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Nancy Reagan

February 6, 2011 by · Comments Off on Nancy Reagan 

Nancy Reagan, Nancy Davis Reagan (born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921) is the widow of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and was an influential First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Nancy was born in New York, her parents divorced shortly after her birth and she grew up in Maryland, living with an aunt and uncle while her mother pursued acting jobs. As Nancy Davis, she was an actress in Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s, starring in films such as Brain Donovan, the night in the morning, and Hellcats of the Navy. In 1952 she married Ronald Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild, and they had two children. Nancy was the First Lady of California when her husband was governor from 1967 to 1975. As such, she began working with the Host Program grandparents.

Nancy Reagan became First Lady of the United States in January 1981 following the victory of her husband, but was criticized early in her first term largely because of its decision to replace the porcelain of the White House. Nancy restored a Kennedy-esque glamor to the White House after years of lax formality, and her interest in high-end fashion garnered much attention and criticism. She championed the causes of recreational drug prevention by founding the “Just Say No” drug awareness campaign, which was considered her major initiative as First Lady. Always protective of her husband, more controversy followed when it was revealed in 1988 that she had consulted an astrologer to assist in scheduling the President after the 1981 attempt the assassination of her husband.

The Reagans retired to their home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California in 1989. Nancy devoted most of her time caring for her ailing husband, diagnosed in 1994 with Alzheimer’s disease until his death in 2004. Nancy Reagan has remained active in the Reagan Library and politics, particularly in support of stem cell research.

(AP) – A Secret Service agent charged with protecting Nancy Reagan is recovering after accidentally shooting himself in the hip to the Sheriff’s Department shooting range.

Spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Aranda said the gun went off as the officer was back in its case Friday at the beach in Camarillo. The officer was hospitalized with non-fatal injury to the hip. His name was not released.

Nobody else was injured.

Ventura County Star reports the officer was assigned to the Division of Protection Reagan Secret Service, which handles security for the former first lady.

Aranda said the Secret Service is responsible for the investigation of the incident.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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