Transcripts For CSPAN3 History Bookshelf Sheila Tate Lady In Red 20240712

I was so late, i figured i better get started first. [laughter] well, good evening again. For those of you i have not met, my name is joanne drake and i serve as chief Administrative Officer for the Ronald Reagan foundation and institute. I want to welcome you all here. It is our tradition here that in honor of our men and women who wear the uniform of this country around the world, we ask that you stand and join us in the pledge to the flag and i ask that you remain standing in a moment of silence in honor of our former first lady barbara bush. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Ms. Drake thank you. Be seated. I want to thank all of you for coming out tonight and bearing with us. All live in southern california, too. You know what we were up against. In addition to our honored guest this evening, sheila tate, we have a few special guests. First, of course, we have sheila s roommate with us tonight. [applause] former have some of my colleagues, some of sheilas armor colleagues, and colleagues from the white house from different eras with us tonight. Assistant press secretary. She was our backup in case sheila really did get caught up in the traffic. Pressorge bushs secretarys is with us tonight, and im also thrilled to have some of my former reaganbush colleagues with us tonight who served in various positions around the Reagan White House. Nd bush in the cabinet very thrilled you all joined us tonight. Its great. [applause] our speaker this evening has been part of the reagan family since the early 1980s. She served as press secretary for first Lady Nancy Reagan from 1981 until 1985. After leaving the white house, she went back to the world of Public Relations and started her own Public Relations firm with another White House Press secretary, judy powell, from the other side of the aisle. In 1988, sheila went back to being a press secretary, this time to then Vice President George H W Bush during his campaign for the presidency and then as president elect during the transition. In 1999, pr week doug sheila one of the 50 most powerful women in Public Relations dubbed sheila. In 2001, she was named one of the most powerful women in washington by washingtonian magazine. She was not only Nancy Reagans press secretary but a very dear friend. Ladies and intimate, it is a pleasure to welcome ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome sheila tate this evening. [applause] ms. Tate lordy lordy, if i may quote someone. Did bring my stacks because im getting a little older these days. Book. Ake i have read the i thoroughly enjoyed it. I finished it on the flight back from washington, d. C. , last weekend. It was fun. It was memorable. There were a lot of personal stories, a lot of things i remember. There was a lot of backstage, behind the scenes information that i have not known about, but all of it was centered towards public events, and im wondering if you can tell us first, how do you become a press secretary to the first lady of the United States . Give us your First Impressions of nancy reagan. Tate well, i carefully planned the whole thing. Not. Named bobs a guy gray, who was wellknown in republican circles, and he had taken a leave and gone over to the campaign as the communications director. He called me one day in mid december and said, i need your resume, and i need it right away. Theres a white house job that i think you qualify for, and i just want to put your name and your name in. Your name in. He worked on the campaign. John robo calling for conyers. I got him a lot of money. [laughter] i sent him the resume, and he called me back and said, the at blair house at 6 00, so i scrambled to make myself presentable. I started to figure its got to be nancy reagan. I did not think it was Ronald Reagan because he had already named jim brady. I was so nervous i had to sit on my hands like this because they were shaking. I mean, i had never met a first lady before. She was very kind to me but mainly wanted to talk about what she had been doing. She was concerned about the whole problem of youth drug abuse, and i remember thinking, but what are your issue . Ations for that was wondering how viable that was from a pr issue, but i forgot how powerful it first lady can be, what a platform that was. Anyway, the next day, i got a call, and they set me up with a series of meetings with mike beaver and ending with my personal hero, jim brady. He said, its down to two people. Case, im yourt girl. I want the job. [laughter] he said, im voting for you. Two hours later, she called me and offered the job. That was friday night. Saturday night i was awakened by the phone ringing. It was the Washington Post that somebody because somebody had leaked the story that they were not going to get out until monday. That was my introduction to the life of a press secretary. Drake we are going to get into the book a little bit, but before we do that, it has been a sad week in this country and we are very sensitive to that here at the president ial library. Having treadou, many white houses and overlap many first ladies i wonder if you could give us a little insight into the relationship between these two ladies because im certain the question is about to come up anyway, and then share a story of misses bush as a tribute to her this evening. Tate i came to understand after i left the white house misses bush and misses ,eagan were not terribly close but i have to honestly tell you i had no sense of it while i was working it. Nancy reagan treats staff professionally and does not gossip in that regard. I