Nancy Reagan has never been a conservative, nor particularly political except for abortion.
What do you know, that we need to know, to correct that perception?
“Mrs. Reagan’s value in the White House was much more than as a sidelines tea-pourer with a penchant for Galanos gowns and a distrust of outsiders. She loomed large — often in her famed red power dress — in all aspects of her husband’s life and career, wielding outsized political influence for a first lady and helping to shape Reagan’s now-lauded and history-making Cold War policy.
Much more than many knew during his presidency, Ronald Reagan relied mainly on the council of his wife, even on the big issues. Some say she was likely his only true friend in Washington — much to the chagrin of his power-player associates, many of whom regarded her as the tiny but ferocious pit bull guarding the Oval Office door.
‘I think she was the only person he really listened to, the only person he was really close to,’ historian Kathy Olmsted, a professor at the University of California at Davis, said about Reagan’s complex personal-political relationship.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/3/nancy-reagan-was-a-true-political-partner/
“Mrs. Reagan’s value in the White House was much more than as a sidelines tea-pourer with a penchant for Galanos gowns and a distrust of outsiders. She loomed large — often in her famed red power dress — in all aspects of her husband’s life and career, wielding outsized political influence for a first lady and helping to shape Reagan’s now-lauded and history-making Cold War policy.
Much more than many knew during his presidency, Ronald Reagan relied mainly on the council of his wife, even on the big issues. Some say she was likely his only true friend in Washington — much to the chagrin of his power-player associates, many of whom regarded her as the tiny but ferocious pit bull guarding the Oval Office door.
‘I think she was the only person he really listened to, the only person he was really close to,’ historian Kathy Olmsted, a professor at the University of California at Davis, said about Reagan’s complex personal-political relationship.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/3/nancy-reagan-was-a-true-political-partner/