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———. The Reagans: Portrait of a Marriage. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003.
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NOTES
INTRODUCTION
“So, we go over”: George P. Shultz, interview by author, Palo Alto, CA, October 20, 2016.
“Nancy was dying for him to have one”: ibid.
“For years, it had troubled me… nothing positive was likely to happen”: Nancy Reagan with William Novak, My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan (New York: Random House, 1989), 53.
“She watched the people… make a friend of the first lady”: Shultz, author interview, October 20, 2016.
“My father was as good… make that happen”: Ron Reagan, interview by author, Seattle, July 23, 2017.
“an inseparable team politically and personally… He would never have been president without her”: Stuart K. Spencer, Behind the Podium: My Fifty Years in Politics (self-pub., 2013), 37.
“Her particular quality… the nasty business”: Edmund Morris, interview by author, Kent, CT, August 7, 2017.
“She was the guardian… in my view”: James A. Baker, interview by author, Houston, January 4, 2017.
“an anachronism… the reality of American woman today—what they want to be and what they need to be”: Chris Wallace (from the NBC News White Paper), First Lady: A Portrait of Nancy Reagan (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986), 84.
“You can get just so far… trust me”: Lo
u Cannon, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (New York: Public Affairs, 1991, 2000), 192.
“It’s part of Ronnie’s character… like the bad guy”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 91.
CHAPTER ONE
“I’ve always wanted to belong… could take care of”: Nancy Reagan with Bill Libby, Nancy (New York: William Morrow, 1980), 141.
who had just turned eleven: Various accounts have been given of Edith Luckett’s age when she appeared onstage for the first time, some as young as six. The local papers show East Lynne was playing at the Columbia Theater in late July 1899.
“So impressive was her work… in every corner”: Gardner Mack, “Edith Luckett Once an Infant Phenom, but Smashed Rule by Becoming Star,” Washington Times, October 25, 1914, 13.
“Edith Luckett is an earnest… the present system”: “Lucky Edith Luckett,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 9, 1913, 55.
“kind of a momma’s boy”: Beverly Beyette, “Nancy Reagan’s Early Years: A Matter of Relativity,” Los Angeles Times, January 20, 1981.
“Miss Edith Luckett… initial performance shortly”: “Miss Edith Luckett Is Secretly Married,” Washington Evening Star, July 21, 1916, 15.
“one-legged tap dancer… knife thrower”: Anne Edwards, The Reagans: Portrait of a Marriage (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003), 3.
a wildly unconventional lifestyle… little secret of her sexual relationships with women: Her name was also associated with a semi-infamous West Hollywood landmark. In 1918 Nazimova had bought a Spanish-style mansion on LA’s Sunset Boulevard, which she converted to a hotel when she hit financial difficulties in 1926. Known as the Garden of Allah, it went through a succession of owners and had a reputation for hedonistic parties. Its glamorous guests included Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway. Ronald Reagan stayed there when he was between marriages.
“Edith was a New Woman… in the theatre of life”: Gavin Lambert, Nazimova: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), 188–89.
moved to Washington from Virginia in 1872: Anne Edwards, Early Reagan (New York: William Morrow, 1987), 380.
“shipping agent… local banks”: “Heard and Seen,” Washington Times, July 1, 1919, 20.
“She was a beautiful blonde… friends for life”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 57–58.
The letter suggests… “well you are doing”: Katherine Carmichael to Nancy Reagan, 1982, White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) subject files: PP005-01: 104175; Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum.
“How nice of you to write… wasn’t too much trouble”: ibid.
“I’m not a psychologist… her whole life”: Ron Reagan, author interview, July 23, 2017.
“She always harbored… and hurt her”: Patti Davis, The Way I See It: An Autobiography (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1992), 9.
“Maybe our six-year separation… years together”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 58.
“If I had a child”: ibid., 58.
“Since Kenneth Robbins… impossible for me to think of him as my father”: Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, 25.
They said in various news articles… to have behaved so brutally: Beyette, “Nancy Reagan’s Early Years.”
“Ken Robbins was a rather decent chap… she probably felt pretty superior”: Richard Davis, author interview by telephone, August 10, 2017.
“I received your letter… enjoying it”: Peter Harrison to Nancy Reagan, 1982, WHORM subject files: PP005-01: 107498; Reagan Presidential Library.
she phoned the California governor’s mansion several times in 1970…“Maybe the right word didn’t get to the right place”: Beyette, “Nancy Reagan’s Early Years.”
“His obituary… nieces and nephews”: Jennie Sweetman, “Nancy Reagan’s Connection to Sussex County,” New Jersey Herald online (Newton, NJ), April 26, 2016, https://www.njherald.com/article/20160424/NEWS/909013891.
“Reagan talked about his childhood… never talk about it”: Stuart Spencer, interview by author, Palm Desert, CA, October 22, 2016.
“She had so much fear… when she felt comfortable”: Doug Wick, interview by author, Los Angeles, July 13, 2017.
“Perhaps I did not insist”… shared a cabin with another doctor: Loyal Davis, A Surgeon’s Odyssey (New York: Doubleday, 1973), 225.
Her diary also suggests… “baby had been with us”: Reagan Presidential Library, personal collection, box 1, items from residence, 668 St. Cloud, LA 90077. Diary is tan leather, “My Trip Abroad,” and E.L. embossed in gold.
“It was but a week or so… to seek a divorce”: Loyal Davis, Surgeon’s Odyssey, 227.