had no idea. The first idea i had in that regard was the first plane trip i took with George H W Bush on the campaign in 1988, we were getting off the plane, and he said, sheila, right in the limo ivee, and i was like, done something wrong already, and in the car he said, what is the problem with nancy and my wife . And i asked what he was talking about and he said that they just did not get along. Never saw it,y, i i never knew it, and the subject never came up again. But misses bush called me, told me how thrilled should to you was i was going to be working with her, and then she gave me the list and set of instructions which i cherish. The most important was every time you go to a hotel, you theer up, you gather up shampoos and soaps and everything, put them in a bag and bring them to her. She took all the stuff to a homeless shelter just on her own. She had bags this big. Anbara bush was extraordinary person, i thought. I found her very funny, but she being singledrate out and praise. One time, for instance, the day before the election, i said to george bush, you know youre going to win, dont you . Admitted. Admit it. Thatid, no, i dont know , and he started to walk away, and then he came back and said, but i will tell you something if i do win, this world is going to fall in love with barbara bush. And he was right. You see the black pearls, the posters up on the highway. But staff was afraid of her. She said what she thought. One thing barbara and i talked misses bush about, would bring the pictures. She said, look what i did. And i would say look to me like you sat and read the book to someone like santa claus. She said no, no, its a childrens reading thing. I said you have to have children in it. There was another picture where she was sitting in somebodys, like, some lowlevel staff office with all this junk around , and i said a picture is supposed to reinforce what your message is, and this one is very confusing because theres all this stuff in this room and i dont know why you are there or anything, and they got better at that, but that was one of the was surprised and all the Vice President ial years that she had not learned in all the Vice President ial years that she had not learned, and i think it was just she had not cared about things like that. Ms. Drake i think everyone would agree with me that one of the hardest jobs in this country has got to be that of first lady of the United States. Ms. Tate yes. I suppose it could be argued that being her press secretary is no walk in the park, either. Can you think of the first months in the administration, of your time with her, tell us a little bit about the evolution of nancy reagan as first lady, her relationship with the press, where you fit into that, maybe a of the white house and china downs and layout the dinner. Ms. Tate we are going to be here for a while. Ms. Drake i want to know how you kept it a secret from Ronald Reagan. Ms. Tate that was a fascinating experience. Such an extraordinary experience for me, for her, for everybody. We spent the better part of a year missed stepping all over the place. We and we means , but there was too much attention being paid to refurbishing the white house, redecorating. We raised 1 million to do that from private money. China, and new china, by the way, has been ordered and the white house on average every 15 years. I know everything about this china. That the whites house will always politely say that over the years, theres some loss. Tot it is is theres loss someones pocket is what happens. The white house china cannot be replicated. They break the mold as soon as they make the set, so you really dont have any choice after a period of time but you bring in a new set of china or begin mixing and matching all the sets of china, which is also a nice thing to do. But so, you know, theres just too much against the backdrop of a recession at the time. That was the problem, and the press were not particularly friendly to nancy anyway because she had been stories had been circulating that she had asked wished that the ,arters would move out early which was kind of im sure if she said anything, it was, i would have really liked to have more time to do something with that place. Ms. Drake she did not actually ask them to move out . Ms. Tate no, no, no, no. She says she never said anything like this. My much later Business Partner the one thingd, we all really disliked the way you all talked about the leftence, kind of like we chicken bones behind the couch. [laughter] we were getting they started doing these popularity polls and things, and nancy was not way up there. And she was worried about it, but she really wanted to get this stuff done, and she wanted to do it right, so she was willing to take the heat for that, but then she was ready to turn the page, and that was when start ourt to staff finally gave in to her working on drug abuse. At the same time, march of 1982, we knew that the annual gridiron dinner was coming up, and we nancyhat the chances of escaping unscathed were slim to we had a little conversation with helen thomas, who was a very active member of the gridiron, and she brought thencharlie dowell who was president of the club, and nancy agreed that she would be amenable to a little song and dance routine. They already had the lyrics. This is how right we were they had the lyrics of the song that they were going to sing about her, and they gave it to me and gave me a copy of how they thought she should respond, and the response was kind of a back of the hand to the press. Landon parvin, who is just an incredible speechwriter, and we knew that she had to