Shes talking about color and shes wearing a red dress and they understood the lighting and understood the message, how the message should go with the pictures, and they really got it all, and it was really almost Second Nature to them both. Want to move to the second term in the white house again, full of so many issues. In brief some of them included the soviet summit which included with the arms treaty. The explosion of the challenger. Any of us alive certainly remember that day well. The irancontra affair and how nancy was involved in that and the iraniraq war. She overcame the criticism. Did she become a positive Political Force for the white house in the second term . It was different. I mean, she was burned by the experience of the first year or so, and she came out of that and really was always very careful in her dealings with the press, very sparing in the interviews she gave, and as carl said, i mean, she has a presence about her, a poise, and she was able to i think communicate in a way that, you know, was helpful to the white house. And i think the second term was very different than the first term in that way. By then they both learned a lot. It was also rough. We know president s second terms can be rough, and the problems came, and you just listed several of them. Lucys watching us in wisconsin. Hi, lucy. Caller hi. Question for us . Caller yes, i do. It goes back to the Jacqueline Kennedy nancy reagan episode with both of them having the same interest in changing the white house. I saw just a double standard with the press. I have no problem with the press reporting. I have a problem with the press shaping the image. They gave and i and i cared a lot about the kennedys, i truly did, but they gave them a free pass on many issues and they just kind of ripped nancy reagan apart, and i felt like that it was a bit unfair, and i dont know if that will ever change. It doesnt seem to be in my lifetime anyway. I just wonder if you could address that. Lucy, i do think it was a different time. I think we talked about this a lit bit a few minutes ago and i really do believe in the 60s the country was and the press corps was just more accepting of politicians, of president s. You didnt i mean, look at what we now know jack kennedy at least part of the time was doing in his private life and the press completely did not report on that, but 20 years later we have been the country had been through watergate, vietnam, and just many more questions about whether our leaders were telling the truth, and i just think there was a much bigger much greater reluctance to believe our eyes, i dont mean me, but the press eyes, and i think that reflected the way the country felt as well. There were some criticisms. We talked about the sense of style and fashion that she brought to the white house and whether or not it was appropriate for the times, but they did use the white house extensively to entertain and to promote their political agenda as most president s have over the course of this history. Were going to show you next a little bit of how the Reagan Library presents Nancy Reagans style. Watch. So as first lady of california, nancy reagan knew how important it was for her to dress appropriately. This gold lamme gown is from the second inaugural. Theres a matching dress underneath, and it was designed by one of her favorite designers who designed for her during the white house years also. That was james galinos. This peach dress is mrs. Reagans lucky dress. She wore this when she attended the Republican National convention in 1980 when her husband was nominated to become president of the United States. She always loved it. It was designed by adolfo. Its a very flattering color. She liked to wear it. She wore it quite a bit, and it was one of her favorites. In 1985 president reagan flew to geneva to meet with general secretary gorbachev, their first meeting and first summit and mrs. Reagan wore this suit to that meeting. She had lunch with gorbachev and this houndstooth suit was designed by james galinos. One of the most truly classic dresses that she wore and colors that she wore is exemplified in this portrait dress by james galinos. She wore it for her official portrait but also wore it to a number of other events, and its quiet elegance is quite stunning. From her style i wanted to ask about the use of the white house for entertaining. There were lots of state dinners, it seemed, during the reagan years. How did they use them . They used them strategically. Number one, they liked entertaining, i mean, having come from hollywood. Social life was important to them, but nancy reagan herself talks about this, and when i interviewed her a couple years ago she said, you know, this is an opportunity to play host to a visiting head of state. You invite anybody will come, and, of course, they would have, you know, whoever the hollywood stars of the time were. I mean, from frank sinatra, to elizabeth taylor, and you name it. You are invited to the white house state dinner and you come. Thats true today for any president , but the reagans were very conscious of that, and conscious that they could make a splash, impress their guests, and she also said and you can get Business Done on these occasions, so they used them yes, they were social, but they were also business. Would you talk briefly about the relationship with the gorbachevs. Weve learned so often that that on the diplomatic stage personal relationships can have very important effects on the outcome. What was important to note about these two couples and their relationship. Well thats not sure. Well, reagan look, reagan thought he could do business with gorbachev. Thats the phrase he used to his aides. He brought his number one ally to the summit, and the speeches kept getting changed. In the white house speech writing shop. Aleta black who has been on this show, the first lady historian, credits nancy with pushing reagan to helping reagan push back. There was another man named john matlock who