Nancy Reagan is being remembered as one of the most influential First Ladies in history, following news of her death overnight.
She was married to former president Ronald Reagan for 52 years, and joined him in the White House for eight years from 1981 to 1989.
President Barack Obama released a statement noting that the former First Lady “redefined the role”.
“Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, acing reality of Alzheimer’s, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives.”
Former President George W Bush said Reagan’s influence was “complete and lasting” and noted her fierce loyalty to her husband.
Reagan gave up her acting career to support her husband on the road to presidency, and was said to be a “fierce protector” of her husband during their eight years in the White House – including by never leaving his side in hospital following a 1981 assassination attempt.
Prior to their marriage in 1952, she made 11 films as Nancy Davis, and met Ronald after setting up a meeting with the then president of the Screen Actors Guild. She played opposite Ronald in her final Hollywood screen appearance on Hellcats of the Navy.
Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley told CNN it was a “codependent presidency”.
“Ronald Reagan was the nice guy who liked to tell everybody how wonderful they were. She was the judge of character, and if she thought somebody didn’t have her husband’s interest in mind, she nixed them. You can’t overestimate how important she was for the Reagan revolution and Reagan’s eight years in the White House.”
Reagan is quoted as seeing her role as First Lady as being to prevent the president from becoming isolated. “I talk to people. They tell me things. And if something is about to become a problem, I’m not above calling a staff person and asking about it. I’m a woman who loves her husband and I make no apologies for looking out for his personal and political welfare.”
Nancy Reagan led on a number of influential initiatives, including the “Just Say No” anti-drugs campaign in 1982. She made a powerful television appearance during the sitcom Different Strokes to deliver the message that, “Drugs take away the dream from every child’s heart and replace it with a nightmare.”
Following her husband’s death from Alzheimer’s in 2004, she raised millions of dollars for research into the disease and became a champion for sufferers.
Nancy Reagan died age 94 of congestive heart failure, in her home in Los Angeles