[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2788]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING NANCY REAGAN

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, yesterday the American people lost an 
icon. Nancy Davis Reagan died at the age of 94.
  Years ago, during an event at the White House, Nancy once serenaded 
her husband, singing: ``together we are going a long, long way.'' And 
boy did they ever.
  Born in New York and raised in Chicago, Nancy studied theater at 
Smith College in Massachusetts before moving westward to California to 
pursue a career in acting. She appeared in 11 motion pictures, but her 
life changed forever when her name appeared on the infamous list from 
the House Un-American Activities Committee. This was a list of people 
suspected of having ties to the Communist Party.
  Worried that she may be blacklisted, she demanded to meet with the 
president of the Screen Actors Guild in an effort to remove her name. 
And guess who was serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild--
Ronald Reagan.
  They met and fell in love. The rest is history.
  This month, 64 years ago, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis married, and 
in Nancy's words: ``my life really began when I married my husband.'' 
And what a life it was.
  From the Governor's mansion in California to the White House, one 
thing was clear, Nancy was always on Ronald Reagan's mind.
  Straight out of a Hollywood script, their 52-year marriage was a true 
American love story. Their mutual love and devotion is a beautiful 
reminder of what a marriage should look like. We should all be so 
lucky.
  Fiercely loyal to her husband and America, you didn't want to get on 
the wrong side of Nancy Reagan. She had grit and was one tough lady 
when she had to be.
  Nancy was a passionate protector of her husband and the Presidency. 
And during talks with the Soviet Union, she constantly encouraged her 
husband to stay with it and not give up. She understood that nothing is 
more important than peace, and the historic START I arms reduction 
treaty may not have been possible had it not been for Nancy.
  After her husband's Presidency, she championed issues such as drug 
and alcohol abuse and afterschool programs. In 1994, after announcing 
his diagnosis with Alzheimer's, Ronald Reagan wrote: ``I only wish 
there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience.''
  But Nancy endured by working to stamp out Alzheimer's and tirelessly 
advocated for embryonic stem cell research for the rest of her life. 
She was determined to save other families from the pain she had gone 
through and she raised millions of dollars for research.
  She praised President Obama when he removed restrictions on the 
Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research and even teamed up with 
Ted Kennedy to work on these issues that were so close to her heart. 
Nancy had a special friendship with Ted Kennedy--who would call her 
every year on her birthday and sing an old Irish song to his dear 
friend.
  That type of bond between the two political parties is missing today 
in Washington.
  In an era when the political discourse can overwhelm the real 
problems we work to solve, Nancy Reagan's legacy can offer a path 
forward that we all can learn from. Before her death, Nancy reflected 
on the state of American politics and the inflammatory rhetoric we hear 
on the campaign trail, saying: ``Do you believe this? Do you believe 
this?''
  Like many of us, she was disappointed by the lack of civility between 
the candidates. It certainly does not reflect a saying she made famous: 
``Dignity should be at the center of everything we do.''
  In honor of Nancy Reagan, I hope we all take that message to heart.

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