Former first lady Nancy Reagan passed away this Sunday at the age of 94. Her impact on America was not small, as she and her husband Ronald Reagan were a legendary couple, both in and out of the White House.
Nancy Reagan was born Anne Frances Robbins in New York City on July 6, 1921. After moving to Hollywood to pursue her acting career, she adopted the stage name Nancy Davis and made 11 films, before her name incorrectly appeared on a list of communist sympathizes in 1949 amid the Hollywood communist witch-hunt.
“She got a mailing that was for another Nancy Davis, and this other Nancy Davis was in connection with one of those Hollywood blacklists that were going on in the Hollywood red-hunting days,” biographer Lou Cannon said.
She turned to a friend for help, who set up a meeting with the president of the Screen Actors Guild, who just happened to be the handsome leading man Ronald Reagan. He assured her that there were many actresses with the same name, and not to worry. But she wouldn’t be satisfied until she had personal reassurance that she was above suspicion. Ronald called her, and the two arranged to meet over dinner. The rest is history, and the two eventually married on March 4, 1952.
Ronald and Nancy Reagan at their honeymoon dinner in 1952
Nancy Reagan brought elegance and style to the Reagan administration and was very influential in judging the character of her husband’s colleagues.
“Ronald Reagan was the nice guy who liked to tell everybody how wonderful they were. She was the judge of character, and if she thought somebody didn’t have her husband’s interest in mind, she nixed them. You can’t overestimate how important she was for the Reagan revolution and Reagan’s eight years in the White House,” said CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.
Reagan was well known for her role as the spokeswoman of the “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign, and her powerful role in the White House. After her husbands passing in 2004, she became a voice for millions who have lost loved ones to Alzheimer’s disease. She is survived by Patti Davis and Ron Reagan – her two children with Ronald Reagan – and Michael Reagan, a son from Ronald Reagan’s first marriage to Jane Wyman.
Nancy Reagan posing for a photo with Gary Coleman on the set of Diff’rent Strokes where she made an appearance to deliver her “Just say no” message