Nancy Reagan Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Marriage and family == [[File:Ronald and Nancy Reagan Newlyweds.JPG|left|thumb|upright|Newlyweds Ronald and Nancy Reagan, March 4, 1952]] During her Hollywood career, Davis dated many actors, including [[Clark Gable]], [[Robert Stack]], and [[Peter Lawford]];<ref name="metzger-33" /> she later called Gable the nicest of the stars she had met.<ref name="nyt-lw" /> On November 15, 1949, she met Ronald Reagan,<ref name="cannon-gov-77">Cannon, Lou (2003), pp. 77β78.</ref> who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild. She had noticed that her name had appeared on the [[Hollywood blacklist]]. Davis sought Reagan's help to maintain her employment as a guild actress in Hollywood and for assistance in having her name removed from the list.<ref name="nyt-lw" /> Ronald Reagan informed her that she had been confused with another actress of the same name.<ref name="nyt-lw" /> The two began dating and their relationship was the subject of many gossip columns; one Hollywood press account described their nightclub-free times together as "the romance of a couple who have no vices".<ref name="cannon-gov-77" /> Ronald Reagan was skeptical about marriage, however, following his painful 1949 divorce from [[Jane Wyman]], and he still saw other women.<ref name="cannon-gov-77" /> After three years of dating, they eventually decided to marry while discussing the issue in the couple's favorite booth at [[Chasen's]], a restaurant in [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]].<ref name="cannon-gov-77" /> The couple wed on March 4, 1952, at the Little Brown Church in the [[San Fernando Valley]] of Los Angeles, in a simple, hastily-arranged ceremony designed to avoid the press; the marriage was her first and his second.<ref name="Little Brown Church in the Valley">{{cite web|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/golf/sns-ap-reagan-places,0,1844441.story?page=2 |title=Noteworthy places in Reagan's life |access-date=April 11, 2007 |date=June 5, 2004 |work=[[The Baltimore Sun]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930022232/http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/golf/sns-ap-reagan-places%2C0%2C1844441.story?page=2 |archive-date=September 30, 2007 }}</ref> The only people in attendance were fellow actor [[William Holden]] (the best man) and his wife, actress [[Brenda Marshall]] (the matron of honor).<ref name="cannon-gov-77" /><ref name="First Ladies: Nancy Reagan">{{cite web |url= https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/first-ladies/nancyreagan |work= [[whitehouse.gov]] |title= First Ladies: Nancy Reagan |via= [[NARA|National Archives]] |access-date=March 8, 2007 }}</ref> Nancy was likely already pregnant; the couple's first child, Patricia Ann Reagan (later better known by her professional name, [[Patti Davis]]), was born less than eight months later on October 21, 1952. Their son, Ronald Prescott Reagan (later better known as [[Ron Reagan]]) was born six years later on May 20, 1958. Reagan also became stepmother to [[Maureen Reagan]] (1941β2001) and [[Michael Reagan]] (b. 1945), her husband's children from his marriage to Jane Wyman. [[File:Reagan wedding - Holden - 1952.jpg|thumb|Matron of honor [[Brenda Marshall]] and best man [[William Holden]], sole guests at the Reagans' wedding, flank the newlywed couple]] Observers described Nancy and Ronald's relationship as intimate.<ref>Beschloss, Michael (2007), p. 296.</ref> As president and first lady, the Reagans were reported to display their affection frequently, with one press secretary noting, "They never took each other for granted. They never stopped courting."<ref name="Love Story" /><ref name="By Reagan's Side, but her own person" /> Ronald often called Nancy "Mommy"; she called him "Ronnie".<ref name="By Reagan's Side, but her own person">{{cite web|url=http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usnanc063835985jun06,0,3872519.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050401080719/http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usnanc063835985jun06%2C0%2C3872519.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines |archive-date=April 1, 2005 |title=By Reagan's Side, but her own person |access-date=August 15, 2007 |work=[[Newsday]] |author=Berry, Deborah Barfield |date=June 6, 2004 |url-status=dead }}</ref> While the president was recuperating in the hospital after the 1981 assassination attempt, Nancy wrote in her diary, "Nothing can happen to my Ronnie. My life would be over."<ref name="Beschloss, Michael p. 284">Beschloss, Michael (2007), p. 284.</ref> In a letter to Nancy, Ronald wrote, "whatever I treasure and enjoy ... all would be without meaning if I didn't have you."<ref name="Reagan Love Story">{{cite web|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/4201869|title= Reagan Love Story|publisher=NBC News|date=June 9, 2004|access-date=May 25, 2007}}</ref> In 1998, a few years after her husband had been given a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, Nancy told ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', "Our relationship is very special. We were very much in love and still are. When I say my life began with Ronnie, well, it's true. It did. I can't imagine life without him."<ref name="Love Story">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/265714.stm|title=End of a Love Story|work=BBC News|date=June 5, 2004|access-date=March 21, 2007}}</ref> Nancy was known for the focused and attentive look, termed "the Gaze", that she fastened upon her husband during his speeches and appearances.<ref name="Up Next for Nancy Reagan">{{cite news |url= http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/13/Worldandnation/Up_next_for_Nancy_Rea.shtml |title= Up Next for Nancy Reagan: tending her Ronnie's flame |date = June 13, 2004 |access-date=March 8, 2007 |newspaper= [[St. Petersburg Times]]}}</ref> President Reagan's death in June 2004 ended what [[Charlton Heston]] called "the greatest love affair in the history of the American Presidency".<ref name="Love Story" /> [[File:Photograph of Governor Ronald Reagan, Ron Junior, Mrs. Reagan, and Patti Davis - NARA - 198603.jpg|thumb|left|The Reagan family, {{circa|1967}}]] Nancy's relationship with her children was not always as close as the bond with her husband. She frequently quarreled with her children and her stepchildren. Her relationship with Patti was the most contentious; Patti flouted [[Conservatism in the United States|American conservatism]], rebelled against her parents by joining the [[Nuclear disarmament|nuclear freeze]] movement, and authored many anti-Reagan books.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/peopleevents/pande05.html|title=The Reagan Children|last=Wolf|first=Julie|access-date=October 17, 2007|year=2000|publisher=PBS|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071110040116/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/peopleevents/pande05.html|archive-date=November 10, 2007}}</ref> The nearly 20 years of family feuding left Patti very much estranged from both her mother and father.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6478080|title=Reagan daughter shares her story|author=Couric, Katie|access-date=June 4, 2009|date=November 14, 2004|publisher=NBC News}}</ref> Soon after her father's Alzheimer's disease was diagnosed, Patti and her mother reconciled and began to speak on a daily basis.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/27/sunday/main4898395.shtml?source=RSS&attr=_4898395|date=March 27, 2009|access-date=June 4, 2009|title=Road To A Reconciliation|publisher=CBS|archive-date=May 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515191309/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/27/sunday/main4898395.shtml?source=RSS&attr=_4898395|url-status=dead}}</ref> Nancy's disagreements with Michael were also public matters; in 1984, she was quoted as saying that the two were in an "estrangement right now". Michael responded that Nancy was trying to cover up for the fact she had not met his daughter, Ashley, who had been born nearly a year earlier.<ref>Reagan, Nancy (1989), pp. 148β149.</ref> They too eventually made peace. Nancy was thought to be closest to her stepdaughter Maureen during the White House years, but each of the Reagan children experienced periods of estrangement from their parents.<ref name="Love Story" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page