make fun of herself. This was her chance. The one thing she said was please, that we have to keep it a secret because i dont want the president to know about it i dont want romney to know becauseshe said that was her thinking, if she could surprise him, she could have a good time with it. Landon was in charge with keeping the clothes backstage. Ms. Drake such an attractive outfit. Ms. Tate yes. Muffy brand and her children provided all the fashion. You see the picture, its just incredibly ms. Drake we actually have the outfit for you all to observe and enjoy. After you will be lusting pieces of it. The rain boots, particularly. Tate and the feather boa . She kept saying to lender he said she was still a little nervous. She kept telling me to go back and check on it, check on it, check on it. He said at one point, he really had to go to the mens room, so he races into the mens room. He said all the urinals were busy, and he runs into a stall, forgot he was wearing white tie and tails, so the rest of the evening, he had. Hite tie and wet tails so many stories like that in the book that people shared with me, some of which i did not know. Stories about nancy and raisa gorbachev. Now that you mention it, probably should share one more tidbit. Normally, whoever is president and his spouse go out on the , to what we call the diplomatic reception room, and statewait the arrival of sisitors, and the gorbachev were coming. It was so cold. They basically moved everyone who was part of that welcoming ceremony into the diplomatic reception room. It was like this, packed. Ms. Drake you know that room. It is about as big as this stage. Ms. Tate nancy noticed this immediately, as the gorbachevs pantyhosehat raisas have collapsed. Marlon noticed it and watched it happen. He said nobody else saw this, but he said she went over and took her by the arm and said, come with me. She took her right around the corner to the ladies room and everything got fixed, and she came back out and no one was the wiser. He said he felt that nancy had more for u. S. Soviet relations [laughter] anyone else ever could. Raisa was a very committed communist, marxist, and she tended to lecture, and nancy did not like to be lectured to. That became they did not get along for a long time, and then, at the end of president reagans tournament when they all met in new york with incoming president said raisa go but off was completely changed. She just was friendly and nice and invited them all to come to their dhaka and russia in russia. Hadge told me they went and a wonderful time. Ms. Drake one of the stories i love and the book that you and i have spoken about a lot is the story about the two young korean children. In the book. Credit to nancy reagan for jen to they both give credit to nancy reagan for saving their lives. We have mn here with gift of life. Im hoping you can give us more information and bring us that story to life. Well, unless you are a surgeon i mean, how many people get a chance to save someones life . Nancy reagan not only help save those children, theres another child she saved who i talked to in the course of writing this book. It was the most moving moments that i had in writing this book. And robert may be able to shed light on this, but it turned out that these two beautiful children they were, like, 7 and 4. They were unrelated to each other, but one had an atrial heart defect on the other had a ventricular heart defect, and these children could not walk more than a few steps without turning blue. They would have to get down they would have to squat down and breathe and get their color back before they could get up and take a few more steps. Leaving forere south korea, we got a special asking through the ambassador, who was dixie walker at the time, for nancy reagan to meeting these families and seeing if there was a way to help get them to the United States to get them the surgery they needed because they did not have the ability in seoul at the time. As staff normally does except the press secretary they said , no, no, if you do it for one, you have to do it for everybody. At a time, i want to do this. We brought these two children back on air force one, and i can by the way, then im getting ahead of myself. The little boy sat on the lap of this reporter and pretended to type on his computer the whole time back. Everybody loved these kids. Nancy took them up to st. Francis hospital on long island where the surgery was performed. Unbeknownst, at least to me, the being adopted up by an american family, so they became brother and sister, and they lived in arizona and then they moved to the pacific northwest, but his name was. Rett halverson an american name. Brett somehow learned about how nancy ive seen the picture of him as a baby when nancy reagan took him to the hospital, thathen he really realized she had actually saved his life, he written her a note and told her how grateful he was for that, and she invited him here to this library for the night tony snow was speaking, so he came to that dinner, and he said that then he ended up going l, where he worked for gift of life international, the fabulous organization that started this whole thing he brings children from other undeveloped countries underdeveloped countries to se oul, where various kinds of surgeries are performed there. I talked to him on we facetimed. Spent a half hour early one saturday morning talking, and i not had a note from him long ago. Hes engaged to be married. I just sent him this book, right . Not that big, right . Do you know what it costs to send a book to korea . [laughter] it ups, its 200 20. If you send it via