I think they thought that the white house was so glamorous, and that what you did was so glamorous, and your life was so glamorous. All they saw were the parties and the greeting people. I have got to tell you, i have never worked harder in my life. Nancy reagan was Ronald Reagans fiercest protector. She was active in key staff decisions and in campaigning. She had a signature white house issue with her just say no campaign. Welcome to first ladies influence and image. Let me introduce our two guests. Judith woodruff is the coanchor of cbs news hour. She coproduced a documentary about the first lady. Thank you for being with us. He is the Washington Bureau chief for real clear politics. He is a californian who has been covering National Politics since 1984 and cowrote a book with his father, a reagan biography. Lou, nice to see you. We looked at hundreds of hours of video about the reagan presidency in the cspan library. We decided to start with the closing chapter. This is footage from the funeral when mrs. Reagan says goodbye. We thought that it symbolized the partnership they both covered so much. Lets watch. Then we will talk a little bit more about the relationship. Hard to believe it was nearly 10 years ago. As you look at that, as we have worked our way through the series, especially in the 20th century, many of the first ladies were Political Partners with her husbands. Was this a particularly special partnership between the two of them . It was from the very beginning, from the sacramento days, from the hollywood days. But the partnership we see as nancy pats the coffin, it is heartbreaking. You imagine her patting his shoulder every night for 10 years. Every night it was like losing him again. I think nancy got a rough start in this town, and she got a rough start in sacramento. She won everyone over in the 10 years that he had alzheimers, she took care of him. Maybe they werent her words, the people around them called it the longest goodbye. It was 1994 when Ronald Reagan wrote that letter announcing to the world that he had alzheimers. It was not nearly as familiar to us as it is today. He would live another 10 years out of public view, but she was with him. They were in their home in bel air, in los angeles. And the closeness was with them right up until the end, and you see that in the video. The christening of the boat was in 2001, my father and i were both there. It was a cold, blustery day in april. And she said, i have to get back. He is agitated when i am not in the house. She really was his caretaker. Lets talk a little bit about what the partnership meant in terms of National Politics. What made this a successful quest for the white house . We have talked a long time about that. It was a remarkable partnership. It was a strong marriage. They loved each other deeply. It was very much a working partnership. Once it was clear that Ronald Reagan was interested in politics, and it started when he was the spokesman for ge, traveling around the country. He was hired by ge around 1955, somewhere in there, and from that moment on, and when the friends they made decided that Ronald Reagan would be a great candidate for governor, and he went on to be elected governor, that she was the person people i talked to call her the personnel director. She made sure that the people around her husband had his best interest at heart. We are going to show a brief clip from role of a lifetime the pbs documentary, and she talks about what she brings to the relationship in terms of looking out for him. The first lady is another means to keep the president from being isolated. I talk to people. They tell me things. And if something is going to be a problem, i am not above calling a staff person. I make no apologies for looking out for his personal and political welfare. Your thoughts on the partnership . She said she was the personnel director. In september of 1980, when they started to hit a rocky road, and the campaign was in a little bit of trouble, it was nancy who said where is stu spencer . He was only back in the campaign because nancy had helped bring him back. There was one person he asked, when he was going to come back, is it ok . And that was nancy. Nancy said it was her idea. We will have more time to talk about the white house years. We are going to go back and talk about the nancy reagan biography. Before that we will talk about how you can be involved. Your questions make it so much more interesting for us so we can take the conversation in the direction of your interest. You can see us on facebook and find cspans page. There is already a discussion going. You can also tweet is at first ladies. You can also use the good old phone. We will get the calls and probably about 10 minutes or so. Lets go back to where she was born, in 1981. Her early days were not easy. It was not the smoothest childhood. Her mother was an actress. Her father, kenneth, was a salesman. The marriage between edith and kenneth did not last long. Nancy was around two years old when they divorced. Her mother really wanted her acting career, and she wanted a safe place for nancy. So she had nancy live, until she was remarried, with nancys aunt in maryland, outside of washington. Nancy lived in what was then a suburban neighborhood. The woman who was described as very different from her mother. Her mother was very outgoing, was the life of the party, was in the middle of every conversation. Her aunt was much more quiet. The rules were fairly strict. Nancy herself talked about it. She talked in the interview in the documentary about how she missed her mother, and she would be thrilled with her mother came to visit. So it was rocky for a few years. What changed for nancy when her mother remarried a chicago physician . There was money. He was successful. She went to Smith College. He was the doting parent she had lacked. For most of her life, that is the man she called her father. They gave her an idea of what a family could be. From that moment forward, she had an idea of what she would like to be, and what she wanted out of life. And she wanted to