“Was the First Lady so involved… was a drunk?: William Safire, “When High Officials Begin Acting Strangely,” New York Times online, October 7, 1987, https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/07/opinion/essay-when-high-officials-begin-acting-strangely.html.
“She was the little girl… candy-store window”: Deaver, Behind the Scenes, 119.
“free spirits and intellectuals”: ibid., 120.
“It would be fair to say… of whatever political coloring”: ibid., 118.
“our friendship hasn’t been the same since”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 202.
“I kept casting around in my own mind… bitterness just wouldn’t let me”: Deaver, Different Drummer, 204.
“prima donna”… “stab you in the back”: Speakes with Pack, Speaking Out, 96–98.
signed the deal in July 1986: Edwin McDowell, “Random House to Publish Nancy Reagan’s Memoirs,” New York Times online, July 8, 1986, https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/08/arts/random-house-to-publish-nancy-reagan-s-memoirs.html.
“It was a very hard book to write… Reagans considered themselves poor”: Novak, author interview, July 10, 2017.
Their tax returns for 1987: Julie Johnson, “Revisions in US Tax Code Saved Reagans About $6,000 in 1987,” New York Times online, April 9, 1988, https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/09/us/revisions-in-us-tax-code-saved-reagans-about-6000-in-1987.html.
$3 million in unreported gifts… between 1983 and 1988: Janice Castro, “Nancy with the Golden Threads,” Time, January 27, 1992, n.p.
“She nixed the Bush campaign’s plan… Ohio primary”: Owen Ullmann, “Nancy with the Pouty Face,” Detroit Free Press, October 10, 1988.
“We later learned that Nancy took it out, as ‘this was Ron’s night’ ”: Page, The Matriarch, 140–41.
“The vice president needs me”… “if that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do”: Baker, author interview, January 4, 2017.
“I’ll be damned… two damn stories”: United Press International, “Bush Denies Nancy Reagan Isn’t Supportive,” Los Angeles Times, October 11, 1988, 1.
“The whole day was like a dream… this part, too was over”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 315.
“Good riddance… We don’t want to see you again”: Kuhn, author interview, October 7, 2018.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Politics is a roller coaster… right at the top!”: Ronald Reagan, A Life in Letters, 811.
“Former Presidents haven’t always… so blatantly into pure commercialism”: Editorial: “Striking It Rich in Japan,” New York Times online, October 26, 1989, https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/26/opinion/striking-it-rich-in-japan.html.
“Did he really say what I think he said?” Liz Smith, Austin (TX) American-Statesman, January 20, 1990, E2.
“Although Mrs. Reagan has consented… devoting her energies to making money”: Leslie Bennetts, “Mitch’s Mission,” Vanity Fair, October 1989, 80–92.
“if I’d written a book like Lady Bird… sit there and not say anything”: Betty Cuniberti, “Her Turn: Books: Nancy Reagan Loads Her Memoirs with Jabs at Former White House Staffers, but Is Equally Tough on Her Own Failings as a Wife, Mother, and Public Figure,” Los Angeles Times online, October 22, 1989, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-22-vw-1115-story.html.
“What is appalling… takes your breath away”: Sally Quinn, “Nancy Reagan Looks Back in Anger,” Washington Post online, November 5, 1989, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1989/11/05/nancy-reagan-looks-back-in-anger/8af707dd-6d03-4bc7-ab33-3ac24c21c3b8.
“the battle for the mind of Ronald Reagan… barren terrain”: Noonan, What I Saw at the Revolution, 268.
“like a beautiful clock… nothing inside”: ibid., 280.
“disliked the contras… unattractive and dirty”: ibid., 163.
“Everything somehow was changed… I saw what it had cost her; had always cost her. And I wanted to say: ‘Thank you’ ”: Noonan, When Character Was King, 151.
“Our foreign guests… not up to White House standards”: Roosevelt, Keeper, 206.
“the most unpopular First Couple in history”: Sally Ogle Davis, “The Teflon Wears Off,” Los Angeles, January 1990, 76–84.
“average or below-average”: George Skelton, “The Times Poll: Americans Rate Reagan as an Average President: Legacy: His Job Performance Is Still Viewed Positively. However, the Overall Impression of Him Has Slipped,” Los Angeles Times, November 4, 1991, 1.
