Nancy Reagan, the widow of President Ronald Reagan and passionately devoted keeper of his flame, died Sunday morning of congestive heart failure at 94, according to her spokesperson. Her former Press Secretary Shirley Tate, who served during Ronald Reagan’s first term as president, says this project really consumed her but Reagan stayed focused and educated herself about every aspect of the issue.
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McCarthy said Nancy Reagan was forever grateful to him for protecting her husband from John Hinckley Jr.’s assassination attempt, and told him so on several occasions.
“I was in the White House when he was shot”, Kline said, adding that Nancy Reagan began to be very protective of her husband after that.
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) – The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum was closed Sunday following the death of Nancy Reagan, but a steady stream of mourners stopped by the main entrance northwest of Los Angeles to snap photos, leave flowers and pay respect.
“Couple of times a year, she’d have a big party”.
“I thought she brought a lot of classiness to the position of first lady that, you know, had been sort of missing for a while”, said Elaine Steele of Las Vegas.
“With Nancy always in the background or at his side… they set an example for all of us, as husband and wife, and then as president and first lady”.
“I remember her clothing style and her grace”, said Hall.
The former actress entered the political spotlight when her husband was elected California governor in 1966. After undergoing successful surgery, she raised awareness of the disease among many women and in her later memoir “My Turn“, she stressed the importance of annual mammograms.
Nancy Reagan became a champion for people battling Alzheimer’s after President Reagan died from it in 2004.
She visited Ireland with President Reagan in 1984. “And I described that experience to her. And she opened up to me as if we were old friends”.
She came out of small parts in the movies until, as she would say much later in her life, she found the “role she wanted to play”, as Ronald Reagan’s wife. She also released a volume of love letters that her husband wrote during their long marriage called “I Love You, Ronnie”, a bestseller published in 2000. “She leaves a remarkable legacy of good”, they said.
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She is often remembered for her “Just Say No” anti-drugs campaign during her White House years.
