Wallace, Anne Washburn, John Wellborne, Nicholas Wetzel, Abra Rockefeller Wilkin, Pete Wilson, Alice Pirie Wirtz, Mickey Ziffren, and Peg Zwecker.
During the six years since I decided to write this book, I have been Acknowledgments
5 0 9
dependent on an ever-changing but consistently able team of editorial assistants, researchers, and transcribers, including Georgia Flight, Chris Lawrence, Frank Banfi, Ted Panken, and Jonelle Lennon in New York and Long Island; Lisa Leff, Mack Polhemus, Todd O’Keeffe, Iris Berry, and Carol Bua in Los Angeles; and Steve Hammons in Washington, D.C. Bill Troop has stuck with this project almost from the beginning; I most appreciate his creative suggestions and persistence in tracking down those elusive things called facts. In the final crunch Matt Pressman, helped by Molly Fox and Matthew Williams, did an exceptionally thorough job on my endnotes, bibliography, and permissions.
Photo researcher Ann Schneider brought her usual diligence and taste to ferreting out previously unseen, striking, and revealing images of the vast cast of characters who were part of the Reagans’ lives. She was aided considerably in this task by Steve Branch, the audio-visual archivist at the Reagan Library.
Special thanks to Slim Aarons for his glamorous jacket photograph of the Reagans, taken in Acapulco on a weekend hosted by D.K. Ludwig, and to my pal Jonathan Becker for his most flattering author’s photo.
Thanks also to graphic designer Martin Saar for his overall visual advice.
I would also like to thank Brian and Mila Mulroney, Kiron Skinner, Maureen Smith, Kristina Stewart, and John Loring for their suggestions and introductions to sources, Bennett Ashley of Janklow, Newborn & Ashley for drawing up my contracts, Devereux Chatillon of Sonnerschein Nath & Rosenthal for her legal reading of my manuscript, Norman Switzer for showing me the General Electric house, Marc Short, former Executive Director of Young America’s Foundation, for his tour of Rancho del Cielo, Judith Wolfe at the Amagansett Public Library, Ron Marlow of the First Christian Church of Dixon, Valerie Yaros at the Screen Actors Guild, Nancy Young at Smith College, Judy Canter at the San Francisco Chronicle Library, radio historian J. David Goldin, Marion Jorgensen’s social secretary Diane Felterer, Chris Harris and Gary Bradherring of MapEasy, Inc., and Frank Bowling, formerly of the Hotel Bel Air, my home away from home on my research trips.
At Vanity Fair I am most indebted to Graydon Carter for his original assignment and his continuing support after it turned into a seemingly never-ending book project, Chris Garrett for her patience and fairness in working out my numerous leaves of absence, Aimee Bell, David Harris, Lindsay Bucha, and Abby Field.
5 1 0
Acknowledgments
At Warner Books, my gratitude goes to Jamie Raab for being the first to see that there was a book in those articles, and for her many extensions; Rick Horgan for his most useful editorial comments and guidelines; Anne Twomey, Ivan Held, Robert Castillo, Harvey-Jane Kowal, and Jimmy Franco.
For constant moral support and encouragement over the long haul, I thank my agents Anne Sibbald and Mort Janklow; my friends Brigid Berlin, Colin Shanley, Claudia Cohen, Virginia Coleman, Isabel Rattazzi, Eric Freeman, Ross Bleckner, Paul Wilmot, Adam Lippes, Doris Ammann, and George Frei; and my sisters Suzanne Mead and Barbara Williams.
After Nancy Reagan, there is no one more responsible for making this book a reality than my longtime Vanity Fair editor and friend, Wayne Lawson, whose intelligence, taste, and sense of fairness are reflected on every page.
Bob Colacello
Amagansett, New York
August 2004
> Notes
Chapter One: Early Ronnie, 1911–1932
1. Neil Reagan oral history, p. 9.
2. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 33; Cannon, Reagan, p. 23; E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 14, 688.
3. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 3.
4. Neil Reagan oral history, p. 38.
5. Ibid., p. 43.
6. Cannon, Reagan, p. 22.
7. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 57.
8. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 84, “Letters/Nelle Reagan, Reagan family letters (early),”
“My Sonnet,” by Nelle Reagan; Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 23.
9. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 9.
10. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 62.
11. John Wilson obituary, Whiteside Sentinel, circa March 10, 1883, Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 84, “Letters/Nelle Reagan, Reagan family letters (early)”; Edwards, Early Reagan, pp. 23–25, pp. 29–30.
12. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 10; Edwards, Early Reagan, pp. 26–28.
13. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 28.
14. E. Morris, Dutch, p. 688. Anne Edwards states that Nelle Wilson was born on July 24, 1883 (Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 31).
15. John Wilson obituary, Whiteside Sentinel, circa March 10, 1883, Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 84, “Letters/Nelle Reagan, Reagan family letters (early).”
16. Edwards, Early Reagan, pp. 31–32.
17. Ibid., p. 32; E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 16–17; Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 16; Neil Reagan oral history, p. 10.
18. E. Morris, Dutch, p. 13.
19. Ibid.
20. Neil Reagan oral history, p. 12.
5 1 1
5 1 2
Notes
21. Wills, Reagan’s America, pp. 16–17; p. 23. See also Edwards, Early Reagan, pp.
34–36.
22. Wills, Reagan’s America, pp. 19–24; Barbara A. Chernow and George A. Vallasi, eds., The Columbia Encyclopedia: Fifth Edition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), p. 770.
23. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 24; Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1960 edition, “Disciples of Christ,” “Carry Nation.”
24. E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 18, 22.
25. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 37; E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 25–26. Some sources say that Jack Reagan worked at Marshall Field’s rather than at the Fair Store (Cannon, Reagan, p. 24).
