The ceremony drew about 1,000 relatives, dignitaries and friends, including Michelle Obama and former first ladies Hillary Clinton, Rosalynn Carter and Laura Bush.
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The funeral brought together prominent Republicans and Democrats alike in salute of a woman especially admired by political conservatives at a time when deep partisan rancor has reverberated through Washington and the 2016 presidential campaign. “She had an instinct for reading people that the president knew he lacked”, James Baker, the former Secretary of State for the Reagan administration said.
According to Teen Vogue, Reagan turned her back to the LGBT community as millions suffered from the illness.
Baker said Ronald Reagan never would have won the White House without her “or succeeded as well as he did”.
“And I can think of no better way to honor our former first lady’s legacy than by working together, as one nation, toward that goal”, he said.
Attendees to Ms. Reagan’s funeral included Hollywood celebrities, former presidents, politicians, and members of the media.
Hillary Clinton apologized on Friday for calling the late Nancy Reagan a “very effective, low-key” advocate on AIDS/HIV, saying she “misspoke” in an interview with MSNBC.
Nancy Reagan died last week at age 94. Former President George W. Bush, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Caroline Kennedy were in attendance, as were President Richard Nixon’s daughter, Tricia Nixon Cox, and President Lyndon Johnson’s daughters Luci Baines Johnson and and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb.
The sprawling, Spanish Mission-style library is located between the Reagan’s post-White House home in the upscale Bel Air section of Los Angeles and Rancho del Cielo, the “ranch in the sky” where the Reagans spent their leisure time, sometimes on horseback, in the rugged mountains near Santa Barbara.
The pair had two children – Patti Davis, born in 1952, and Ron Junior, born in 1958, both of whom delivered eulogies that, along with a tribute from former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, had the guests laughing at fondly recounted anecdotes.
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Noting “we still have work to do to eradicate this disease for good and to erase the stigma that is an echo of a shameful and painful period in our country’s history”, Clinton said, “I want to use this opportunity to talk not only about where we’ve come from, but where we must go in the fight against HIV and AIDS”. She had selected the flowers, the music that was played by the band of the Marine corps and guests. He was part of a partnership that donated the land where the library now sits.
