When Ronnie met Nancy
Nancy Reagan, who passed away Sunday (March 6), met her beloved Ronald Reagan in 1949.
The future 40th president of the United States was serving in another office in the late '40s. Reagan, as president of the Screen Actors Guild, agreed to have dinner with actress Nancy Davis. Davis noticed that her name, which, according to reports turned out to be another Nancy Davis, had popped up in the infamous Communist witch hunt.
Reagan and Davis had dinner (according to
an item posted on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library website), then moved on to a hot Hollywood nightspot.
That simple business dinner was the launching point for what, from all indications, turned out to be one of this country's great love stories.
Married for almost 52 years, Ronald and Nancy managed true affection through thick and thin in one of the brightest public spotlights in human history. I love these two quotes that are prominently displayed on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library website:
"You know, if Nancy Davis hadn't come along when she did, I would have lost my soul."
-- Ronald Reagan
"I said it before and I'll say it once again: My life didn't really begin until I met Ronnie."
-- Nancy Reagan
The future U.S. president and first lady of the ages made one movie together. In 1957, they shared the screen as wartime lovers in "Hellcats of the Navy." He was sub commander Casey Abbott. She portrayed Nurse Lt. Helen Blair.
It was/is a love affair played out in private, on screen, in the White House and now in the Great Beyond.
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