I do not believe in abortion at will. I do not believe that if a woman just wants to have an abortion she should ... I do believe if you have an abortion you are committing murder.
NANCY REAGAN, attributed, Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography
It is true that when you're in the White House alone, it is a lonely place. Big and lonely.
NANCY REAGAN, Good Morning America, May 21, 2007
I must say that acting was good training for the political life that lay ahead of us.
NANCY REAGAN, attributed, Business: The Ultimate Resource (Goleman, 2002)
As you know, Ronnie recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday. In earlier times, we would have been able to share our mutual pride in a life filled with wonderful memories. Now, while I can draw strength from these memories, I do it alone as Ronnie struggles in a world unknown to me or the scientists who devote their lives to Alzheimer’s research. Because of this, I am determined to do what I can to save others from this pain and anguish. I’m writing, therefore, to ask your help in supporting what appears to be the most promising path to a cure – stem cell research.
NANCY REAGAN, letter to President George W. Bush, Apr. 11, 2001
The movies were custard compared to politics.
NANCY REAGAN, attributed, QI: Advanced Banter (Lloyd & Mitchinson, 2008)
Our relationship is very special. We were very much in love and still are. Thank God we found each other. When I say my life began with Ronnie, well, it's true. It did. Forty-six years? Can't imagine life without him.
NANCY REAGAN, Vanity Fair, Jul. 1998
For eight years, I was sleeping with the president, and if that doesn't give you special access, I don't know what does.
NANCY REAGAN, My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan
Well, when I got there everybody's still telling me he hasn't been shot, he hasn't been hit. I think it was Mike Deaver who was standing waiting for me and I think he was the one who told me that he'd been hit. And I remember saying but they told me he hadn't been and he said, "I know, but he was hit." And they took me in a little tiny room, I mean tiny, they were, you could get two people in the room and I kept wanting to see him and they wouldn't let me see him. And that didn't make me feel very easy. And then when they finally let me see him, he was so white, I've never seen anybody so white and he had that thing over his face to help him breath and there was blood and he opened his eyes and saw me and that's when he said, "Honey, I forgot to duck."
NANCY REAGAN, PBS interview
I voted for McCain, but I thought Obama ran the best campaign I have ever known—disciplined, well organized, very, very good. I was very impressed.
NANCY REAGAN, Vanity Fair, Jul. 2009
Drugs take away the dream from every child’s heart and replace it with a nightmare, and it’s time we in America stand up and replace those dreams.
NANCY REAGAN, attributed, Reagan Foundation website
My mother was a Democrat— southern Democrat, y'all.
NANCY REAGAN, Vanity Fair, Jul. 1998
I'm fine, except, you know, I broke my pelvis. And that's not much fun.
NANCY REAGAN, Larry King Live, Aug. 26, 2009
And now science has presented us with a hope called stem cell research, which may provide our scientists with many answers that have for so long been beyond our grasp. I don't see how we can turn our backs on this. There are so many diseases that can be cured or at least helped. We've lost so much time already. I can't bear to lose any more.
NANCY REAGAN, speech at Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation event, May 8, 2004
Did I ever give Ronnie advice? You bet I did. I'm the one who knows him best, and I was the only person in the White House who had absolutely no agenda of her own--except helping him.
NANCY REAGAN, My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan
It's always written that my father was a rich, conservative John Bircher. That is untrue. He was NOT rich. He was NOT a John Bircher.... And he did NOT influence Ronnie's views. Ronnie made up his own mind about things. And once he did, it was very hard for anyone to change it.
NANCY REAGAN, Vanity Fair, Jul. 1998
We were very friendly with them. Yes, we were. Most people didn't realize the friendship, or didn't accept it, or didn't know about the friendship. You know, Ronny was so identified with the Republican party. And Teddy obviously with the Democrat party. But that doesn't make any difference, Larry, really. It shouldn't make any difference. I'm afraid it does now, but it shouldn't.
NANCY REAGAN, Larry King Live, Aug. 26, 2009
I realized how valuable the art and practice of writing letters are, and how important it is to remind people of what a treasure letters--handwritten letters--can be. In our throwaway era of quick phone calls, faxes, and email, it's all to easy never to find the time to write letters. That's a great pity--for historians and the rest of us.
NANCY REAGAN, I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan
You always knew that he was really angry if he'd picked up his glasses and threw them on the desk. Then you knew he was angry.
NANCY REAGAN, Good Morning America, May 21, 2007
What it boils down to is that each person has his own ways of coping with trauma and grief, with the pain of life, and astrology was one of mine. Don't criticize me, I wanted to say, until you have stood in my place. This helped me. Nobody was hurt by it.
NANCY REAGAN, My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan
I don't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs.
NANCY REAGAN, at an anti-drug rally, attributed in 1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said (Price, 2004)
Throughout Ronnie's presidency, there was an ongoing public discussion as to how much influence the first lady should have on the president. It's hardly a new problem. As long as mankind has lived in groups, there's always been a question of how to handle the boss's wife.
NANCY REAGAN, My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan
A friend of mine said to me a year ago, "You're so lucky, Nancy, because Ronnie left you the library," She said, "You have that to work on, and to go to, and, in a sense, to be with him." I had never thought of it like that, but it's true. I go to the library or work for the library all the time, because it's Ronnie. I'm working for Ronnie.
NANCY REAGAN, Vanity Fair, Jul. 2009
My job is being Mrs. Ronald Reagan.
NANCY REAGAN, interview with Mike Wallace, 1975
With Alzheimer's patients you have to be very careful what you say when you're looking at them over their bed. Because once in a while, they understand it.
NANCY REAGAN, "The Reagan's Long Goodbye", 60 Minutes, September 24, 2002
I'm very grateful that President Obama has lifted the restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. These new rules will now make it possible for scientists to move forward. I urge researchers to make use of the opportunities that are available to them, and to do all they can to fulfill the promise that stem cell research offers. Countless people, suffering from many different diseases, stand to benefit from the answers stem cell research can provide. We owe it to ourselves and to our children to do everything in our power to find cures for these diseases -- and soon. As I've said before, time is short, and life is precious.
NANCY REAGAN, statement in response to Barack Obama's signing of Stem Cell Executive Order and Scientific Integrity Presidential Memorandum, March 9, 2009
They were very short, the golden years. The golden years are when you can sit back, hopefully, and exchange memories. And that's the worst part about this disease. There's nobody to exchange memories with.
NANCY REAGAN, 60 Minutes, Sep. 24, 2002
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