the post afice, its 70, so he got 70 book, but worth every bit of it. Its you send it ups, 220. Thats the kind of thing that transforms somebody, when they have the ability to change somebodys life like this. It greatly changes them. Nancy was changed by it. She followed up, went to see them at the hospital. They gave her all these christmas presents. It was just amazing, an amazing experience for all of us. Ms. Drake speaking of saving peoples lives, march 30, 1981, the day that had Significant Impact on the history of this country, certainly, and on ronald and nancy reagan. Of course, this was the day that John Hinckley junior attempted to assassinate the president. To impress an actress, as it turns out, if you dont know the story. Misses reagan was not with him at the event, but she was with sheila at her own luncheon, so im hoping you can pick up from there and tell us your side of it, her side of it, from that point on. we were in georgetown. The National Trust for Historic Preservation had a dinner in her honor to acquaint her with what they do. Toward the end of the lunch, she caught my eye and basically signaled she was ready to go, so andmade her pleasantries, we left. By the way, we later looked and she wased that the time leaving almost exactly to the minute was the time he was shot. From theive minutes white house. We get to the white house. I go to my office, she goes to the residence. As i walk in, theres nobody in the office, and the phone is ringing, which is very unusual. I pick it up and its this reporter for the washington star, jennifer hirschberg. She said, Capitol Police are radio is Police Reporting there were shots at the washington hilton. Do you know anything about it . I said no, and i dropped the phone and just ran all the way back toward the residence. She ran this way. We went right to the hospital in fact in spite of the fact that the secret service did not want her to. No one knew yet what was going on, and they like safety. They like to know what is going on before they walk into a situation. I think she even said, im going to the hospital. Her agent said, no, maam, if you just wait, we will drive you over. She said, forget the car, i will just walk. He needs me. Ms. Drake at that point, you did not know he had been shot . Ms. Tate no, we didnt even know. Not until we got there and mike walked out and found out and he told her and it was the same within, well you know a lot of it was it was so chaotic in there. But i went back down it stairs and started talking to the nurses i said i need a list of where sir . Ed i need to know what hospital, and and wheres jim brady he said they died. And i walked ten feet before i found out that it wasnt true but that was it was horrible three minutes of my life and he was actually in surgery yet at that same hospital as we were speaking. But there was a false news report that he had died and his poor daughter who was a College Student in colorado got in an airplane after driving from colorado down to denver to get on the airplane and heard on the radio that her father was dead. She she flew all the way to washington believing her daughter was dead. And, the next day i saw him, and if my head is normal head size his head was this big and it shot right there. It was horrible. Unbelievably horrible, and nancy was so quiet whole time, and and that same next day i was sitting in the room adjacent in the president s room with her and ron and patty and they were writing out statements that they wanted to make and you would hear this you know just constant smacking sound and nancy said do you hear that she said yes they are pounding his back to keep him from getting infection and she would wince like this every time she would hear that sound. And i can still hear that sound when i think about it. But she she started figuring out how to myc him better right away an as soon as they were allowed to talk and they wanted him to walk she had him up she had a syringe hanging off his arm and everything, and she would back him down the hall and they would pretend to be dancing. And she brought in every card that anyone sent and the walls were filled with card. And pictures from kids, you know, who sent pictures in to make them happy. But it was so traumatic for her, i think, that well first of all she lost ten pounds. She didnt have ten pounds. She did it change the way she operated at the bhows do you think . I knew that she was terrified every time the president left the white house. But as a result of that theres something you may have read about about it called astrology entered the picture and ting made her feel better but you know, that she had some assurance that if he did it this on this day that it would be safer than if he did it on that day. Did it change her security at all . No. It did not. No. Her her security funny some people resent security and nancy reagan embraced it. She love her detail was so loyal to her and so good but theres a great story in the book i think about her lead agent guy named george never talked to anybody but he wanted to talk to me about her. And he actually sent me copies of the notes they exchanged the day at the hospital he went into the chapel and he handed her this handkerchief. And he said to her theres nothing we can do now but pray. So she shared that with me and i put that back in the book as well so, normally after a the secret Service Agent they rotate so they dont want them to become in their assignment and too comfortable with it so george was her lead agent for six years, and one day he was told he had to go into the oval office to it see john simpson , head of the