was the soviet expert and a lot of people. Reagan kept saying to anybody who would listen on his staff i can do business with this guy. I dont want to be calling him names. He took nancy there as an ally to show the world that two couples could get along, that maybe the two countries can get along. While were talking about entertaining, theres a pbs connection, continued the live event from the white house on a cultural stage, introducing the public to some of the musicians and other cultural events. And thats a tradition that continues to this day in performance at the white house. In fact, it was not long ago the obamas hosted one of these. Its become a regular. I think Jackie Kennedy started this. Another connection between the two first ladies. Floyd is in lake forest, california. Hi, floyd, youre on. Floyd, are you there . Caller yeah. I have a question about how did the reagans interact with Prince Charles and Princess Diana when they went to visit the white house in 85 and 86. Thank you. Thanks. We just saw video of that visit. Do you have any memories that have visit . I wasnt covering the white house then so i dont remember. I know that everybody in the world, you know, you wanted to be at the white house probably wanted to be at that state dinner. Well, lets move on from there because our time is going short, too. Push ing on reagan to make the apology on iran contra and may have saved his presidency. He had that funny speech. It took her a while. It was an agonizing period when the president did not want to acknowledge that this had taken place and ultimately what he said was, it happened and i didnt i cant believe i did this. I cant believe that it happened. It was sort of a convoluted explanation, but he did say in essence that it was a mistake and that broke the ice. The American People turned at that point. So i want to underscore this. Were talking about the image and influence of the first lady and your fathers opinion as biographer was this was a key moment. Maybe her most important contribution. And she had many of them. We were talking earlier about that gridiron dinner in 1982, but people but by the second term, by 1986, reagan at the white house Correspondents Dinner is joking about nancys influence. He says she and don regan, the second chief of staff, and nancy was known to be trying to get rid of him and finally did get rid of him, don said him and nancy had a dinner and each brought their tasters. By the second term nancys influence is acknowledged on the staff, on policy. She never acknowledged it as much as others did. The president did. But it was very much there. In 1987 next to the last year of the reagan administration, nancy reagan was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and had a mastectomy. She decided to go public with this. She did. She talked about it and handled it with grace and this was another event that drew the public to her because she was able to talk about it. As you say, she had a mastectomy and made it by no means was this something that was easy to go through, but the fact that she could talk about it at a time when it still was kind of hush, hush. I mean, betty ford had been through her own episodes, but i think for nancy reagan to do this made a big difference. Hear one piece of nancy reagan in her voice looking at her role as a guardian of Ronald Reagan in the white house. This is her talking about her political antenna. Lets watch. I think i just had little antennas that went up and told me when somebody had their own agenda and not and not ronnys, and then id tell him. He didnt always agree with me, but id tell him. It usually worked out. What was the first thing that you would notice when somebody had their own agenda . You just know. You just you cant say. You just know if you have those antennas. Visible antennas were probably directed at white house chief of staff don regan who ultimately lost his job, and some of that was over the disagreement over the irancontra affair and how that was playing out. He wrote, as you called, a kiss and tell book. What did we learn about their relationship through that . Well, we learned he wanted to get back at her, i guess, and the astrology thing was the poisonous arrow in the quiver, but, you know, we knew they had different ideas of what reagan ought to be doing. When nancy said she had antenna, she also listened. She was a careful listener. She tried to get george h. W. Bush to help her get rid of don reagan and he told her its not my job. She said it is your job. Shes talking to the Vice President of the United States, and then later when 1988 when bush is running for president in his own right, he promises hell have a kinder and gentler country, and nancys acerbic aside to a friend kinder and gentler than whom, so, nancy paid attention to what was said. Don regan wasnt the first one. She was instrumental earlier in the presidency in the removal of William Clark as the First National security adviser because she felt he took too hard a line against the soviets. She wasnt the only one but she played a big role there. Two stories that demonstrate her political antenna on behalf of her husband and her influence inside that white house. What we said earlier about her being the personnel director. The Human Resources department and the personnel director for the president. January 1989, they turned over the white house to mr. Reagans Vice President , the bushes, george h. W. Bush, and we have about 15 minutes to talk about a very long postpresidency. As we said at the beginning, that was marked fairly soon with the announcement of president reagans alzheimers. Before that, in very short order, this memoir came out. This was just in 1989, so she had clearly been working on it during the at least the latter part of the white house years. My turn is the name of it. Her turn at what . How did she use this book . Well, she used it she talked about some of these aides, and she told her side of the story, but the book doesnt have