foundation. thank you roger for hosting us for this opportunity to reflect our panel. there's a series of panels coming today and and jim thank you for seeing it up. actually, i think you did also panels. and so what we're going to try and fill in some anecdotes here to capitalize on public gym said about just how smart mrs. reagan was her ambitions or four her husband and her husband's legacy and the role that she may be played in the country. and for the world so our focus will be on the legacy. we have a wonderful panel convert them introduced and our job is to try and provide a framework of what it's like to serve as a first lady what the role entails. the compacted of them what they've accomplished how it's viewed over your time in office. and then also when they leave and that's the title of our panel. first lady mrs. reagan adore microphones not work. did you get any of that? did you hear any of that? okay good because i thought it was pretty good. stuff and shattered bye everyone, but i'd like to start with you nancy on my far. right and first of all nancy and i are co-founders of a new association that studies first ladies first. ladies association for research and education and nancy's role in the archives. and of course working with the reagans and establishing their library. i wanted to ask you mrs. reagan. she had a rough start. we're gonna launch into right into her years as first lady. can you talk about the environment that she faced when she came in to the white house? i can first i would like to say thank you to the ronald reagan presidential foundation and institute for hosting us today and for celebrating nancy reagan mrs. reagan had a terrible first year and it was a variety of things certainly the attempted assassination of her husband made her much more cautious. she was already a cautious woman the media seem to hit her on everything she trying to do whether it was white house restoration, china. dresses a lot of things the previous first ladies had gotten compliments for she was getting criticized for and i think there's a very telling comment that catherine graham. they then owner of the washington post told her years later and catherine was definitely a liberal democrat and she came to her defense pointing out that the most scorching articles about her had been written by younger women who were caught up in the feminist movement. they just couldn't identify who you were they couldn't i represent you represented everything they were rebelling against so i think that is one ingredient when you think about it a lot of the very negative articles whereby women unfortunately women often criticize women and they had a model the first lady sometimes is called the mirror of society or the leader of society. she really wanted to be nancy reagan and be her own leader, and she wasn't fitting into the societal model and i think that had a lot to do it. she herself said but i found out the hard way that nothing prepares you for being first lady. so she was surprised because she had come from california from eight years since the first lady she'd been in public life. she'd been in hollywood. she hadn't been in washington and those of us that live in washington society. it's very different from the california world. and she helen thomas and a long time ap reporter told her you will have up. i a car told her you will have no privacy and nancy reagan. naively she said later on in her memoir, but helen was wrong, but she found out there was no part of her life that she really did have any privacy, but let's look at it. just real quick. she was criticized for white house restoration, even though she wanted the white house to be a showplace the designer clothes. she wore even though she was growing them and she looked beautiful in them and there were other fashion icons this first ladies that were complimented on what they were the new china set, which was purchased by a private foundation and even amazingly to me. she was criticized for her marriage with ronald reagan because nobody thought they could be that adoring and close to each other. so it must go be a fake the song. so who was she defended by she was defended by women women like catherine graham, and i'm just gonna say this very quickly on the the white house. china margaret. truman said, i think it's too bad about this hassle over her doing something. she should have have done. it's really ridiculous. ask for mixing a place settings. all i can say is it looks just awful when the president and first lady have the state dinner the china should match. jackie kennedy when a nasus when mrs. reagan got criticized for essentially looking lovely and wearing designer clothes and called her with sympathy and said all of this will pass but it might be a good idea to quit reading the papers for a while. so, i think it's interesting that mrs. reagan came in and the harsh criticism came from a younger generation of women, and she was also defended by a woman who had been in her place before. thank you nancy. that's it. great way to frame and before we get to the turning point, which jim had mentioned about the the grid iron. i wanted to ask you doug if i could noted presidential historian you spent a lot of time reading the diaries you're the editor of the diaries you spent time with mrs. reagan want to talk with you later about the legacy and vision that that she had for the library, but i wanted to know if i could pick up on the mention of jackie kennedy contacting mrs. reagan. you tell us a little bit about the relationship because i think that was surprising to me the kennedy reagan relationship. well, it's just a joy to be here. i consider this a party happy birthday to nancy reagan somebody that we all love and admire and nancy reagan is a great american and and an excellent first lady when i before i just get to jackie can't i could say when i think right now about knowing mrs. reagan, it's her eyes, and it's the amount of expression she could convey in them. she could look at you and speak words and and sometimes it would go both ways. you could feel those sort of a sense of disapproval or you could see in her eyes incredible approval and that was part of her intelligence. which was unbelievably strong. she's one of the smartest people you can meet and understanding human relations. not and that is politics. but she wasn't a political person and i think that we the peter her is realizing that she was an actress but a supporting actress that became in her career. she recognized early on she wasn't going to be the maryland monroe with her generation or that or betty gable but