“one of the most encyclopedically vicious books in the history of encyclopedic viciousness”: Joe Queenan, “No Stone Unthrown,” New York Times, May 5, 1991, sec. 7, 3.
600,000 was shipped… 925,000 copies in print: Richard Zoglin, “The First Lady and the Slasher,” Time online, April 22, 1991, http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,972782,00.html.
different dust jacket: “Barbara Bush: The Steel Behind the Smile,” Newsweek online, June 21, 1992, https://www.newsweek.com/barbara-bush-steel-behind-smile-199382.
file box among Nancy’s personal papers at the Reagan Library: Personal Papers, Kitty Kelley Book—Letters of Support, box 84, Reagan Presidential Library.
“truly, nobody deserves this”: Editorial, “Scratching at the Teflon,” New York Times, April 10, 1991,rar 24.
“Kitty, please be very careful.… hit on you”: “Wretched Excess,” Newsweek online, April 21, 1991, https://www.newsweek.com/wretched-excess-202154.
privately agreed must have been Nancy’s doing: Paul Costello, former White House spokesman for Rosalynn Carter, interview by author, Washington, DC, April 3, 2019.
“Ronald Reagan,” Nofziger began, “you have broken my heart… without your even knowing or caring”: Lyn Nofziger, “A Reaganite’s Lament,” Washington Post, August 4, 1991, C7.
Others who were involved… when their terms expired: Confidential interviews.
“I had doubted… Nancy that he wants and needs to be around all the time”: Deaver, Different Drummer, 204–8.
“I want to get even with him, too… didn’t have to argue very hard”: Spencer, author interview, July 11, 2017.
“Just ask Nancy Reagan”: “Her Criticism of Oliver North Was Turning Point in Va. U.S. Senate Race,” Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch online, March 7, 2016, https://www.newsadvance.com/her-criticism-of-oliver-north-was-turning-point-in-va/article_28a5c5a2-a274-5355-9d7e-bdc3ff33a4c0.html.
“After Mrs. Reagan’s… would put North in the Senate”: Pollster Geoff Garin to author, email, April 28, 2019.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Have you seen this before?”… “I’m not sure”: Hutton, interview, April 15–16, 2004, Miller Center.
“What’s wrong?… Something is not right here”: Ryan, interview, May 25, 2004, Miller Center.
“We’ve got to keep this thing moving”: Ryan, author interview, January 22, 2020.
“Ronnie, you’re in Washington”: Higdon, author interview, April 17, 2018. Higdon, the former Reagan aide who later headed Thatcher’s US office, said he witnessed the exchange.
“this has been happening even in his own house”: Hutton, interview, April 15–16, 2004, Miller Center.
“Like most people then… I was certainly going to learn!”: Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie, 183.
“They saw and spoke with him daily… never found his memory, reasoning, or judgment to be significantly impaired”: Lawrence K. Altman, “A President Fades into a World Apart,” New York Times online, October 5, 1997, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/05/us/reagan-s-twilight-a-special-report-a-president-fades-into-a-world-apart.html.
“no hint of mental deterioration… have reason to worry”: Morris, Dutch, 662.
“And I don’t know if it had anything to do with Alzheimer’s”: Patrick, Reagan: What Was He Really Like?, 1:225.
“on the later jokes… much more noticeable”: Douglas Brinkley, telephone interview by author, March 23, 2020.
not yet a solid scientific consensus: American Ass
ociation for the Advancement of Science online, “BU/VA CTE Researcher Ann McKee Receives $10 Million NIH Grant,” EurekAlert!, April 27, 2020, https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/busobcr042720.php.
A final rupture… “leave that where it lies”: There are numerous press accounts of this on-air exchange. They include: Tom Shales, “Television Basking in the Glow,” Washington Post, January 21, 1993, D1; and Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich, “The Boomers Ball: Picking Up the Perks of Presidential Power,” New York Times, January 21, 1993, A11.
“Don’t you ever call me again”: Page, The Matriarch, 252–53.
“Ronnie, you remember so-and-so…”: Colacello, “Ronnie and Nancy Part II,” 176.
