Yes, and remember what she was accused of?

Extravagant spending during a recession, stealing designer gowns...

She was called Queen Nancy.

She consulted astrologers to decide when Ronnie should make decisions concerning the country. She fired presidential cabinet members, she was on TV countless times, including sitcoms and sitting on Mr.T's lap.

But oh, that's nothing compared to Michelle Antoinette.

Hypocrites!!!
 

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (3/06/2016 9:31 pm)

The glamour soon was seen as ostentation during a steep recession. After complaining that the White House residential quarters were in disrepair, and noting that she could find no set of matching china in the place, Mrs. Reagan turned to affluent friends to raise funds for $800,000 in renovations and $200,000 of new china.Although no public money was spent, these two expenditures became symbols of her excesses and attitudes. A flamboyant trip to England for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana six months into the administration, during which she attended 15 glossy events in five days, gave her detractors more fuel.

That's nothing compared to Michelle's Spain trip with her kids and 40 of their closest friends.
 

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (3/06/2016 9:51 pm)

But the glamour soon was seen as ostentation during a steep recession. After complaining that the White House residential quarters were in disrepair, and noting that she could find no set of matching china in the place, Mrs. Reagan turned to affluent friends to raise funds for $800,000 in renovations and $200,000 of new china.

Those friends wouldn't have been members of the "Hollywood Elite" would they?
After all Ron and Nancy were stars, albeit B stars.

DollyLongstaff wrote:

Mrs. Reagan took Washington by storm in 1981. Even before her husband — a former movie star and governor of California — was sworn in, she swept into town with a larger-than-life cadre of wealthy California friends and celebrities who wore sable coats, knotted traffic with their shiny white limousines and threw lavish parties the likes of which were unprecedented at inaugural festivities.

What was that about Obama blocking traffic in CA?
 

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (3/06/2016 9:58 pm)

At one time or another, Nancy and Ronnie were estranged from both their children.


Patty caused the most trouble for them, even posing nude for Playboy.


St. Ronnie insinuated that Ron Jr. was "a little light in the loafers" because he dropped out of Yale for a ballet career.

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (3/07/2016 7:19 am)

What a wonderful love story Ronnie & Nancy had. May they now be together again.

RIP Nancy Reagan. You made America proud!

I guess we can't always agree. That's OK.

I was in my early twenties during the Reagan Administration. Not a very political time in my life for sure. I just liked Ronald Reagan.  He seemed so classy & Father like to me. Over the years I grew to know their love story.  How he wrote her daily and the mutual admiration they had for each other. It is a beautiful love story.

 

I do remember that time, but did not realize what was happening "behind the scenes".  I really did not know much about AIDS until Rock Hudson.  I had gay friends but no one got sick. Then my cousin contracted HIV & before long had AIDS. I guess the treatment was not developed in time to keep his HIV from progressing to AIDS.  Even now people who are rich have better access to treatment.  That is why Capitalism does not belong in medical care. IMO.

I think it has been a long journey to educate Americans about HIV and AIDS.  Some Americans like to hold on to fear & hate. That made the journey so much more difficult.  At least Nancy had compassion for her friends & tried to help them. I imagine that she learned a lot during that time.

Thanks for the movie recommendation. I will try to check it out.

President Ronald Reagan's wife and closest adviser defined the drug panic of the 1980s, coining the phrase "Just Say No" and supporting her husband's rampaging war on drugs. She often singled out marijuana as a special scourge, accusing dealers of taking "the dream from every child's heart."

But such positions have since slipped into disrepute in recent years, rejected even by many fellow Republicans. Nearly half the country has tried marijuana, meanwhile, and legal sales are booming in four states and counting. Criminal justice reform, including reducing sentences for nonviolent drug convictions, has been a point of discussion on both sides of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (3/07/2016 9:25 pm)

 Mrs. Reagan also stood by as her husband stayed silent during the AIDS crisis.

The President waited years before mentioning it publicly, impeding government action as thousands and thousands died.

According to reports published last year, Nancy Reagan blocked Rock Hudson’s last ditch effort to get AIDs treatment:Rock Hudson died of AIDS-related complications in 1985, a year after he is said to have been diagnosed as being HIV positive. In the year between his diagnosis and subsequent death Hudson largely kept his status and deteriorating health hidden from the public while he sought out experimental treatments abroad.


Hudson’s attempts to maintain his health in France were actively impeded by then First Lady Nancy Reagan.Hudson had been receiving experimental treatments under the care of Dominique Dormant, a French army doctor, since 1984 at a time when funding for HIV/AIDS research in the U.S. was virtually nonexistent.

As Hudson’s health took a turn for the worse in 1985, however, the actor found himself unable to gain access to a French military hospital,  as the doctor was fighting to keep him alive.Hudson’s publicist, Olson, sent a desperate telegram to the Reagan White House pleading for help with the transfer. 

First Lady Nancy Reagan turned down the request.

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (3/07/2016 9:40 pm)