build a family that was the family she didnt have. That was something that she and reagan had in common. She went to hollywood. She went to the theater, and then she went back to hollywood. She was typecast. She was cast as the steady woman. And that is what she was. Did nancy reagan and barbara bush know each other as students at Smith College . Toi dont know the answer that. I would have to ask. Do you know . I think nancy was leaving as barbara bush was coming in. She was only there a year or two, so i dont think so. That is a good question. We know that nancy went to new york to try acting right out of smith. She was in new york for two years before she went to hollywood. She had a contract at mgm studios. A question about her stepfather and the influence on her politics. Dr. Davis was very active in conservative politics. Did that influence her . He was a republican. I think that did influence her. When she married Ronald Reagan, on their first date, reagan was discussing politics. And hes talking about communism. He didnt like communism. She was receptive to his message. How did they meet . It is an interesting story. This is hollywood in the late 1940s when there was the communist scare. It was after the end of world war ii. People were named for being somehow associated with the communist party. Nancy davis, which was her name at the time, showed up on a blacklist. She knew that that was not she. She wanted to get her name off. And that was as someone who was in hollywood that was part of the communist party. She told her good friend, who i believe was a producer, she said how can i get this done . They said Ronald Reagan as the president of the screen actors guild. She said, as soon as i knew that, i knew who Ronald Reagan was. I was very interested. I said, absolutely, call him up. And i would be glad to meet with him. He said he would be glad to talk to her about this. And then one thing led to another. There was a meeting. Then it became dinner. She really tells a funny story about how they both agreed to go to dinner but insisted it had to be an early evening because they had an early call, which neither one of the actually did. The old hollywood ruse if the date doesnt work out, you can ended in a civil way, right . But they didnt ended early because they didnt have anywhere to be the next morning. That was 1949. When did they marry . 1952. So they had a threeyear courtship. You will be seeing some video of people telling the story of nancy and Ronald Reagan. This is about their early relationship and the love letters they shared. Nancy was asked if it was love at first sight. She said, it might not have been, but it was pretty darn close. She was a very sentimental woman. She kept mementos of the relationship. All of these artifacts are on display in the museum, and a document how important they were to each other. One of the things that we have in here, which is very symbolic of their intense relationship, is a letter the president reagan wrote to his wife in 1953 when he was in new york, and he wrote a very charming letter to her. He wrote it as if she had actually joined him at dinner. You can see how creative you was. The final page of the letter is very touching. Lets take a look at that page, along with some of the other artifacts in the collection. This is that fourth page of the letter. It is where president reagan expresses his heartfelt feelings to his wife. This was written in 1953, about 1. 5 years after they were married. He says, i suppose some people would find it unusual that you and i can so easily span 3000 miles. But in truth, it comes very naturally. Man cannot live without a heart, and you are my heart. You are the nicest thing about me and so very necessary. There would be no life without you, nor would i want anybody. Signed, the eastern half of us. Recently, mrs. Reagan given us this little box that held precious keepsakes of hers. We were pleased to receive them. Ineterestinge stories in here. When nancy reagan received her own dressing room when she was under contract to mgm, Ronald Reagan went to a jeweler and had a special key made for her. It had an image of a thespian on the front and on the back. She thought that was such a nice idea that two years later, after they were married and they bought their first home, she had keys made for their first home. And there is little house on the top. And theyre both engraved with their initials. On his key, right above his initials it says, our first. What were the early married years like . They were married in 1952, and their daughter was born in 1952. Herpretty much gave up movie career. Shed been getting some roles fairly steadily. And his career was the one that was stalling out at that point. Then the ge offer came along. She became a homemaker. She did a few Television Roles in the first decade of the marriage. She was his wife, and the mother of patty, and i think years later ron junior was born. Her family was her life, and she devoted all of her time to that. There is great story that once he went to work for ge, ge had an all electric house built for them, which had every imaginable special feature in it. Drape closures. The kind of things that we wouldnt think much of today but back then it was a big deal. She became much closer to the wives who were influential. And Ronald Reagan brought two children to the marriage, maureen and michael reagan. By the time they came onto the national stage, first as governor of california, and then, of course, in the white house years, there were tensions between the kids. One of our viewers refers to this. They ask, what is the relationship between the kids and stepson now . We have a documentary that talks about the reagan partnership and the effect on children. Lets listen to ron reagan talk about life inside the Ronald Reagan household from his perspective. We were conscious, i think, growing up. All of us, i know i was. There were really two sets of people, two definite and distinct sets of people involved in the family. There was my mother and father, and there was everybody else. And while