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

“I never expected… welcome part of our routine”: ibid., 214.

“Three and a half minutes, that’s fine… fifteen seconds at the end”: Mark Weinberg, Movie Nights with the Reagans: A Memoir (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018), 80.

“was on a mission from Nancy… buried in this stuff on weekends”: Allen, interview, May 28, 2002, Miller Center.

“I felt like I was a kid… I couldn’t resist”: John Hutton, interview, April 15–16, 2004, Presidential Oral Histories, Ronald Reagan Presidency, Miller Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/john-hutton-md-oral-history.

“This is my fourteenth trip… the most ineptly organized”: Lou Cannon, “On the Continent, Nodding Off and Fending Off the Press,” Washington Post online, June 14, 1982, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/06/14/on-the-continent-nodding-off-and-fending-off-the-press/cc4c1533-ab29-4518-8bf2-67c11248c14a.

“Reagan managed to raise doubts… some of his administration’s policies”: Lou Cannon, “President Gained His Major Goal,” Washington Post, June 13, 1982, 1.

“a relaxed and effective performer… as events in his reelection campaign”: Cannon, President Reagan, 416.

“I don’t get involved… who are trying to end-run him”: Chris Wallace, First Lady, 41.

“Does his no always end it?… come back at him again”: ibid., 40.

“Her husband’s close associates… pull the trigger”: Richard E. Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents: The Politics of Leadership from Roosevelt to Reagan (New York: Free Press, 1990), 312–14.

“Never let your Nancy be immobilized”: ibid., 316.

“She could not bear the thought of the criticism… Ronald Reagan—a president with a particularly idealistic streak—was especially in need of this kind of counsel”: Peter J. Wallison, Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of his Presidency (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2003), 106–7.

“It really reaches a point… rather than let it build up a head of steam”: Chris Wallace, First Lady, 41.

“Nancy Reagan had a better understanding… he did not like to be pushed by anyone, not even Nancy Reagan”: Cannon, President Reagan, 447.

when he proposed this idea, shook her head vigorously in opposition: Ken Khachigian, interview by author, San Clemente, CA, August 29, 2019.

“I don’t give a damn about the right-to-lifers”: Donald Regan, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), 86.

“On the other hand, I believe in a woman’s choice”: Chris Kaltenbach, “Former First Lady Nancy Reagan Speaks Out for Abortion Rights,” Baltimore Sun online, September 21, 1994, https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-09-21-1994264147-story.html.

“On background… a wonderful job”: Cannon, President Reagan, 131n.

“Ed and I were never close… I always felt that Meese was one of them”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 203.

“Ronald Reagan, with his soft heart… Nancy would prevail upon him to act in his own interest”: George P. Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993), 317.

Senator Paul Laxalt… soon on the phone with Nancy: Cannon, President Reagan, 375.

“When a political appointee… he should step aside”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 51–52.

“I trusted George completely… out the window”: ibid., 205.

“a schemer married to someone who was unable to conceive of a Machiavellian thought”: Von Damm, At Reagan’s Side. 228.

“I could only conclude that for some reason… slapped me in the face”: ibid., 271–73.

“a homecoming queen”: Helene von Damm, interview by Ann Miller Morin, February 15, 1988, transcript, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Women Ambassadors Series, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Arlington, VA, https://adst.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/von-Damm-Helene.pdf.

“Her position was hardening toward me… with each new success I achieved”: Von Damm, At Reagan’s Side, 288.

“anything less would have seemed underdressed”: ibid., 308.

“Die Playgirl Bows Out!”: Georgie Anne Geyer, “Von Damme Tale Is a Common Plight,” Burlington (VT) Free Press, December 16, 1985, 8.

“Lucky, there’s one thing you have to understand about Nancy”… hear from her: Selwa “Lucky” Roosevelt, Keeper of the Gate (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), 203–4.

“on guard, suspicious of anyone she thought was trying to use or manipulate her”: ibid., 202.

“This was a big honor”… Joe DiMaggio: Will, author interview, March 31, 2017.

“It turned out he was carrying water for Nancy on this… Nancy and Barbara just did not have a pleasant relationship”: Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power, 266.

“Nancy does not like Barbara.… Nancy Reagan is jealous of her”: ibid., 334.

“I know”: Lou Cannon to author, email, August 27, 2019, confirming details.

“a prince of a feller… Didn’t seem to want us upstairs in the White House”: Morris, Dutch, 638.

she found in Reagan Library files drafts of the invitation list… “Just watch me”: Susan Page, The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty (New York: Twelve, 2019), 138–40.

“This was the plan—that I was the Prince Charming of the evening”: Ethan Alter, “John Travolta Recalls Dancing the Night Away with Princess Diana: ‘I Was the Prince Charming of the Evening,’ ” Yahoo! Entertainment, last modified December 6, 2019, https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/john-travolta-recalls-dancing-night-away-with-princess-diana-nancy-reagan-140058674.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAD1LWrigviKw0ejH1grQevhaYC10o63nrtt2Od02jciVyPBOCITPJrvAmuSU01AtOCqwiRSmqyJpJuJKcevZppJ8Bls1D9Sy0drU4kAQ17j5TjgynhJETOXPVJo2E-bCC3l5CQWn9kFQAnc5Llv7TnafFDkQR3uRHgiOjpy0NxN8.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“I remember having to say to Mike [Deaver]… ‘We’ve got to give them back or something’ ”: Baker, author interview, January 4, 2017.

“As soon as I read this… Nancy needed to make fun of herself, not blame the press”: Tate, Lady in Red, 45.

“I bet she’s pissed”: ibid., 47.

“This one song… my image began to change in Washington”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 34–35.

“Maybe this will end the sniping”: Douglas Brinkley, ed., The Reagan Diaries (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 76. At the Gridiron Club Dinner the following year, Ronnie would give a surprise performance himself, dressed in a serape and sombrero and singing a parody of the song “Manana.” In his diary, on page 140, he noted that he had never sung on a stage before and was nervous.

According to what Deaver told Morris… no evidence that Ronnie did anything about it: Edmund Morris research materials made available to the author include the following: “NR took ‘uppers and downers’ to get to sleep, used to wake up at middle of the night to take another. Dr. Ruge confided this to rr. Doctor was nervous and concerned. NR leave the White House with a huge sealed box full of pills. Knew she couldn’t get them again.—Deaver 6/7/89.” Morris also noted that Deaver doubted Ruge would want to talk about this for the record.

“Whether this accounts for some of the fluctuations in her mood over the years… perhaps