The Triumph of Nancy Reagan by Karen Tumulty (short books for teens txt) 📕

the Post such a special place to work and thrive. They include Dan Balz; Amy Gardner; Philip Rucker; Rosalind Helderman; David Fahrenthold; Ann Gerhart; Roxanne Roberts; Michele Norris; Robin Givhan; Robert Costa; Carol Leonnig; Kate Woodsome; Nancy Szokan; Autumn Brewington; Rob Gebelhoff; James Downie; Mary Jordan; and Kevin Sullivan.

Nancy Reagan proved an elusive, complex subject—and one way overdue for a reassessment. She and Ronald Reagan were a love match for the ages, but their marriage was so much more than that. She was an excellent wife, but, as she acknowledged, fell short as a mother. The more I learned about her demons, her frailties, her instincts, her determination, and her strength, the more I grew in gratitude that Reagan picked the life partner that he did. I believe the country owes her more than a few debts.

I am grateful for the insights and recollections of people who knew and/or worked with her. You have seen many of their names in these pages: Stuart Spencer, James Kuhn, George P. Shultz, James A. Baker III, Landon Parvin, the late Robert Higdon, Annelise Anderson, Ken Khachigian, Ken Duberstein, Mark Weinberg, the late John Sears, Nancy Reynolds, Stuart Kenworthy, Thomas C. Reed, Tom and Karen Ellick, Douglas Wick, Ed Rollins, Joe Petro, Douglas Brinkley, Edwin Meese III, Joseph Califano, Sheila Tate, Carol McCain, Peter Wallison, Pam Stevens, the late T. Boone Pickens, James Rosebush, Kathy Osborne, Jane Erkenbeck, Selwa Roosevelt, Lynne Wasserman, Jill Schary Robinson, George Steffe, Carlton Turner, William Henkel, William Novak, and Karen Spencer. By trying to list them, I know I will be kicking myself at some point over who I left out. Some people cooperated on the proviso that I not use their names, which I have respected. Others, who are no longer with us, left behind rich memoirs for me to plumb. The oral histories at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center were invaluable. So, too, were newspaper, magazine, and television archives, including the ones provided by Caitlin Conant at CBS and the Public Broadcasting Service through Judy Woodruff.

I could not have done this without the assistance and cooperation of members of the Reagan family, especially Ron Reagan, Dennis Revell, and Richard Davis. Patti Davis and Michael Reagan chose not to speak with me, but both told their stories in their own books, which allowed me to give them voice in mine.

Along the way, I spent more hours than I can count in the research room of the Reagan Library, going through both public and private records. I appreciate the support and openness of Reagan Foundation chief administrative officer Joanne M. Drake and its president, John Heubusch. No one has ever had a better tour guide back into history than archivist Jennifer Mandel. One of those who shared that chilly research room while I was there was Max Boot; neither of us knew at the time that we would soon be colleagues in the Opinions section at the Washington Post. I look forward to his Reagan biography. In California, I also got to reconnect with the wonderful journalist and writer Todd Purdum, who, typically, knew more about my subject than I did. (Who else would have a biography of Alla Nazimova at hand on his bookshelf?)

My sojourns in California were some of my happiest memories of this project. While I was doing research at the library, Steven Galson and Jessie Wolfe Galson allowed me to move into their house in Agoura Hills for many weeks. Has there ever been better proof of friendship? In Northern California, one of my bases of operation was the home of my former business school classmate and forever friend Carol Mills and her husband, John Eichhorn. They always gave the impression they were glad to see me when I arrived on their doorstep with my suitcases. I also stayed at one point in Annelise Anderson’s pool house; she had photocopies of the Hollywood scrapbooks of young starlet Nancy Davis, which she shared with me, though it took quite a feat to reproduce them at the downtown FedEx office in Palo Alto.

Having never covered Nancy Reagan as a journalist while she was alive, I was indebted to so many who did. Among them were brilliant photojournalist Diana Walker, with whom I spent so many weeks on the road back when we both worked for Time and whose images also grace these pages; Chris Wallace; the aforementioned Judy Woodruff; Andrea Mitchell; Linda Douglass; Al Hunt; Johanna Neuman; and Mike Putzel and Ann Blackman, who are dear friends of many years and who also read chapters as I was writing them.

When I was stymied for a fact, brilliant researcher Alice Crites at the Post and Melissa August at Time could always tell me where to look. Lissa also helpfully let me know whenever an old Nancy Davis film was playing on Turner Classic Movies. Photo editor Crary Pullen did an amazing job finding images and pulling them together for the inserts in the book.

It was fitting that I began this book not with my own words, but those of pre-eminent Reagan biographer Lou Cannon, who steered me at every step along the way. The late Edmund Morris, in an astonishingly generous act, opened his files to me; his lovely wife, Sylvia Jukes Morris, also now gone, ran cups of tea down to me while I pored through those records in their Connecticut basement. Del Quentin Wilber shared notes taken while he was reporting his own book, which is the authoritative account of the day that Reagan was nearly assassinated. Authors James Mann and Meryl Gordon also provided unpublished material (and Meryl’s always hilarious husband, Walter Shapiro, never failed to give me a new jolt of enthusiasm when I was flagging).

Having never written a book before, I sought and received the advice of people who make it look easy. Among them are David Maraniss; John A. Farrell; Michael Duffy (especially Michael Duffy!); Nancy Gibbs; Carl Cannon; Susan Page; and Eileen McNamara. Others whose friendship has both supported this