secret service, and the president. He goes in and they tell him that secret service is transferring him off of nancys detail. But he, george is one who was going to have to tell. Even the head of the secret service of the afraid to go tell nancy. He was taking her favorite agent away. [laughter] her final lead agent she had her agent would stay with her and died and it actually happened but it was, that was the worst day in everyones life. When the secret Service Agent not just her lead but anybody on her detail had to transfer out because those were the rules. Yeah. Yeah. So were going to go to a question in the audience in a minute. So i want you to get ready. But i have one little fun story i want sheila to tell. I never heard it before. Before a trip, of course, before first lady or president goes out, a group goes out in advance, and sheila didnt do that very often. But once in a while apparently she was out and about and she ended up in las vegas. You know where im headed here and the story was did very funny so i thought you could tell that and go to questions in the audience. Well, lets see. Sinatra had his own private permanent apartment and she was going out there to speak to the National Group in las vegas. Well actually the first one did. Did she go out with you barbara , do you remember . Well but shes a projects director and in charge the drug abuse events and things. She gets out there and finds out that i know and finds out that the sands wants to bring in a slot machine. They thought she would like to play the slot machine. [laughter] so when shes there that she can play slots. [laughter] the whole detail is in the book. But there were a lot of stories where friends created some of the reagan friends created problems just by trying to be overly solicited helpful not so helpful. My favorite was the famous producer of annie and what other the whole string of wonderful broadway shows. But for annie he had decided he wanted nancy reagan invited , and her intention was to come plate. Watch the and he decided he wanted her to come from the basement in an elevator that would rise up to the main floor on the stage. The doors would open and all of this gray smoke and steam would come out and she would come through that mist like and we said no, no, i think barbara i think you were the one who first called me hysterical about that one. And so i told ray stark we werent doing it and he just out of his mind and im sure he tried to get us all fired. But she was happy with the way. It turned out. Were going to take some questions. Our only request is raise your hand. We have with team members here with microphones and ask that you have the microphone in hand first, because if not, people at home cannot use your question. Who has questions, for heaven sakes . Right here. I was go ask you about the title of your book and mentioned you mentioned that it was your hairdresser i like to know more about that. [laughter] well, i live in charlottesville, a small town, and Everybody Knows everybody, and Everybody Knows everybodys business, and the best place to find out everything is to go to your hairdresser and you you hear everything and so i was sitting in the chair and the editor had said weve got to come up with a name. And so kimberly said where are you in the name for the book whats the title going to be . I said i dont know supposed come up with a title and she said i know the i know what it should be. I said, what . She said the lady in red. So i sent email right to editor from that chair and what i said do you think about this, she came back and said i met with our staff we like it. Were clipping off the in the title is lady in red. It is accepted. So before i had my hair dried [laughter] we had the title of the book and shes so excited to have, to have had a part in that. It was really of course. The portrait is the official portrait of nancy reagan so that couldnt be more appropriate. Who else has a question . Also because im visually impaired this was important to me. But the separate contract was was issued and this book is now also available in large type. Which the pictures couldnt be in the book but the the large type book is there for anyone who needs it. So im thrilled with that. Any other questions out here . Right here in the back row right there. Autumn i was wondering if you could talk about the love between the two of them because it seems that she always has this glaze when she looked towards the president. So you know, the letters the things that were said this lasted for a long time. Oh, yeah. Yep. The gaze was thing that reporters lovered to make fun of her. She said she thought if someone was speaking she was always taught it was polite to look at them when they spoke and she she felt that way about anyone speaking. But she wouldnt change just because the press thought it was stupid. But it was a true a really deep and abiding love affair between the two of them. I remember the day the first day he was able to, he was cleared by his doctors to start working half a day. After the shooting. And she were with going somewhere and started out door and he comes running down the hall, literally running and show goes like this, slow down, slow down and he said i just cant help it. Its my boyish exuberance and [laughter] and thats the way they were with each other. They laughed there were just amazing. We all said thats the kind of marriage everybody should have. Anybody else . Right here. And then well go down to the end. When i met mrs. Reagan, i was shaking and had an impression. Person from gift of life. And had this impression to meet the wicked witch of