in the hollywood world being a supporting actress was a very noble and important calling and that's what she did in hollywood and she can make other people look good and ronald reagan was a matinee idol and when they came together she was able to continue to be a supporting actress and she she did that as first lady and it's a quality of being of the way that you could convey things. she could okay. she can own the camera when she wanted to and i think that's what jackie kennedy onassis noticed dinner on jackie. kenny. onassis was deeply sympathetic to other first. ladies. there is a club we talk about ex-presidents club. there's an experts lady's club, but i think she truly admired. um, jackie kennedy the way that nancy reagan comported herself the way that she was able to defend her husband the way that she was following up on the restoration efforts that jackie kennedy had done with the white house and the fact of how hard it was to raise children in a modern political context with tv and tabloids. and so nancy reagan's mother edith was a democrat up and forgot her father dr. david was a was can you know adopt a father but what's a conservative so she could navigate both worlds and she liked the charm in the gusto of the family, she loved ted kennedy very much because he was lovable to her. he would sing songs. he would sing oh danny boy or he would joke with her. he humanized the situation with mrs. reagan and and she appreciated that and it's already be deep political history how ronald reagan would as a conservative worked across the aisle with tip o'neill ted kennedy and the rest but later and when i got to know her she was very thrilled on her birthday, which we're celebrating even it's not the date that that tech kennedy would call her and sing to her on her birthday and a lot of leading republicans didn't yeah, but some of them didn't call on her birthday and sing and he did and that meant the world to her and i think some of the advice and later years and i'm sure turn my turn over here, but she would say, um, you know, people would say what can you do to help mrs. reagan call her. she was a human and she liked the human relationships with people and didn't like to be kind of shelved. she wanted to be in the mix. something to that, um the relationship between nancy and ron reagan and the kennedys it hasn't got the attention as i'm hearing doug speak. i'm remembering the first interchange that i know of is in 1967 and reagan to debates rfk. it's not really debate their remote and it's a it was it's a group that i think oxford. it's english students. they're all marxist. it's an ambush really on the vietnam war and the students take turns calling them each war criminals and and the two men respond the best they could it's widely in reagan world. the lawyers that bobby kennedy came off this stage and barked in a profane way to his staff who got me into this. i think he's actually into this because reagan reagan killed them. well, i personally think everybody here is a reagan. i think he was actually talking about the students more than reagan, but but reagan did better than bobby in the debate, but the next year. robert kennedy is shot in california at the ambassador hotel reagan and nancy bindu many times reagan and nancy met the press there two years earlier, june 7th to 1966. and it's where they went to to meet the press when they're running for governor. and this was a shock to them. they write a letter and i say they because it's signed ron and nancy. before well bobby's wounded. he's grieviously wanted it's not known he's going to die. they send a telegram to ethel kennedy and say there's little you can say at this time. we want, you know, anything we can do for thinking of you anything we can do and then they add this poster and they offer the services of dr. davis a little davis now that has to come from nancy. so i think my own guess is from that point forward. there's this bond kennedy. ronald reagan gives its medal to jimmy carter to excuse me to kennedy that jimmy carter wouldn't give a presidential matter medal. they invite rose kennedy to the white house in 1985 ronald and nancy raised money for the kennedy library. they do these things. there is a connection between these two political families and and that's not understood. so i think that's part of it as well. exactly. i wanted you to add that. i also in the research for doing this panel. carol waller had brought to me that in 1976 when president reagan was running for president the first time that she attended an event a luncheon in palm beach and that rose kennedy attended and said and mrs. reagan was told about it and went over to say hello to her because mrs. kennedy rose. kennedy said i heard you were very nice and i wanted to meet you. so it was interesting the long history then as you said to the having john kennedy junior and caroline kennedy go to the oval office to meet with president reagan and ask his help in raising money. for the father's library. i think that was really important to know when i didn't know any of that before irish panel ability. yeah. so nancy if i can go back to you and just so let's talk about okay, we talked about the tough year. 1982 happens things start to turn the gridiron. can you tell us a little bit about that? and i think we have some photos to show well and i will start out with the quote from miss frank. she said quote it isn't often in life. that one is lucky enough to enjoy a second beginning but during one five-minute period in the spring of 1982. i would say able to make a fresh with the washington press court. how did she do it? she was invited to the gridiron dinner, which is a very inward group. it's a small select club of journalists. every spring they hold a white tie dinner for 600 people including members of congress the cabinet supreme court justices publishers and other high-level people after her terrible year in the press mrs. reagan had her press secretary. she will take have the idea of mrs. reagan's making a surprise appearance tate found out that the club was going to do a parody on mrs. reagan's interest in clothes in china and white house restoration to the tune of secondhand rose. so sheila suggested that mrs. reagan would appear in the gridiron agree and then secretly never telling the gridiron she works with nancy reagan and a speech writer for a week to the tune of second hand rose. they create a song and professional reagan does not know anything about this. and so everyone in i think it was march 27th, but everyone in the audience was unprepared when a petite woman stepped out and in bad lady