“My father was tall and dark… she knew everybody”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 65.
“She taught me to change… association of friends”: Loyal Davis, Surgeon’s Odyssey, 228.
“She saw Loyal as her lifeline… her daughter a break”: Kitty Kelley, Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), 34.
“The pair of sculptured hands… famous brain surgeon”: June Provines, “Front Views and Profiles,” Chicago Tribune, July 11, 1935, 15.
“Over the years… salute her for it”: Kelley, Nancy Reagan, 34.
“She works in mysterious ways… no question of that”: Louise Hutchinson, “Loyal Davis Fights for Medical Ethics,” Chicago Tribune, November 14, 1965, 12.
“No one… the debt I owed my mother”: Donnie Radcliffe, “The Dark Year of Nancy Reagan,” Washington Post online, December 4, 1987, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1987/12/04/the-dark-year-of-nancy-reagan/11451216-2496-40da-9546-8aa2a4902bea/?utm_term=.c8c4a81f5abc.
CHAPTER TWO
The headline… “white gauze frosted in silver”: Cousin Eve, “Society Bids Farewell to the 1930s and Greets ’40s: Society Bids Farewell to an Old Decade,” Chicago Sunday Tribune, January 7, 1940, pt. 8, 1.
“When my mother met Loyal Davis… happy ending to a fairy tale”: Chris Wallace, First Lady, 2.
“Will you please tell Mother… I can go out in a canoe alone”: Nancy Reagan to Loyal Davis, n.d., Reagan Presidential Library, personal collection, box 84, documents, Ronald and Nancy Davis, Dr. Loyal Davis, Mrs. Loyal Davis (Edith).
Loyal’s father, Al Davis… on a movie screen: Nancy Reagan to ________, March 1981, Reagan Presidential Library, correspondence from Abbie Reed Bucy, dated January 28, 1981.
“My father knew nothing… presence would help”: Loyal Davis, Surgeon’s Odyssey, 10.
But at the end of the year… “having led a good life”: ibid., 10–11.
“She was beautifully impressive… no chance to learn about each other’s idiosyncrasies”: ibid., 84.
“like sitting on a powder keg… clean shaven, clean shirt, tie, and jacket”: Reagan Presidential Library, Loyal memoriam folder, box 84, personal papers.
“For Frank”… “ ‘Sold to Dr. Loyal Davis’ ”: ibid.
“A California physician… naming an infant”: Lou Cannon, Ronnie and Jesse: A Political Odyssey (New York: Doubleday, 1969), 158.
“out of spite”…“virulent racism”: Kelley, Nancy Reagan, 39.
“I had a patient one time… a strong personality”: Bob Colacello, Ronnie & Nancy: Their Path to the White House—1911 to 1980 (New York: Warner Books, 2004), 131.
was known to have used the word nigger: Edwards, Early Reagan, 460. In biographer Edmund Morris’s research, which he shared with the author, there is also a reference to a June 7, 1989, interview with Michael Deaver, in which Deaver claims he heard Edith Davis say that word while telling a joke.
“just could not stand discrimination… prouder of him or something”: Etta Moten Barnett, interviews, 1976–1981, OH-31, transcript, Black Women Oral History Project, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
“You can call me Nancy Davis from now on”: Kelley, Nancy Reagan, 43.
“He came with m
y grandmother… it hurt my grandmother terribly”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 65.
“very much but was somewhat hesitant… paternal grandmother were alive”: Loyal Davis, Surgeon’s Odyssey, 231.
Her adoption petition… April 19, 1938: Kelley, Nancy Reagan, 43.
“Nancy, the answer to happiness… aspects of one’s life”: Chris Wallace, First Lady, 7.
“With each step, the tunic… ‘the most wonderful child?’ ”: ibid., 4.
Nancy and Loyal often spoke to each other… woman he loved: Richard Davis, author interview by telephone, March 5, 2017.
Nancy “was a flirt… Why wouldn’t he?”: Edwards, Reagans: Portrait of a Marriage, 9.
“He wanted me to earn his love… I never disobeyed him”: Patti Davis, The Way I See It, 19.
“I knew he would have loved it… I just couldn’t”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 62.
“If he had any real interest… ‘sea of sharks’ ”: ibid., 63.
“A friend would mention a disease… progression of it”: Michael K. Deaver with Mickey Herskowitz, Behind the Scenes (New York: William Morrow, 1987), 110–11.
Loyal argued for loosening restrictions on the procedure: Lou Cannon, Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power (New York: Public Affairs, 2003), 211.
“Surgeons properly qualified by training… legalized mayhem”: Associated Press, “Labels Many U.S. Surgeons Incompetent,” Chicago Daily Tribune, November 25, 1960, pt. 2, 2.
“That’s the right answer!… love to hear students say they don’t know who he is”: Cory Franklin, “The Other Man in Nancy Reagan’s Life,” Chicago Tribune, March 8, 2016, 21.
live-in maid and cook: 1940 census records.
no compensation… Department of Surgery: Loyal Davis, Surgeon’s Odyssey, 250.
“She knew them all… ‘Hi, Miz Davis!’ ”: Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis personal papers, Reagan Presidential Library, box 84.
“Edie was gregarious… Peter Pan collars”: Mike Wallace with Gary Paul Gates, Between You and Me: A Memoir (New York: Hyperion, 2005), 52–53.
“extraordinarily beautiful… You’d go crazy about the child”: Lambert, Nazimova, 370.
The Triumph of Nancy Reagan Page 65
