a facelift in New York in 1986… Gloria Vanderbilt: Higdon and Kuhn, author interviews, April 7, 2018, and February 28, 2019, respectively.
first significant initiative… major report on it: Bernard Weinraub, “Reagan Orders AIDS Report, Giving High Priority to Work for Cure,” New York Times, February 6, 1986, B7.
Parvin didn’t win everything, but by invoking Nancy’s name… None of the revisions he wanted was made: Speechwriting: White House Office of: Research Office, 1981–1989, box 322, Reagan Presidential Library.
“because the first lady said so”: Julie Johnson, “Washington Talk: The First Lady; Strong Opinions with No Apologies,” New York Times, May 25, 1988, A22.
Glaser sat at her kitchen table… a photo in the Oval Office: Elizabeth Glaser and Laura Palmer, In the Absence of Angels: A Hollywood Family’s Courageous Story (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1991), 142–43.
When Wick approached Nancy… “different eyes than I would have before”: ibid., 141–49.
“It was a stunning… might cope with the epidemic in coming years”: Shilts, And the Band Played On, 609.
“Time went by, and nothing happened.… they still just didn’t care”: Glaser and Palmer, In the Absence of Angels, 150.
“Well, that’s when it was invented.… we did all that we could at the time”: Bill Higgins, “Hollywood Flashback: Ronald Reagan Atoned for AIDS Neglect at 1990 Fundraiser,” Hollywood Reporter online, last modified July 13, 2019, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ronald-reagan-atoned-aids-neglect-at-1990-fundraiser-1222855.
“The first time was with a group of ladies… in the end, she did good”: Barry Krost, telephone interview by author, July 20, 2017.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Improving US-Soviet relations became Nancy Reagan’s special cause… a force for peace within the White House”: Cannon, President Reagan, 448.
Nancy wanted to see… whom the Reagan administration staunchly backed: Deaver, Behind the Scenes, 39.
Ronnie was hemmed in… Central Intelligence Agency: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 153.
“He had a sense of the world as it would be… a man for the age”: Cannon, President Reagan, 241.
That 1981 letter: The version quoted here is from Reagan: A Life in Letters, ed. Kiron D. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson (New York; Free Press, 2003), 737–41. A version with slightly different wording appears in Ronald Reagan’s memoir, An American Life, loc. 3842 of 12608, Kindle. The substance and tone of the two are virtually identical, although the paragraph order and punctuation differ a bit. The most obvious explanation is that modest editing was done as the letter was transcribed and typed to be sent to Brezhnev.
“Mr. President, nobody elected anybody… Send it the way I wrote it”: Deaver, Behind the Scenes, 262–63.
“They never would announce the death of anybody… only word you got”: Caspar Weinberger interview, November 19, 2002, Presidential Oral Histories, Ronald Reagan Presidency, Miller Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/caspar-weinberger-oral-history.
“What do you think, Stu?… What’s for dessert?”: Spencer, author interview, October 22, 2016.
“In truth, Ronald Reagan knew far more about the big picture… Some of them did just the opposite”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 1134–35.
Ronnie also pressed the ambassador… made good on his promise not to boast: ibid., 163–71.
“I learned something else of interest… Nancy had no time for him at all”: ibid., 308.
“Yet he has become the most influential foreign-policy figure in the Reagan administration… hard-line approach to Communism and Soviet influence in the world”: Steven R. Weisman, “The Influence of William Clark,” New York Times online, August 14, 1983, https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/14/magazine/the-influence-of-william-clark.html.
Democrat John Glenn… “hope he is never in charge at a time of crisis”: Judith Miller, “Senators Give Clark Angry Advice, but Still Consent,” New York Times online, February 8, 1981, https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/08/weekinreview/senators-give-clark-angry-advice-but-still-consent.html.
“saw no hope in any policy that relied on trusting the Russians… did what he could to slow it down”: Deaver, Behind the Scenes, 129.
“I had never really gotten along with him.… he stayed around longer than I would have liked”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 204.
“Once you appear in this town on the cover of Time or Newsweek, count your days in the shop”: Clark, interview, August 17, 2003, Miller Center.
“My decision not to appoint Jim Baker… no idea at the time how significant it would be”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life, loc. 6564 of 12608, Kindle.
took a glass of cranberry juice… bargaining table: Lou Cannon, “Reagan, Gromyko Meet in ‘Exchange of Views,’ ” Washington Post online, September 29, 1984, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/09/29/reagan-gromyko-meet-in-exchange-of-views/57e5741a-a219-4125-a3ba-d594ece2e28c.
“small crack in the East-West ice”: Don Oberdorfer, “US, Soviets to Resume Arms Talks,” Washington Post online, January 9, 1985, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/01/09/us-soviets-to-resume-arms-talks/ea807b41-6748-46c2-9813-3ecc89574c34.
“That basic policy of strength… Now the work would begin”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 500.
“I did push Ronnie a little… if he hadn’t wanted to”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 289.
“an unusual Russian… did not stick to prepared notes”: White House memorandum of conversation, “Meeting with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,” December 28, 1984, Margaret Thatcher Foundation online, https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/109185.
“She would buttonhole… moving toward that goal”: Deaver, Behind the Scenes, 120.
“Usually tightly wound… relaxed, even joyous”: Jim Kuhn, Ronald Reagan in Private: A Memoir of My Years in the White House (New York: Sentinel, 2004), 164.
a charming boathouse that chief presidential advance man William Henkel had spotted earlier: Fred Barnes, “Parting Shots,” review of My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan, by Nancy Reagan, New York Times, November 19, 1989, Book Review, 9, https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/19/books/parting-shots.html.
“As soon as we walked into this room… alone with just their translators”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 291–92.
“emotional. It’s a dream… an arms race in space”: Cannon, President Reagan, 673–75.
“Our people couldn’t believe it when I told them… hadn’t dreamed it was possible”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life, loc. 123 of 12608, Kindle.
elegant, but not chic: “Paris Verdict on Mrs. G.: Elegant but Not Chic,” Straits Times (Singapore), October 5, 1985, 5, available at http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19851006-1.2.12.8.
“If that was an ordinary housewife’s tea… then I’m Catherine the Great”: Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, 288–91.
“I followed the Iceland ‘summit’… Oh, please!”: ibid., 295.
A poll conducted… major reduction in nuclear weapons: Adam Clymer, “First Reaction: Poll Shows Arms-Control Optimism and Support for Reagan,” New York Times online, October