His longtime political adviser… “have it checked”: Spencer, author interview, October 22, 2016.
“I don’t think I finished the whole exam”: Hutton, interview, April 15–16, 2004, Miller Center.
“Knowing her husband as she did… darkness descended”: Ron Reagan, My Father at 100, 218.
preparing stories about his decline: ibid.
“They were very short… we had a lot of memories”: Nancy Reagan interview with Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes, CBS, September 24, 2002.
“When you come right down to it… so it’s lonely”: ibid.
“Maybe if Colin Powell runs…”: Patti Davis, Long Goodbye, 107–8.
“the pain that I have caused”: Eleanor Clift, “The Long Goodbye,” Newsweek online, October 1, 1995, https://www.newsweek.com/long-goodbye-184022.
“I don’t know how to be alone… I’ve never been alone”: Patti Davis, Long Goodbye, 109–10.
“The coach is waiting for me”… no more games: Hutton, interview, April 15–16, 2004, Miller Center.
For a while… field boots and his saddle: John Barletta with Rochelle Schweizer, Riding with Reagan: From the White House to the Ranch (New York: Citadel Press, 2005), 210–14.
quietly put Rancho del Cielo up for sale: Felicia Paik, “Reagan’s Ranch Is for Sale, but Has Found No Takers,” Wall Street Journal online, May 5, 1997. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB862780938948169000.
“I’ll do what I have to do”… “as if the land itself were haunted”: Patti Davis, Long Goodbye, 256–57.
“Losing my father and losing the ranch… That’s why I have to”: ibid., 258–59.
“The weekends we used to spend there… when we were normal”: ibid., 172.
advance on their inheritances: Ron Reagan, author interview, Seattle, August 13, 2019; Dennis Revell, interview by author, Sacramento, CA, June 3, 2019.
“Warren and I treasured… best gossip from both coasts”: Brokaw eulogy at Nancy Reagan funeral.
“Honey, you remember when—”: Nancy Reagan, interview by Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes, CBS, September 4, 2002.
Bush did not respond for three weeks, Wicks said, which wounded Nancy: Wick, author interview, July 13, 2017.
“Ronald Reagan didn’t have to take care of Ronald Reagan for the last ten years”: Deaver, Nancy, 157–62.
“That’s the greatest gift you could have given me”: Patti Davis, Long Goodbye, 298–99.
“The pomp was nearly unprecedented… two prime ministers”: David Von Drehle, “Reagan Hailed as Leader for ‘the Ages,’ ” Washington Post online, June 12, 2004, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/06/12/reagan-hailed-as-leader-for-the-ages/949ec041-a8d4-4ef2-940a-18a4a135a273.
Higdon cringed… sign their funeral programs: Higdon, author interview, April 7, 2018.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“I go to the library or work for the library all the time… I’m working for Ronnie”: Bob Colacello, “Nancy Reagan Speaks Out About Obamas, the Bushes, and Her Husband,” Vanity Fair online, June 1, 2009, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2009/06/nancy-reagan-speaks-out-about-obamas-the-bushes-and-her-husband.
“I think we can claim victory”… “she was going to get it”: T. Boone Pickens, interview with author, Washington, DC, August 25, 2016.
“If he were able to, he’d quietly thank them but say, ‘Please don’t’ ”: Deaver, Nancy, 156.
“I had to write and thank you… and thanks again”: Nancy Reagan to Albert R. Hunt, 1998; letter provided to the author by Hunt.
“The letters suggest a man… as much as the thoughts shaped the writing”: Michael Duffy and Nancy Gibbs, “The Real Reagan,” Time, September 29, 2003, 54–56.
“I don’t think like that.… I’m not that way”: Brinkley, author interview, March 23, 2020.
“Who was that elderly woman?… She looks familiar”: Sam Donaldson, interview by author, Washington, DC, September 22, 2019.
“Whatever it was, love, she felt, did not just disappear”: Peggy Noonan, “Farewell to Nancy Reagan, a Friend and Patriot,” Wall Street Journal online, March 11, 2016, https://www.wsj.com/articles/farewell-to-nancy-reagan-my-darling-friend-1457654369.