the north and [laughter] shortly after everybody had left the room she was on the floor with these kids tickling him, kissing him. They loved her. She loved them and i was absolutely dumbfounded my question is, and, obviously, is of a fabulous person, my experience as it is was confirmed by your book. I think thats fabulous that you told that story. My question is why do we treat our leaders who are in this case really sensational people . Good, kind, compassionate people so badly . What is it about us that we have to go out to destroy them or make everything that they look and can we do anything about it . Well, no [laughter] it goes back to the early days of the founding of this country. I mean, you know, mary todd lincoln, Martha Washington they were all criticized. And some of the nasty stuff that went on with hamilton and jefferson, and it, you know, we have a long history of it. But its, you know, we have a twoparty system and they get all riled up and go after each other, and theres, you know, but in the end somebody like nancy reagan comes along and she gets through it. I mean, she really turned her image around, and she did it for her husband. And like that and people started to recognize that she was a woman of substance. So, but you know its every every presidency is different. But there is always to put it politely. [laughter] i think so good to see you. So good to see you too. I bought the book tonight so i havent had a chance to read it some of this may be the book but in case it is not. I want you to talk a little bit about her relationship with the white house resident staff. And the reason that comes to the it is because when i worked for lora the one time i got to meet nancy and only time i ever met her was when nancy came back to the white house and i just at that party. Yeah. But i have this vivid memory of the white house staff being practically giddy because they were going to get a chance to see her and you know, she give her a hug or whatever because at that point it had been a number of years since she had been back. So can you talk the staff who transcend that . I mean white house couldnt run as we know without residents. Staffers some of them served 50 years and just incredible people. I think almost every first lady comes to really depend on the staff. She was no exception. I had the experience with the staff, but the cabin stewards on air force one, they adored her. And i got some cute stories from them about the reagans and fact that they were invited to this was the dedication of the library. Opening of the library. She insisted upon it. I know i have fellow Staff Members to call the white house , where was anita, all of these people, including these people who had worked there for 50 years . The hardest part was telling her they actually some of them have to stay because theres a new resident at the white house. [laughter] we came have them all out at the same time thats a little difficult. They were thrilled that the air force one stewarts were thrilled they told me. Howie franklin, a real character, and he and charlie it was that time that thing impressed the most was they got to sit next to charlton heston. Nancy on that plane walked all the way back to find charlie and had tears in her eyes when she finally saw him she was so excited to see him. Very unusual for president ial couple not to feel that way about the residential staff and people that make their lives so much easier. I think leslie has a question. I had a question. The press often seems to not understand this is reagan, but it did seem she had a special relationship with mike wallace. They always seem to have a real warmth there and wonderer if you could tell us a little bit about that . That goes back to mike wallace had a Radio Program in chicago. And when edi married davis and moved to chicago, she gave up her acting career, this was nancys mother, gave up her acting career basically, brought nancy to chicago. But what she would do occasionally was sit down and talk to mike wallace on the radio, and mike loved her. There are some really Great Stories about edi, she was its a family group here. Careful. Edi was she liked to tell jokes some of them are a little bit inappropriate. Anyway, but shes hilariously funny and mike loved her or so. So when mike wallace years later found out that governor reagan had married edis daughter, he was excited about that. So the next step was when the reagans went to the white house wallace, who chris was new at nbc at the time. And he introduced nancy and chris, and nancy and chris are like this, but mike wallace could do no harm. She was doing i think it was a him, i was,ece with i was, i could hardly breathe because as much as he likes her he can go in for the kill you know. He was a newsman. First and foremost, and chris is exactly the same way. Uhhuh. But they sometimes got mad at each other but ended up being friends again. So you know sheila one of the things that you and i have talked about and i know others in the audience have said it too that those of us who are privileged enough to work with her and for her over the years came to know the real nancy reagan, and the white house staff, they loved her to death, and we love her to death. And now there may be days that we werent as ponged of her as other days. [laughter] but we did love her. Yeah. I wonder if you could tell us as we finish up here, what is it you think about her that sort of caused this constant misunderstanding . And tell us what your favorite part of nancy reagan was. What do you mean by misunderstanding . Interpretation of the press . Why did the press not understand