Nancy’s scrapbook includes… various times in Chicago: Nancy Reagan’s personal scrapbook from the late 1940s through the early 1950s, a photocopy of which was provided to the author by Annelise Anderson.
“There were, maybe, five or six beds… go on about his business”: Richard Davis, author interview, August 10, 2017.
(Ronald Reagan, to his everlasting regret… Voice of the Turtle): Ronald Reagan with Richard G. Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? The Ronald Reagan Story (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1965), 192.
“and all of my care was exceptional”: Loyal Davis, Surgeon’s Odyssey, 31.
“One summer we wrote… Uncle Walter and I were the stars”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 67.
“sobering advice, but I wasn’t put off”: ibid., 66.
Loyal and Edie… 1944 Democratic convention in Chicago: Eleanor Page, “Many in Boxes Share Thrill of 1st Convention,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 20, 1944, 13.
a headline on the second page… “is or was a policewoman”: “Mystery Veils Identity of a Policewoman,” Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1943, 2.
Edie, whose newspaper photo caught her without her false teeth in… ‘I’m Dick Tracy!’ ” Colacello, Ronnie & Nancy, 142.
“some of these young kids… protect those boys”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 64.
write, direct, and produce his weekly radio speeches: Colacello, Ronnie & Nancy, 85.
“vitamums”… “Alderman Halsey”: Loyal Davis, Surgeon’s Odyssey, 294.
“Loyal was astonished… “administration of government”: ibid.
“What Edith understood… more important than what you believe”: Colacello, Ronnie & Nancy, 133.
CHAPTER THREE
“Politics! And wife and mother”: Smith College archives.
“I always had it in my mind that I wanted to go to Smith”: Nancy Reagan, interviewed by Judy Woodruff, transcript of unaired interview footage, Nancy Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, produced by Susan L. Mills, aired February 2011 on PBS (MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, 2010), DVD.
“You had no women role models… exaggerated values for women”: Jacqueline Van Voris, College: A Smith Mosaic (West Springfield, MA: M. J. O’Malley, 1975), 119.
“that life is not always easy… sudden twists of fate”: Nancy Reagan, Nancy, 54.
“I had a terrible time… for these subjects”: ibid., 52.
a catty journalist… “piano legs”: Judy Bachrach, “Portraits: Nancy Reagan’s Chocolate-Covered Campaign Not Sweet,” Boston Globe, October 29, 1980, n.p.
“We were all terribly excited… sort of lost its excitement”: Associated Press, “Nancy’s Classmates Remember Her as ‘Strictly Average,’ ” Morning Union (Springfield, MA), December 26, 1980, 14.
“She was very pretty… go away quite often at weekends”: ibid.
State police concluded… “his own expectations”: “Princeton Senior Killed by Train,” Central New Jersey Home News (Brunswick, NJ), December 16, 1941, 8.
“Make with the maximum… get away from New York”: Smith College Library, Collection 80.02.1943, box 2140, class of 1943, individuals A-L.
“Dit-dit-dit… win this wah”: Jane West Magill to Nancy Reagan, October 24, 1984, WHORM subject files: PP005-01: 277053, Reagan Presidential Library.
what she remembered as a “big crush”… “world was brighter again”: Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, 65.
nor, apparently, could Edie… military personnel: Kelley, Nancy Reagan, 60.
“The young couple met… aircraft carrier Sable”: “Tell Betrothal of Lt. J. P. White to Chicagoan,” Abilene (TX) Reporter News, July 24, 1944, 13.
“I think I met… perhaps even a president”: Lambert, Nazimova, 383.
“It was a heady, exhilarating time… we remain friends”: Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, 54.
White “was extremely… about everybody”: Richard Davis, author interview, August 10, 2017.
“All I can tell you… one of those wartime things”: Lloyd Shearer, “Nancy Reagan: ‘My Life Began with Ronnie,’ ” Parade, February 22, 1976, 8–10.
“Nancy’s affinity… her full attention”: Colacello, Ronnie & Nancy, 185.
so oddly cold on a hot day: Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, 32.