we were all part of the family, when push came to shove, there was a distinction to be made. It wasnt like, be seen and not heard, but it was you know, we were expected to put ourselves in second place to whatever they were doing. What can you add to this part of the story . Ron reagan junior, the family calls him skipper, and he tells the story about emotional distance. Kinds ofhere are two fathers. Theres the kind who looks out the window and sees a kid playing football, and has to go and join the game, and theres the kind that goes back to his work. As he went on he said his dad was the kind who came out and played with the kids. You find yourself wondering, what was there beef . You keep hearing about this emotional distance that reagan had with his children. But he played ball with all of them. He was very involved. In his own mind he was a family man first. He separated hollywood people into those who had multiple marriages and then the family people. Jane left him, so he didnt want to be divorced. Michael writes about it years later when michael admits he was abused by camp counselor. He said the guy felt his pain, and reagans eyes kind of glazed over. There was this emotional distance that was subtle that everybody talks about. Sometimes people would blame nancy. But nancy, she once told my dad, after they left the white house, you can get so far with ronnie, and then something happens. It took him a long time to trust me. Theres a place you cant go with him. On twitter there is this question, todays hollywood is decidedly liberal. Was ronald and nancys conservatism unusual in 1950s hollywood . I do not know that i am the right person to ask. There were other conservatives in the community. But those that supported Ronald Reagan and in his candidacy, were people not in the movie industry per se. Or they were personal friends. There was Jimmy Stewart and people like that. I would not say that the conservatives were necessarily in the extreme minority, but they probably were not the majority. Most of the people in hollywood were democrats. There is an interesting story about that. When reagan runs against pat brown, a popular twoterm governor who had beaten nixon like a drum, pat thought it would be wise to run. He would say, he is an actor, the way he would say, hes an idiot. People would say, why is this a Winning Strategy . But the people were from northern california. But in Southern California people were proud of the movie industry. People were criticizing him for being an actor, and jack palance was there. He said, you can criticize this guy, but dont make fun of them because he is an actor. They said, he is one of us. And they were proud of him. We will take phone calls and then learn more about the Governors Mansion in california. Phil is watching in northern hollywood, ca. You are our first caller tonight. I was at the Reagan Library, and i recommend it to everybody, whether you agree with their politics or not. I was struck by the omission. We saw one line about jane lyman. I was wondering what the dynamic was between the reagans and jane. I thought it was odd that there was one little line. It said, oh, yes, jane wyman, he was married to. Obviously, mrs. Reagan was in control of the president ial library. I was wondering if you had any insight on that. I really appreciate the program. Thank you so much. I do not think we know very much about that. Jane wyman was his first wife. And they were part of the family after ronald and jane wyman divorced. But there was never any discussion that i heard of jane wyman. Reagan felt hurt by what it had happened in a marriage. But jane wyman never gave interviews. I think she was just as well to not be made a spectacle of. She was not part of their political story. She was part of their personal story. Keith is in illinois. Hi, keith. You are on. Thank you for taking my call. I heard somewhere that nancy was really into astrology, and things of that sort. Is it true that she held seances in the white house . That would be mary todd lincoln. [laughter] our caller made the same mistake. But nancy did consult an astrologer after Ronald Reagan was shot. She did so because she was desperate for anything, anything she could have. She did not have much to control the schedule, so she consulted an astrologer. This came out in dons book, and that came out. It was a kiss and tell book. It was a mild embarrassment. Many people thought that she was so traumatized that if she wanted to consult astrologer she was well within her rights. Jordan is in pennsylvania. Hi, jordan. Hi, my grandmother has the same birth day as nancy reagan. She was born july 6, 1920. She was one of my favorite first ladies. Did her mother live to be almost 100 when she was in the white house . I do not remember. Do remember if she was around for the inauguration . 1921 was actually her birth date. Sorry to pop your balloon there. I am looking it up while we sit here. This helps us with the transition from the ge years, to politics, and ultimately, to the governorship of california. Did nancy personally like politics, or did she learn to like it is she loved ronnie . She did not love politics, and she was not built for politics. It was on the job training, and it wasnt always easy. She didnt like the town, and the town reciprocated. She was asked to move into the Governors Mansion, which was a victorian structure downtown, if i remember. I think it was 16th street. Nancy called it a fire trap. When she took skipper up he was eight. It was the second floor bedroom, and the screen was rusted shut. How does he get out in case of fire . He was supposed to ram a dresser into the window, pop up the screen, and climbed on a rope ladder. He was 8. Nancy decided they were going to live there, and they moved to east sacramento. I have an answer to jordans question. Edith died in 1987, shoes to was she was alive for most of that time , so she was alive for most of that time in the white house. I wrote a couple bullet points down. She was criticized for not wanting to live in the Governors Mansion. She was critical of Ro