Once, shortly after Reagan became Governor of California and was having a big fight with the state legislature over the state’s budget, Mrs. Reagan boarded a plane for a flight to San Diego to attend a meeting. As the plane took off, three men seated behind her got into a heated discussion about Reagan’s efforts to cut the budget and began denouncing him so vehemently that she finally pushed the button to lower the back of her seat and leaned back to confront them.
”That’s my husband you’re talking about,” she cried, “and more than that, you don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s going to be on television tonight, and if you listen you’ll learn all the facts.”
While the Governor’s aide sitting next to her sank into his seat in embarrassment, the three anti-Reaganites lapsed into silence.
Source:
Boller, Paul F. "Nancy Reagan." Presidential Wives: An Anecdotal History. New York: Oxford UP, 1988. 467-68. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Nancy, 151-52.
Further Reading:
If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Sure as shit you're going to pay for it.