With the death of Nancy Reagan Sunday at age 94, the nation was again reminded of the kind of woman she was as the first lady during the Ronald Reagan presidency. Elegant in public, steely behind the scenes, she played a fascinating role beside her charismatic husband.
Even as Nancy Reagan distinguished herself as an individual, she was also a member of a unique club, one whose role in our country’s history has too seldom been given the respect it deserves.
“The first lady is, and always has been, an unpaid public servant elected by one person, her husband,” Lady Bird Johnson famously said.
What we have come to know, however, is that the first lady — or perhaps we should say first spouse — serves not only as a vital confidante, and sounding board for the president, but also as an influential emissary in her (or his) own right. She is a part of the leadership team, a role that goes beyond public expectations and photo opportunities to a platform with a real impact on the nation’s trajectory.
With Nancy Reagan, we remember her fight against alcohol and drug abuse and the call to “just say ‘no.’” As first lady she pushed her husband to take a more measured approach in negotiating with the Soviets over arms control. We know that she brought a touch of California glamour to the White House that stood out in contrast to what life was like there under President Jimmy Carter’s less flashy wife, Rosalynn.
But if her style was different than Carter’s, Nancy Reagan shared with her and others the influence she exerted inside the marriage and well beyond.
With Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, Americans are now looking at the real possibility that a woman could serve as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world — with the delightful added twist that her former president spouse could return to the White House in a very different way.
But as the Clintons can attest, the women in the White House have long wielded great influence. From Martha Washington and Abigail Adams up through Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama, they have all had to be willing to be part of a public life not entirely of their own making, while sharing in the turmoil, stress and consequences of leading this nation through good times and bad.
As Julia Tyler, wife of John, the 10th president, wrote in a letter to her mother, “I very well know every eye is upon me, my dear mother, and I will behave accordingly.”
As Nancy Reagan showed during her life in the White House and afterward, their legacy takes shape in ways subtle and not-so-subtle. However they write their chapter in the history book, it is a chapter that matters.