26. E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 27–29; Edwards, Early Reagan, pp. 37–38, 40.
27. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 39.
28. E. Morris, Dutch, p. 30.
29. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 13.
30. Ibid.; E. Morris, Dutch, p. 30; Edwards, Early Reagan, pp. 42, 44; Ronald Reagan, An American Life, p. 58.
31. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 40.
32. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 29.
33. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , pp. 14–15.
34. Ibid., p. 17.
35. E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 31, 53; Edwards, Early Reagan, pp. 47–48.
36. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 49.
37. Ibid., pp. 45, 51.
38. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 14.
39. R. Morris, Encyclopedia of American History, p. 509; E. Morris, Dutch, p. 692.
40. Neil Reagan oral history, pp. 8–9.
41. Marlow, “First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Reagan Family,”
p. 36.
42. Neil Reagan oral history, p. 2.
43. Healy in Saturday Evening Post, April 1974, p. 76.
44. Neil Reagan oral history, p. 2.
45. Marlow, “First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Reagan Family,”
p. 59.
46. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 27.
47. Cannon, Reagan, p. 26.
48. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 27.
49. E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 42, 694.
50. Los Angeles Times, November 28, 1980, “Neil May Give Advice but Promises Not to Sell Beer.”
51. Marlow, “First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Reagan Family,”
p. 50.
52. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 15.
53. Marlow, “First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Reagan Family,”
p. 196.
54. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 25.
55. Cannon, Reagan, p. 26.
Notes
5 1 3
56. Letter from Ronald Reagan to Pat York, May 2, 1989. Obtained courtesy of Pat York.
57. Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, p. 57, citing a 1943 Modern Screen interview.
58. Ibid., p. 11.
59. Cannon, Ronnie and Jesse, p. 6.
60. Marlow, “First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Reagan Family,”
pp. 71–72.
61. E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 59, 696.
62. Ronald Reagan, An American Life, p. 41.
63. Edwards, Early Reagan, pp. 68–69.
64. Ibid., p. 73.
65. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 58.
66. Walgreen, Never a Dull Day, p. 298.
67. San Diego Tribune, November 20, 1984, “Reagan Pitched His Way on First Job.”
68. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 30.
69. Cannon, Reagan, p. 25.
70. Ronald Reagan, An American Life, p. 45.
71. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 23.
72. Wills, Reagan’s America, pp. 44–49.
73. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 28.
74. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 48.
75. Cannon, Ronnie and Jesse, p. 8.
76. Marlow, “First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Reagan Family,”
p. 261.
77. E. Morris, Dutch, p. 699.
78. Ibid., p. 702.
79. Ibid., p. 87.
80. Ibid., pp. 91, 703.
81. Ronald Reagan, An American Life, p. 75.
Chapter Two: Early Nancy, 1921–1932
1. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 38.
2. Cannon, Reagan, p. 142.
3. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, p. 25.
4. Ibid., pp. 20–21.
5. Root, Root Genealogical Records, 1600–1870, pp. 314–15.
6. Ibid., p. 357.
7. Edwards, Early Reagan, pp. 382–83; Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 28.
8. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 379.
9. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, p. 21. Kitty Kelley in her unauthorized biography asserts that there were only seven Luckett children, and that they were born in Washington, D.C., because the Lucketts did not have the means to travel 130 miles for each pregnancy (Kelley, Nancy Reagan, pp. 23–24).
5 1 4
Notes
10. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 379; Lambert, Nazimova, p. 188; Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 23.
11. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, p. 21.
12. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20A, clipping dated September 22, 1900, from Edith Luckett’s scrapbook.
13. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20A, undated clipping from a Dallas newspaper, circa 1926, from Edith Luckett’s scrapbook.
14. Los Angeles Times, October 27, 1987.
15. New York Times, December 18, 1910.
16. Lambert, Nazimova, pp. 4, 22, 81–86, 72–73, 108–14.
17. McClellan, The Girls, pp. 3–5.
18. Ibid., pp. 14, 21–22.
19. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20A, unidentified newspaper clipping dated December 22, 1924, from Edith Luckett’s scrapbook.
20. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 28.
21. Los Angeles Times, January 20, 1981, “Nancy Reagan’s Early Years: A Matter of Relativity.”
22. Ibid.
23. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 29; Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 383.
24. McClellan, The Girls, p. 21.
25. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 182.
26. Lambert, Nazimova, pp. 162–63.
27. Ibid., pp. 189–90.
28. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 383; Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 29.
29. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 31.
30. Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, p. 69.
31. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20A, unidentified 1924 clipping from Edith Luckett’s scrapbook.
32. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 384 (Edwards’s source notes state that this quotation is from an Edith Luckett interview with Jean Kinney on “Around About”).
33. Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, p. 71.
34. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, p. 24.
35. Charlotte Galbraith Ramage, to author, April 19, 2001.
36. Nancy Reagan, to author, March 9, 2004.
37. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 33.
38. Charlotte Galbraith Ramage, to author, April 19, 2001.
39. Ibid.
40. Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, p. 77.
41. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 32.
42. People, July 16, 1983, “A Find at a Flea Market Sheds Light on Nancy Reagan’s Life with Her Real Father,” p. 24; Los Angeles Times, January 20, 1981, “Nancy Reagan’s Early Years: A Matter of Relativity.”
43. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 385.
44. L. Davis, A Surgeon’s Odyssey, p. 225.
Notes
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45. Richard Davis, to author, September 29, 2000.
46. L. Davis, A Surgeon’s Odyssey, p. 84.
47. Richard Davis, to author, September 29, 2000, April 10, 2001.
48. L. Davis, A Surgeon’s Odyssey, p. 22.
49. Richard Davis, to author, April 10, 2001.
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