Saturday Politics -- The Golden Age of Nancy and Ronald Reagan : a Personal Remembrance

Saturday politics is sometimes memories of a vanished Golden Age. Nancy Reagan was laid to rest Friday beside her beloved husband, President Ronald Reagan. She always called him Ronnie. It fit the unbreakable bond of their relationship. ~~~~~ I was a political appointee in the Reagan administration and so I met Mrs. Reagan at several receptions. She was a small woman, not in height but in size. She seemed shorter than she really was because she was so often photographed close beside the much taller President. The Nancy Reagan I met was perfectly coiffed without her hair being cast in concrete. Her makeup was natural. Her jewelry was important without being flashy. Her long-sleeved cocktail dress was...red. We shook hands and she continued to hold my hand between her two hands as we spoke. But what made Mrs. Reagan special for me was her complete focus on me while we talked. I've met two people who had that same concentration of focus -- Nancy Reagan and Mother Theresa, whom I had the great honor to meet and speak with privately at her motherhouse in Kolkota. Both women had an aura around them and when they drew you into their private circle of space, you could feel their strength and love, even though they spoke quietly. I'm not saying that Nancy Reagan was a saint, but, as Mother Theresa, she had a force around her that was exceptional. And she listened and carried on a conversation instead of offering stock pleasantries. She was a First Lady and a woman to reckon with and to admire. ~~~~~ Ronald Reagan, whom I met in occasional White House meetings, was bigger than one would expect, even from his TV images. The first time he spoke with me, I looked into the most sparkling friendly eyes I have ever seen. They smiled at me, as did his weather-lined tanned face. Like his wife, President Reagan focused on the person he was speaking with, but the aura was one of quiet assurance. If I would want to be with Nancy to take on life, I would choose to be with President Reagan in times of trouble -- to unburden myself on his big square shoulders, loving eyes and soft voice. When he spoke in meetings, he was brief. When his head tilted slightly and he said "Well," we knew his wishes would follow and everyone wanted to carry them out -- because he was right and because it was natural to want to please him. He expected hard work and success from us, as he did from himself, but he didn't demand. He suggested. ~~~~~ Dear readers, it was truly the Golden Age of conservative America. We worked hard to honor the Constitution and to leave nobody behind as we worked to create that "shining city on the hill." It was a singular honor to be part of the Reagan years -- to work for a President who loved America and saw its potential better than any President has since. The low-keyed intensity of his vision, the elegance and style of their White House, the joy their love spread over all of us -- it was a Golden Age. I often compare it to the words that Shakespeare wrote for his play Henry V -- so that King Henry V could rally his soldiers as they went into the crucial battle at Agincourt in 1415. The English were outnumbered by the French but the King's St. Crispin Day speech and the determination of the English won the day. All of us who worked for Ronald Reagan can identify with the words of Henry V : "From this day to the ending of the world, / But we in it shall be remembered- / We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; / For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, / This day shall gentle his condition; / And gentlemen in England now-a-bed / Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, / And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks / That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. (Henry V, William Shakespeare.). Thank you, Mrs. Reagan. Thank you, President Reagan. May we not disappoint you.