any surprising revelations in it, not really. If you knew about nancy. She talks about how she supported the president. She supported reagan, and she makes you know, you might say that she wanted it both ways. She was very powerful, but if you crossed her, you would feel that, but if you said that she was powerful she would think you were dissing reagan and she would push back on you. Also at that time the opening of the Reagan Library, and how about the reagans raise the money for this library and how did they use the library . They raised it. Went to their friends, many of whom gave a lot of money but also through a few other foundations. They worked very hard to mrs. Reagan, and initially to the president before he became ill. This was the way of not only telling Ronald Reagans story but i think today its seen as a way of maintaining Ronald Reagans legacy. I mean, we know in the Republican Party today Ronald Reagan is still very much a revered figure, as is nancy reagan, and the library is part of not only again telling what Ronald Reagan did as president , what he believed in, but also perpetuating some of those views. They hold seminars. There are speeches. Speakers come and speak about causes. Here are pictures of the library. Its a beautiful setting right there on the california coast. Philip is watching us in brooklyn. Caller yes, thank you, susan. Wonderful program. I love it. Let me say at the outset in the interest of full disclosure i just love mrs. Reagan. The first thing i have to say, ive watched every episode of the series so far, how nice it was to find out that nancy was not the first first lady that wanted to bring new china into the white house. I was very happy to hear that there were other first ladies that wanted to do that as well. And speaking about the china, and i mentioned it because nancy it didnt go on for weeks or a month. It went on almost for a year that china story. The media really lambasted her, and i have to mention that one of nancys good friends Lee Annenberg who was an expert at protocol, such an expert that the queen of england at one time had reported, refers to her for a consultation, and nancy had friends like this, you know, with poise and grace, and i think nancy, as mr. Canon mentioned earlier, when you have that much poise and grace and youre a perfect size 6, youre going to have some enemies, and my question is every White House Administration has a very closeknit circle of friend, but it seemed like the reagans had many, many fierce, loyal supporters. And i was wondering how did they engender, especially mrs. Reagan, how did she engender and cultivate all those people who were so loyal to her and her husband . Thanks very much. Good question. By the way, you said for the record she was a perfect size 2. Or a zero. Or a zero. Not to spend too much on her dress size, on her importance in keeping that circle of advisers together that so guided its a little different with reagan and nancy. He was a movement leader. He was a beloved conservative leader. Conservatives had been waiting for a guy like this for generation, and they are still waiting a generation later. A guy like that comes along. Hes like roosevelt in that respect. People love what he stands for. Nancys situation is a little different. People love her. She has these lifelong friends. She cultivates and treats them well, and in that sense if he was never even in politics, she would have been an admirable person the way she kept her friends. How many good years did they have after the white house until his illness . They left the white house in 1989, and it was five years in 1994 that he announced that he had alzheimers, so i think there there was a period of years. Thats five years, and you could add maybe a few years after that when he was communicating and recognizing her, but the point came in the late 90s when he was telling people he didnt recognize her and she was open about that, and then he died in 2004. In 1991, at the 80th birthday of reagan, Margaret Thatcher came and they held it at this library, and reagan got up and spoke and he said, you know, spoke glowingly about thatcher, and then he said turned to nancy and put simply my life really began when i met her and its been rich and full ever since. There was a time there when they left the white house where it was really magical for them. And this tour that mrs. Reagan gave to cspan of the library in 1999, she talked about alzheimers and the effect on her as his partner. Lets watch. What have you learned about this disease . That its probably the worst disease you can ever have. Why . Because you lose contact, and youre not able to share. In our case youre not able to share all those wonderful memories that we have, and we had a wonderful life. Can you have a conversation that makes sense to you with the president . Not now, no. The letter itself, what were the circumstances in which he wrote the letter . Were you with him . I was with him. We were in the library and he was sitting at the table in the library, and he sat down and wrote it. That was it. First draft . First draft. He crossed out one word or two words, i think its one or two words. I dont know what that was, but only ronny could write a letter like that. So as carl cannon told us earlier, she devoted, once his illness became debilitating, she devoted her life to being his caretaker and occasionally she would make a foray into the political arena and one of them was on the Stem Cell Research. During the bush administration. You stayed in touch with her and did this documentary recently, whats her own explanation of how she used these postwhite house years and when she decided to become public about issues and candidates that mattered to her . Mainly, again, it was all about pushing and preserving her husbands legacy. It was all about Ronald Reagan. The man who was at the center of her life for 55 years until his death, and her interest i think you were going to bring this up, susan, in Stem Cell Research,