Early in his first term, she was criticized largely due to her decisions both to replace the White House china, which had been paid for by private donations, and to accept free clothing from fashion designers.

She was the only child of Kenneth Seymour Robbins (1892–1972), a farmer[6] turned car salesman who had been born into a once-well-to-do family,[1][7][8] and his actress wife, Edith Prescott Luckett (1888–1987).

[1][13][17] After their separation, her mother traveled the country to pursue acting jobs and Robbins was raised in Bethesda, Maryland, for six years by her aunt, Virginia Luckett, and uncle, Audley Gailbraith, where she attended Sidwell Friends School for kindergarten through second grade.

[13][21] In 1940, a young Davis had appeared as a National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis volunteer in a memorable short subject film shown in movie theaters to raise donations for the crusade against polio.

"[24] After passing a screen test,[13] she moved to California and signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) in 1949;[2] she later remarked, "Joining Metro was like walking into a dream world.

[29] She played a child psychiatrist in the film noir Shadow on the Wall (1950) with Ann Sothern and Zachary Scott; her performance was called "beautiful and convincing" by New York Times critic A. H.

[28] In addition, Davis downplayed her Hollywood goals: promotional material from MGM in 1949 said that her "greatest ambition" was to have a "successful happy marriage"; decades later, in 1975, she would say, "I was never really a career woman but [became one] only because I hadn't found the man I wanted to marry.

[28] After her final film, Crash Landing (1958), Davis appeared for a brief time as a guest star in television dramas, such as the Zane Grey Theatre episode "The Long Shadow" (1961), where she played opposite Ronald Reagan, as well as Wagon Train and The Tall Man, until she retired as an actress in 1962.

[42] The couple wed on March 4, 1952, at the Little Brown Church in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, in a simple, hastily arranged ceremony designed to avoid the press; the marriage was her first and his second.

[71] White House aide Michael Deaver described the second and third-floor family residence as having "cracked plaster walls, chipped paint [and] beaten up floors";[72] Rather than use government funds to renovate and redecorate, she sought private donations.

[75][76] The first lady secured the assistance of renowned interior designer Ted Graber, popular with affluent West Coast social figures, to redecorate the family living quarters.

"[85] Reagan's wardrobe consisted of dresses, gowns, and suits made by luxury designers, including James Galanos, Bill Blass, and Oscar de la Renta.

[87] Adolfo said the first lady embodied an "elegant, affluent, well-bred, chic American look",[87] while Bill Blass commented, "I don't think there's been anyone in the White House since Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis who has her flair.

[100] The new china set, White House renovations, expensive clothing, and her attendance at the wedding of Charles and Diana, Prince and Princess of Wales,[101] gave her an aura of being "out of touch" with the American people during the recession.

[13] This built upon the reputation she had coming to Washington, wherein many people concluded that Reagan was a vain and shallow woman,[100] and her taste for splendor inspired the derogatory nickname "Queen Nancy".

[107] In general, the First Lady's desire for everything to appear just right in the White House led the residence staff to consider her not easy to work for, with tirades following what she perceived as mistakes.

Nancy was in charge of planning and hosting the important and highly anticipated state dinner, with the goal to impress both the Soviet leader and especially his wife Raisa Gorbacheva.

"[125] She was escorted into a waiting room, and when granted access to see her husband, he quipped to her, "Honey, I forgot to duck", borrowing the defeated boxer Jack Dempsey's jest to his wife.

Private lines were set up in the White House and Camp David to assist in phone calls between Nancy Reagan and Joan Quigley, which occurred multiple times a day, and she was paid $3,000 a month for her work.

Regan wanted President Reagan to address the Iran-Contra matter in early 1987 by means of a press conference, though the first lady refused to allow her husband to overexert himself due to a recent prostate surgery and astrological warnings.

[143] Beginning in 1985, she strongly encouraged her husband to hold "summit" conferences with Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, and suggested they form a personal relationship beforehand.

Visiting the United States for the first time in 1987, Gorbacheva irked Reagan with lectures on subjects ranging from architecture to socialism, reportedly prompting the American president's wife to quip, "Who does that dame think she is?

"[147] She wrote in her memoirs, "I don't think I was as bad, or as extreme in my power or my weakness, as I was depicted,"[148] but went on, "However the first lady fits in, she has a unique and important role to play in looking after her husband.

Ten days after the operation, her 99-year-old mother, Edith Luckett Davis, died in Phoenix, Arizona, leading Reagan to dub the period "a terrible month".

[159] In 1991, the author Kitty Kelley wrote an unauthorized and largely uncited biography about Reagan, repeating accounts of a poor relationship with her children, and introducing rumors of alleged sexual relations with singer Frank Sinatra.

[160][161][162][163] In 1989, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) began investigating the Reagans over allegations they owed additional tax on the gifts and loans of high-fashion clothes and jewellery to the first lady during their time in the White House[164] (recipients benefiting from the display of such items recognize taxable income even if they are returned).

[171] She returned to the library in Simi Valley for a sunset memorial service and interment, where, overcome with emotion, she lost her composure and cried in public for the first time during the week.

Beginning in 2004, she favored what many consider to be the Democratic Party's position, and urged President George W. Bush to support federally funded embryonic stem cell research, in the hope that this science could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's disease.

[197] Following the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in April 2013, she stated, "The world has lost a true champion of freedom and democracy ... Ronnie and I knew her as a dear and trusted friend, and I will miss her.

There were also many attendees from the Hollywood entertainment industry, including Mr. T, Maria Shriver (Schwarzenegger's then-wife), Wayne Newton, Johnny Mathis, Anjelica Huston, John Stamos, Tom Selleck, Bo Derek, and Melissa Rivers.