it . Why did the general public not see what we saw . Well, the press wanted her to be proabortion, and they wanted her to support the equal rights amendment. She said im for equal rights for women, but i dont believe it needs to be an amendment so the constitution. But unless, at that point anyway, unless you held those positions, they were antagonistic in general, not completely, but in general. They werent predisposed to really like you, so that you had to break through that over time. And i think she did. But she was always reserved with reporters. She knew she didnt want to make a misstep. She didnt want to say anything that would embarrass her husband or create a problem. So she was always as careful as she could be and that sort of ends up with you tending to, you know, keep yourself to yourself. And what was the other and what is it about her that you think people should know . The real nancy reagan . What was interesting to me that, for a woman who really had never had a staff until the white house, she was first thing she said to me was i will always take your calls. That for a press secretary is like gold. You know, because that means that press knows they can get an answer if they call me. That i will have talked to her and i will be tiebl tell them what they need and thats, that was important over a period of time. But, and she was always true to her word. And there were days write might have called her 10 times when is something was breaking. But she said i just dont want to be surprised but i want to talk about it before you respond if it is something you dont quite know how i feel. And she, i dont know the day i left, she said, from now on, i always called her ms. Reagan, she said from now on i want you to call me nancy. She started well at 1998, my husband died. He had a heart attack and dropped dead. And she, her father had told her that grieving people need to cry. And you should help your friends cry. She called me once a week, made me get on the phone with her and as i say, i was trying to bill havee hour, and we would an hour long cry fest. But that was the kind of friend she became and and we went from a professional relationship to a personal friendship that that, i mean, you cannot have a better friend than nancy reagan. And thats the truth. She kept secrets. She was famous for keeping secrets. Yeah. If you told her something in confidence, it never ever went anywhere else. You could attack that to the bank. She was an amazing person. Well, i am thrilled that all of you came. Thank you sheila for sharing all of this. There are so many fun stories, really insights into the white house, the Reagan White House , nancy reagan, Ronald Reagan. What goes on behind scenes the . The press secretary . You know i think its probably a little bit different than it is today. We had a lid on our press. We didnt have tweets going out in the middle of the night. We didnt have social media. But we had a great deal of respect for we didnt even have cell phones. [laughter] she is right. We didnt have cell phones. We had pagers. And they went off 24 7 but we with knew when we left the white house at the end of the day. That you probably werent going to hear back from someone until the next morning unless there was an emergency, of course. It was a pager, yeah that pager was nasty. I was never so happy to get rid of that pager when i lefts. They wait and the radios that we used we literally called them bricks, they were that heavy. It was only way to communicate with each other so it was a different time back then, and i dont, i suppose we had fake news we didnt have fake love certainly in our white house. And so i thank all of for coming and come back for our next event in the next couple of weeks. Sheila autographed our book if you dont have a copy here go into the line or you can, of course, get one inside museum store and take questions so get them ready. She also brought a few things that we some papers that she brought, some sketches, just some fun things. We will have them there. She can you can ask her questions talk about them a little bit. And well see you all in museum store in just a few minutes. Thank you all for coming. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] announcer history bookshelf features the best history writers talking about their books. You can watch every saturday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern here on American History tv on cspan3. , fromcer the president public affairs, available in paperback and ebook, biographies of every president organized by the ranking by noted historians, from best to worst, and features perspectives into the lives of our nations chief executives and leadership style. Cspan. Org,bsite, to learn more about the president s and historians, and order your copy today wherever books and ebooks are sold. This is American History tv, covering history cspan style with lectures, interviews, and discussions with authors, historians, and teachers, 48 hours, all weekend, every weekend from cspan3. Announcer Dwight Pitcaithley is a former National Park service chief historian and editor of the u. S. Constitution and secession. Up next, he offers an analysis of the 67 constitutional amendments considered by congress right before the outbreak of the the civil war that sought to address the secession crisis. The ulysses s. Grant National Historic site in st. Louis posted this talk. So, to introduce dr. Dwight pitcaithley he is kind he worked for the National Park service for 30 years. The last 10 years, he was the chief historian of the National Park service. Kind of a rock star for us. [laughter]