My Turn by Nancy Reagan

Author:Nancy Reagan [Reagan, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-76602-1
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2011-07-12T16:00:00+00:00

I joined him for the second meeting, where he thanked all the young people and the volunteers who had worked so hard for him. “Don’t get cynical,” he told them. “Don’t get cynical because look at yourselves and what you were willing to do, and recognize that there are millions and millions of Americans out there that want what you want, that want it to be as we do, who want it to be a shining city on a hill.”

I remember that scene so well. I looked out on that sea of young faces, and so many of them were crying. I put my head down and tried to turn away so the cameras wouldn’t see that I too was in tears.

Lyn Nofziger came up and gave me his handkerchief. “Would you like to say a few words?” he asked.

“I’d like to, Lyn,” I said. “But I can’t. I just can’t.”

Later that morning, on the way to the airport, we passed a hand-painted sign that said GOODBYE REPUBLICANS. YOU PICKED THE WRONG MAN.

It took years for the scars of 1976 to heal between the Fords and the Reagans. I can imagine how the Fords must have felt, to have Jerry win the nomination and then to have the delegates make it clear that Ronnie was their emotional favorite. There was so much more applause for Ronnie that it must have been discouraging for Ford. I know it would have bothered me.

Later, some of the Ford people complained that Ronnie didn’t do enough during the fall campaign to help the president defeat Jimmy Carter. But he did everything he could to support the Republican ticket. When the convention was over, Mike Deaver had asked the Ford campaign to submit their schedule requests as soon as possible. Ronnie had been swamped by speaking requests from Republican candidates for Congress, including a few who had helped him in his campaign. (He also received requests from candidates who had opposed him, and in many cases he spoke for them, too.)

Deaver had been afraid the Ford people would come to Ronnie at the last minute, and then he would be unable to help them—which was exactly what happened. Ronnie campaigned for the Republican ticket in twenty-five states, but when the Ford campaign made a few late requests near the end, Ronnie just couldn’t accept them without canceling previously scheduled appearances, which he has never been willing to do.

You can’t work that hard and that long without being frustrated, and Ronnie and I were both deeply disappointed that he didn’t win the nomination in 1976. But we were so moved by the outpouring of love from the delegates that it was impossible to be bitter. Besides, Ronnie has always believed what his mother taught him—that whatever happens, happens for a purpose. As he saw it, he lost the nomination in 1976 because God had other plans for him.

Four years later, we would learn what they were.

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