“This wouldn’t be the last… drive that Mother had”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 70–71.
“played eight months… disdain of most critics”: Mary X. Sullivan, “Two on the Aisle.” Clipping appears in Nancy Reagan’s scrapbook. Note in her handwriting dates it September 1, 1946.
She forced… “just not working”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 71.
“All the girls were so crazy… it always changed”: transcript from unaired interview footage, Nancy Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime.
Only later… “amateurish virgin by the name of Nancy Davis”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 72.
“a Miss Nancy Davis… decent one of the two Haggett daughters”: Clipping in Nancy Reagan’s Hollywood scrapbook. No precise date or name of publication is given. Her handwriting indicates “Saratoga - August - 1947.” Scrapbook provided to author.
in 1981… White House: Liz Smith, “Pam and Andy Love ‘Pirates,’ ” Moline (IL) Sunday Dispatch, August 23, 1981, B-2.
her name popped up occasionally in the newspaper columns: Colacello, Ronnie & Nancy, 187, 191.
“He had a quality… really with you”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 73.
“I wasn’t setting show business on fire”: Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, 89.
“A vacationing Iowan… More, maybe”: Marguerite Ratty, “Breakfast Club Goes Television at Dinner Hour,” Chicago Tribune, October 6, 1946, pt. 3, 8.
“There is no pay… old hag”: Inez Wallace, “M-G-M Mum on Television, Signs Video Star Anyhow,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 12, 1950. Clipping from Nancy Reagan scrapbook, with name of publication and date in her handwriting.
“This was one opportunity… anything to do with”: Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, 91.
the studio took a pass on a young bit actress named Marilyn Monroe: Morris, author interview, August 7, 2017. Morris recalled being with Nancy at a dinner at Chasen’s in Beverly Hills on February 1, 1990, when Sam Marx, who had been the story editor at MGM, described how Dore Schary turned down Monroe, in part because he had just signed Nancy Davis. “When he told that story to Nancy, you should have seen her face light up,” Morris said. Leonora Hornblow, widow of producer Arthur Hornblow Jr., had told Morris the same story four days earlier.
“walking into a dream world”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 74.
“Everything was a big step up when I signed with Metro, everything”: transcript from unaired interview footage, Nancy Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime.
“I always recommended Nancy… popular girls on the lot”: Wanda McDaniel, “The Reagans: Their Honeymoon Begins,” Sacramento (CA) Bee, November 10, 1980, B4.
Nancy regularly spent Saturday mornings closeted with Thau in his office suite: Laurence Leamer, Make-Believe: The Story of Nancy & Ronald Reagan (New York: Harper & Row, 1983), 63.
Nancy’s screen test had been his idea: ibid.
“When I came out to Los Angeles… I liked him as a friend”: Colacello, Ronnie & Nancy, 227.
“I don’t know. I was not his,” she insisted… “And that was it”: ibid., 248.
“ ‘Wait until a year from now’… a new personality’ ”: Wallace, “M-G-M Mum on Television, Signs Video Star Anyhow.”
“Nancy Davis has the unique distinction… all but one of her movies”: This clipping is pasted in Nancy Reagan’s scrapbook, with a notation in her handwriting of the date. It does not include the publication.
“are best forgotten”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 76.
“She did something… listened to the other actor”: Edmund Morris research materials, provided to the author. His notes indicate that this quote came from an interview that Morris conducted with Ronald
Reagan on December 21, 1987.
“her gift… sonority of the other speakers”: Edmund Morris, Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (New York: Random House, 1999), 294.
“That picture ended movies for me”: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 290.
“I’m not so naive… either on or off the screen”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 76.
“Not yet… that’s pretty much the truth”: Louella O. Parsons, “In Hollywood with Louella O. Parsons,” September 24, 1950. Clipping is from Nancy Reagan’s scrapbook, and the name of the publication is not attached.
CHAPTER FOUR
“You know… lost my soul”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 103.
“I had seen… wanted to meet”: ibid., 78–79.