costume and saying to a standing ovation, and i don't know are we going to play it because it's so neat. i am now i have a please. i'm wearing second hand clothes second hand clothes. they're quite the style in spring fashion shows. even my true trench coat with her. collar ronnie bought for 10 cents on the good second hand gowns and old hand-me-downs. the china is the only thing that's new. even though they told me i'm no longer queen. did ronnie have to buy me that new sewing machine. i'm wearing second hand clothes, i sure hope and me souls. that's excellent. thank you. thank you nancy for bringing that to us. i actually i wanted to ask carl based on that. i mean did she miss an or did that's it? sounds like a georgia bush. we're misunderstimate the press. i didn't know what's to me. depressed. okay, nancy reagan had she nancy smith mentioned that she had a tough first year. she had a tough first year in sacramento, too. yeah, and she wasn't prepared for that that deaver line that you heard about the shoe store. she that comes out of an interview. she does with chris wallace and she she says i didn't want to i didn't think he was going into politics and feed it on a shoe stores. i'd rather it was politics, but i'd have done that too. but she keeps the sacramento and she's not prepared for the press coverage. she's getting now the context there's there's two newspapers at that time in sacramento the sacramento be the afternoon paper the sacramento union san francisco chronicle cells huge these three papers, they sell a lot. yeah, this newspaper war the bees the democratic party newspaper. it's something out of another century. the union is the republican newspaper and the bees relentless the criticize and she doesn't like it and she's not used to it in the midst of this. this is all the first year. joan didion famous writer from california. there's a saturday evening post-up piece on nancy. that's really quite vicious and she was unprepared for she opened her house this woman. she brought her in she let her do a photo shoot and joe didn't paint this picture pretty nancy. i think was the headline and pretty nancy's picking clipping erodedendron and the whole point of the piece was that nancy was phony and that the smiles phony and she joined indian was accomplished writer and great writer really, but she couldn't have gottenancy more wrong. there was nothing about that piece. she didn't she blew it. she she didn't understand who she was dealing with nancy's problem in sacramento really was that she was too blunt. she was yes, too straight forward too straightforward not phony. yeah. anyway, it got the point where reagan had to say. he was canceling the bee the subscription to the bee at their east sacramento house. oh, and the first thing is they lived in east sacramento. they didn't live in the governor's and nancy said that the governor's mansion was a fire truck. well, it was it was the fire marshal had later admitted to have been anything but the state government actually with a close the thing the answer refused to let the kids live there and they moved to east sacramento reagan of course stole the reporters. look i get to be at the office. don't worry about it, but she she was she was unprepared for this kind of coverage and then it's then it's but by it's actually leaves. she's got it figured out she's doing all right with the press score and then it starts again here in washington. and and this thing about the nancy smith pointed out to it. she did exactly what jackie kennedy did jackie kennedy gets. what does she get out of a tv program? where where they will it's the greatest ratings in his like super bowl rings walking people through showing all they gave her an emmy they gave jackie and him she couldn't lionize for doing the same things that nancy didn't she was demonize. well, why is that? well, it's a few reasons, but let's start with the most obvious one the country had changed in that time. this is post watergate. this is post vietnam people don't look at the president and the first lady in automatically get warm and fuzzy anymore. in this she's a republican. she's not a democrat in the press corps. i don't think i need to be labor that with this crowd, but there's a little bit of a different standard. the other thing is there's a bad recession. just not a good look and nancy herself comes to realize this and she said in an interview after she left the white house. she was looking to actually said i wouldn't have liked myself if i seen if i could have seen this over again, and and the point is if it had been some other aid. top aid a top cabinet official chief of staff who was doing with nancy doing nancy would have fired that got make sure that person got fired sure her approval rating is half of reagan's she's hurt in the presidency. and then she does this and then i think what happens in the press corps is there's sort of a collective thought. we need to be at least fair this one she's trying maybe we should try. and she gets very active in a row doug. do you want to comment on anything? she started policies you want to talk about? that's right, you know look if we're good the big thing that's going on beyond the vietnam war and watergate are the assassination you mention or rfk, but imagine you're nancy reagan. you have the killing of john f kennedy. you have the killing of you know, martin luther king malcolm x bobby kennedy gerald ford had multiple close brushes with with assassins jimmy. murder had the killer rabbit. alright, well forget that douglas. professor but no i mean, so she's tempted fascination here in washington when the person you love is shot and you're having to go as she would say to an emergency room. i'd never thought i'd be there with with my husband and he's on a gurney and gives the famous line to her that i you know, honey. i forgot to duck an old jack dempsey boxing line, press like that. but at that point on she had to really be a protector of him not just from assassins lurking but from the the very health concerns that he had. you know, he almost perished ronald reagan and it's over a slow recovery and she had to you know monitor him on a daily basis and didn't want to be really wasn't just love for lauren. she was security concerned when he was out and about and then the fact that she has to confront breast cancer in the white house as a first lady. um, and you know get what their own health on a very serious issue while she's trying to monitor her husband's health in me. make sure very epic figure in the in the in the when you're dealing with love. it reminds me most of eleanor roosev