Her friend Robert Higdon approached Episcopal priest… neighborhood of Washington: Higdon, author interview, April 17, 2018.
“she had a quiet elegance”… not likely to happen: Stuart Kenworthy, interview by author, Washington, DC, May 24, 2018.
“I could just feel how it comforted her. It grounded her”: Wick, author interview, July 13, 2017.
“It’s Saturday… How are you going to get your car repaired?”: Revell, author interview, June 3, 2019.
“I had all these books… It’s a part of life”: Kenworthy, author interview, May 24, 2018.
INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Page numbers beginning with 589 refer to notes.
1619 Project, the, 104–5, 107–11, 194
9/11, 35, 41, 115–16, 147, 200
Aaron, Benjamin, 274
Abernathy, Ralph, 228
abortion rights, 41–42, 208, 301–2 NR on, 167, 195, 302
RR’s signing of law on, 150–51, 167
Abshire, David:administration overhaul urged by, 482–83
on need to restore presidential credibility, 481
NR’s alliance with, 480–84, 486, 490
on NR’s role in rescuing Reagan presidency from Iran-contra, 494
on possible effect of Alzheimer’s on RR’s job performance, 534
on RR’s Iran-contra speech, 489–90
as special counsel for Iran-contra investigation, 480–84
Academy Awards, 1981 delay of, 279–80
Afghanistan, Soviet invasion of, 435, 436
Aga Khan IV, 448
Agnew, Spiro, 180, 182
Agriculture Department, US, school lunch subsidies cut by, 259–60
Ahearn, Rick, 561
AIDS/HIV, 411–32 conservatives’ view of, 418, 420, 421, 422–23, 426
government spending on, 418, 419, 425
Hudson’s contracting and acknowledgement of, 415–18
intravenous drug users and, 411
Koop report on, 419–20
NR’s increasing awareness of seriousness of, 415
public ignorance about, 414
Reagan administration’s downplaying of, 412, 414, 418, 421, 429, 432
RR’s amfAR speech on, 421–25
RR’s presidential commission on, 425–26, 428, 429
seen as confined to homosexuals, 411, 414
transfusion recipients infected with, 424–25, 427
Ailes, Roger, 383
Ainslie, Michael, 267
Albritton Communications, 546
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Bureau, in war on drugs, 321
Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, 262
Alicoate, Jack, 21
Allen, Richard V., 235, 275, 292, 439, 443, 541 NR’s role in ousting of, 263, 304
RR’s fail
ure to recognize, 538
Allentuck, Max, NR dated by, 65
Al-Shiraa, 466
Altman, Lawrence K., 533
Alzheimer’s disease, 6, 112, 373–74, 532 of Edie, 25, 334–35, 404
of RR, see Reagan, Ronald, Alzheimer’s disease of
American Brotherhood, 45
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 324
American Express, Ron’s ad for, 358
American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), RR’s speech to, 421–25
American Independent Party, 236
Anderson, Annelise, 569
Anderson, John B., in 1980 presidential bid, 213, 216, 217, 221, 231–32
Anderson, Martin, 210, 221, 227, 323, 524, 525, 569 RR’s failure to recognize, 538
Andropov, Yuri, 438, 441
And the Band Played On (Shilts), 417
Angelo, Bonnie, 193, 195, 196
Angola, 435
Annals of Internal Medicine, 412
Annenberg, Lenore, 132, 237, 250, 539
Annenberg, Walter, 132, 237, 250, 254, 519
antidrug crusade, of NR, 395, 463, 500 as antidote to NR’s image problem, 319, 323–24, 325
Califano on, 330
doubts about effectiveness of, 330
drug abuse “summits” in, 326
“Just Say No” slogan of, 329–30
media coverage of, 325–26
media’s positive response to, 380
NR’s deeply felt commitment to, 319, 326, 499
NR’s UN speech in, 326–27
party-line response to, 327
and Phoenix House Center cancellation, 519
prescription medication abuse downplayed in, 321
RR’s social program cuts contrasted with, 321, 328–29
RR’s support for, 465
Turner as NR’s ally in, 322–24, 329
visit to Straight Inc. facility in, 324
antinuclear movement, Patti’s activism in, 370
The Triumph of Nancy Reagan Page 72
