The Reagan Movie: Leading Lady

That Reagan Girl; quotes from Paul Slansky, The Clothes Have No Emperor—

3/19 [1983] "Let me tell you a true story about a boy we'll call Charlie. He was only 14 and he was burned out on marijuana.... One day, when his little sister wouldn't steal some money for him to go and buy some more drugs, he brutally beat her. The real truth is there's no such thing as soft drugs or hard drugs. All drugs are dumb.... Don't end up another Charlie."
—Nancy Reagan—image fully transformed from vapid society dame to caring anti-drug crusader—appearing as herself on NBC's Diff'rent Strokes

9/9 [1985] Nancy Reagan tapes her first rock video, singing a chorus of an anti-drug song called "Stop the Madness."

8/9 [1986] President Reagan sets a statesman-like example by submitting a sample of his urine for drug testing. George Bush, oddly enough, does the same.

8/13 The parents of 13-year-old Deanna Young of Orange County, California, are arrested after the girl shows up at the police station with a bag of marijuana, pills and cocaine from their home. Says Nancy Reagan, must have loved her parents a great deal. I hope they realize just how much she loves them."
The story becomes the subject of a bidding war in Hollywood.
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Nancy Reagan's friend Mary Martin suggests that perhaps the First Lady should avoid seeing her current play, Legends, since it contains a hash brownie scene. Sure enough, it is announced the next day that a "scheduling conflict" will prevent the Reagans from attending the show.

9/4 "When the chapter on how America won the war on drugs is written, the Reagans' speech is sure to be viewed as a turning point."
—White House announcement of an upcoming anti-drug speech amusingly billed as the Reagans' first "joint address"

9/14 Sitting on a couch in the White House living quarters, the Reagans urge a "national crusade" against the "cancer of drugs." Afterward, the President—who will cut funding for drug programs as soon as the election is over—squeezes his wife's hand reassuringly.

1/13 [1987] "It wasn't a sustaining issue. It was the epitome of the fad issue, a classic really. It came and went in three weeks, max."
—GOP consultant Lee Atwater on the Reagans' anti-drug campaign