“a small, slender young lady… made you look back”: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 235.
“I don’t know… something close to it”: Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, 111.
“Even I could see she was dazzled by Mr. Reagan”: Jill Schary Robinson to author, email, November 30, 2018.
Ronnie’s name was at the top: Kelley, Nancy Reagan, 77–78.
“Subtlety has never… powers of belief”: Morris, Dutch, 280.
“For the first month… nightclub in Los Angeles”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 8.
$750 a month in nightclubs: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 233.
“at least sixteen”… who she was: Morris, Dutch, 281–82.
“This story, I know… something very important”: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 236–37.
“a small universe… rest of my life”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life—The Autobiography (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), loc. 264 of 12608, Kindle.
“Well, if you have a book, you always have a friend”: Edwin Meese III, interview by author, Washington, DC, October 5, 2016.
“What Ronald Reagan… gentler to the eyes”: Patti Davis, The Way I See It, 13.
“unexpected vacations”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life, loc. 240 of 12608, Kindle.
“But someplace along the line… will always remember”: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 7–8.
“a little tornado of goodness”: Peggy Noonan, When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan (New York: Penguin Books, 2001), 20, paperback.
“Nelle never saw anything evil… how he is”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 90.
“a fat Dutchman”: Details of his birth come from Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 5, and Morris, Dutch, 14–16.
“On Mother”: Morris, Dutch, 30.
“In some ways… reserving it for myself”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life, loc. 338 of 12608, Kindle.
“The best part… allowed to dream”: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 11–15.
“For almost six years… much in love”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life, loc. 484 of 12608, Kindle.
“He had an inability… fact and fancy”: Morris, Dutch, 121–22.
“Even Nixon held services in the White House”: “Margaret Cleaver Gordon,” Eureka College online, accessed September 21, 2020, http://ww1.eureka.edu/emp/jrodrig/march2007/march15.htm.
“Mugs was generally… everything she said”: Morris, Dutch, 68–69.
She was president… James Waddell Gordon Jr.: Information provided to the author by Eureka College.
“insisted to Morris that she returned the ring personally”: Morris, Dutch, 709n.
“Margaret’s decision… no longer had anyone to love”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life, loc. 1011 of 12608, Kindle.
“He has a pleasant, boyish appearance and an attractive film personality”: “New Films,” Boston Globe, December 17, 1937, 25.
“Treat for Ladies in Ronald Reagan”: Dorothy Masters, “Treat for Ladies in Ronald Reagan,” New York Daily News, October 14, 1937, 57.
During his first year… eight pictures in eleven months: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 77.
“the most satisfying gift of my life”: ibid., 9.
Ronald Reagan’s old clothes: Stephanie Chavez, “Olive View Fund-Raiser—Hospital Lauds Early Volunteer: ‘Ma’ Reagan,” Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1986, pt. 2, 7.
“Ronald has finished… just so the boy gets along”: Nelle Reagan to friend, 1938, box 84, Personal Papers of Ronald and Nancy Davis, Dr. Loyal Davis, Mrs. Loyal Davis (Edith), Reagan Presidential Library.
“She was so experienced… a little earthbound for someone like Jane”: Lawrence J. Quirk, Jane Wyman: The Actress and the Woman (New York: Dembner Books, 1986), 42.
pumping Jane’s stomach: Morris, Dutch, 162.
“Jane always seemed so nervous… together”: Quirk, Jane Wyman, 45.
“I wonder if my Ronald… some sweet girl who is not in the movies”: Morris, Dutch, 164.
“I had become a semi-automaton… I decided to find the rest of me”: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 6.
“By the time… (all of these postwar ambitions)”: ibid., 138.
“$3,500 a week”: ibid., 140.
Maureen had to learn a few words in sign language: Morris, Dutch, 743.
“Well, if he is going to be president, he is going to get there without me”: Quirk, Jane Wyman, 46.
“there was a long drawn-out ‘ooooh’… and a white shirt”: Samuel A. Tower, “Hollywood Communists ‘Militant,’ but Small in Numbers, Stars Testify,” New York Times, October 24, 1947, 1.
“There’s no use in lying… coming on for a long time”: “Ronald Reagans Are Not Happy,” INS, Greenville (SC) News, December 5, 1947, 23.
“The plain truth was… no resources to call upon”: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 201.
“Right now Jane… nervous and not herself”: Quirk, Jane Wyman, 113.
a legal petition… mental cruelty: United Press International, May 7, 1948.
“Finally, there was nothing… to sustain our marriage”: “Jane Wyman Divorced; Blames Rift on Politics,” Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1948, pt. 2, 1.
“He vowed, either consciously or subconsciously… expense of the kids”: Meese, author interview, October 5, 2016.
“The difference with Nancy… recover and prevail”: Edmund Morris, “The Unknowable,” New Yorker online, June 28, 2004, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/06/28/the-unknowable.
“That hurt… I was just one girl of many”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 81.
so smitten with her that he proposed: Clipping from scrapbook. Handwritten notation indicates it was published December 24, 1950. Name of publication not indicated. Box 20. Scrapbook of Nancy Davis 1950- RFS 11. Reagan Foundation Collection.
he fled the Menninger psychiatric clinic… then reported to be ready to resume what had been a promising film career: Gladwin Hill, “Actor Walker Dies After Drug Dosage,” New York Times, August 30, 1951, 19.
“an actor by profession rather than by accident”: Dore Schary, Case History of a Movie (New York: Random House, 1950), 42–43.
Nancy was padded and wardrobed… She wore no makeup except for her own lipstick: ibid., 51–53.
she would be around for a while in the movie business: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 236.
“As far as we all knew… more relaxed than I had ever seen him”: Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter: A Memoir (Boston: Little, Brown, 1989), 87, 90.
when he was naughty: Michael Reagan with Joe Hyams, On the Outside Looking In (New York: Zebra Books, 1988), 34–35.
filling his stomach with her brunch and her soul with his comfort: Morris, Dutch, 748.
“he would figure out what the purpose of his own torment was”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 90.
“Nancy, you will know when he loves you”: Robert Higdon described this exchange between Nancy and Nelle twice to the author, in interviews by telephone on August 1, 2017, and in Panama City,
FL, on April 17, 2018.
asking her agent to find her a play in New York: Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan (New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2000, 2002), 24.
things were finally over with his ex-wife; this time, for good: Higdon, author interview, April 17, 2018.
until she did: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 84.
“ignore for a long time”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life, loc. 1696 of 12608, Kindle.
vaguely aware… getting serious: Edwards, Early Reagan, 430–31.
“only endeared him to me more”: Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, 122.
Her stepbrother, Dick… “this important step’ ”: Richard Davis, author interview, March 5, 2017.
CHAPTER FIVE
His one concession to the media interest in their nuptials… In the photo, Ronnie looks annoyed: “Ron and Nancy to Wed,” Miami News online, March 2, 1952, https://www.newspapers.com/image/298382069/?terms=%22ronald%2Breagan%22%2B%22nancy%2Bdavis%22%2B%22santa%2Bmonica%222.
“Came our wedding day… out in a cold sweat”: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 239–40.
What had actually happened… “would be perfectly happy together”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 82.
They paid $42,000 for it: Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie, 31; “Celebrity Homes: Remembering Reagan’s Homes and Life in the Riviera,” Palisadian-Post (Pacific Palisades, CA) online, February 13, 2014, https://www.palipost.com/movie-star-homes-remembering-reagans-homes-life-riviera.
As a child… life in an incubator: Patti Davis, The Way I See It, 13.
“didn’t want to wait”: Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, 133.
“precipitously, but very joyfully, on October 22, 1952”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 86.
to see how big it had grown: Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie, 32.
“less as an actor than an adversary”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 105.
“with more dignity… under like circumstances”: Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me?, 213, 238.
two first mortgages and a second one: ibid., 245.
The Triumph of Nancy Reagan Page 66
