did you write it as if the whole they think was going to be public? >> we wrote it not thinking about it being public. we wrote it for our own memory. the diaries are here. >> entire. >> yes. >> available for anybody to look at? >> uh-huh. >> we go from the gift area. any other gifts you want to mention? >> gave us those, wonderful set. >> do you have more stored somewhere else? >> we have 100,000. can you imagine? we keep changing this, because you want everybody to see them all. they are beautiful, beautiful gifts. >> when someone gives you a gift as the president, is it your gift or the country's gift? >> it's the country's gift, unless you want to buy it.

so when we left the white house, there were a couple of things we bought. there was a silver cigarette box that the queen and philip, prince philip gave us when we celebrated our 38th, i think it was, wedding anniversary with them on the britannia. and on the top it says, to the president and mrs. reagan in honor of their 38th anniversary from queen elizabeth and prince philip and gives the date. you know, the whole thing. you think, what in the world would that mean to anybody else but us? >> so you bought it. >> so we bought it. >> what did it cost you? >> i don't remember. i don't. >> we're going to go from, i guess, peace to war.

>> oh, yes. >> you've got this big missile over here. >> yes. this ibm missile. >> let's walk over this way. stand over here. what is this doing here? >> well, this is the ibm missile that ronnie was so proud of that he got rid of, that he -- >> when you were in the white house, did you-all think much of -- talk much about the military side of things. >> he did. he did. >> you did? >> no. i was aware of it certainly. and when he signed this treaty, he was -- i was very proud of him, and he was very proud of it, too. >> we're going to go next to the first lady's exhibit. >> all right.

>> mrs. reagan, this is your area, the first lady's area. what was your -- first of all, what's this? >> these are two little korean children who had heart problems. they couldn't operate on them in korea. so i put them on the plane and brought them back here. not to california, back east. they operated on them, and they recovered. then there was a problem about should they go back to korea or should they not. their families wanted them to stay here because they couldn't support them. they had many, many children. they didn't have money to support them. so they have been adopted and they are very happy. >> how old are they now? >> oh, gosh. >> that was '83, so they are at

least 16 years old. >> yes. >> do you ever hear from them? >> no, i don't. i saw them after the operation. they created quite a stir on the plane going back, coming back here. >> so they are here in the united states, have been adopted. american citizens? >> i imagine so, yes. >> when you put together the first lady's area here, what was your mission. >> well, just to show what my life was like. this is gridiron, which was a big turning point for me. >> for those that have never been to the gridiron dinner, what is it? >> gridiron dinner is a dinner that's yearly held in washington. it's a very select group of journalists and important people in washington. i wanted very badly to change the image that had been created

about me. i don't know whether it was helen thomas or sheila tate who suggested i do this. they wanted me to make fun of the press. i said no, no. i'm not going to make fun of the press. i'll make fun of myself, which i did. and ronnie didn't know that i was going to do this. i got up from the table, and he thought i was going to the rest room or something. and so when i came out on stage, he was so surprised. i was so nervous, i thought i would die but it all came off well. >> did you sing? >> i sang. >> when you look back over all the years in the public light, what's your attitude about the press? >> i think they got to know me

better. it was a learning process that goes on. >> too rough on people? >> now, i don't even pretend to know about today. >> are you glad you're not doing it today? >> yes, i am. i'll tell you that very quickly. >> this is part of your life over here. >> yes. >> kids and mom and dad. >> this is my -- i saved everything, you know. everything. everybody teased me about that. but then when it came time for the library they were all delighted. i was their best friend then. >> what's that dress? >> that's my wedding suit when we got married. the holdens were with us. >> were the holdens your best friends back then? >> yes, uh-huh. >> when did bill holden die? >> oh, gosh he died -- >> long time ago. >> you keep asking me dates, and i'm very bad.

>> a long time ago. >> yes. and he died alone, which is too bad. he fell and hit his head. nobody found him until the next day. >> your parents are here. >> my parents, yes, right there. >> picture number nine right there. >> right there, yes. my wonderful mother and father. >> what were they like? >> they were -- they seemed to be completely opposite to one mother, they broke the mold after they made my mother. my mother had the greatest sense of humor. my mother had -- my mother knew everybody in chicago. i mean, she knew all the taxi drivers, the doormen and on up. she could tell stories. she could start in the morning and go all day long and tell stories. my father was the first

neurosurgeon in chicago. and he was the complete opposite of my -- they each gave to the other what the other needed. it was a perfect blend. >> how did they get along with president reagan. >> they were in love with him. i used to call home every sunday. i introduced them on the phone. pretty soon, the phone conversations became more of ronnie and my mother than me and my mother or father and they were telling stories both of them. >> now you've got pictures on the wall here of your kids, two from your marriage and two from before. michael, maureen, patty at the ranch. >> yes, this is at the ranch.

>> tell me about the press. what do you think of all the press, analysis of your family and your relationships? has that been hard to deal with? >> well, i don't -- they can write what they want to write. >> do you ever read it? >> sometimes. not all the time. but you know, with my mother and father, i had a wonderful, wonderful relationship. i'm very grateful i had it. >> over here, something we were talking about at the ranch yesterday. the canoe. >> yes. >> what's the story of the canoe. >> you'll laugh when i tell you this, because it's so -- in today's world it's so corny, i guess. when i was growing up, 1,000 years ago, i always thought if somebody wanted you to marry them, this they took you out in

a canoe and played a ukelele to you. sounds pretty silly. on our wedding anniversary. i saw them walking down to the lake with this canoe. >> who was barney? >> barney barnett at the ranch all the time with us. with us in sacramento. wonderful man. he's no longer with us. and ronnie took me out in the canoe, in the canoe. he said, well, i haven't got a ukelele but i can hum. >> there's a picture over here

of you sitting on the dock? >> yes, front and back. he built that. >> did you ever help him? >> no. >> what did you do at the ranch? >> i'd do lots of things. i'd walk. i just loved being there. everybody thought i didn't like it for some reason or another but i did. i liked it. i loved it. >> right behind you -- right in front of you, right behind our cameras is october 18 -- 1986 schedule at the white house. >> pretty full, isn't it? >> what was the point of putting that? >> to show how full the days were. >> did you have that there so you could look and see where your president -- your husband

was? >> my president? [ laughter ] yes. >> how did you interact when you saw that schedule? >> some things i went with and some i didn't go to. the library dedication i went to with him. lots of things i went to with him. >> could you tell by looking at that schedule whether you were going to be included or not? >> well, sure. >> what, the asterisk, little things like that. >> i don't know what that means. the horowitz concert, that's when i fell off the bench. >> in the east room. >> in the east room. >> did you hurt yourself? >> no. horowitz, his doing that i didn't. he had insisted that around the

stage there be a rug and some plants for acoustics. and the poor man who had set these four chairs -- three chairs -- three or four chairs on the stage for us to sit, i remember mrs. horowitz and i had a discussion about who was going to sit on the end one on the one who went in first. i kept saying you, she said you. i finally went in first of the poor man who had set the chairs upset this one chair just at the very edge of the stage. all i did was turn like this to cross my legs, and i went over. and if it hadn't been for him, i would have landed on the marble and really hurt myself. as it was, i landed on the rug and the flowers.

and ronnie -- everybody rushed forward. and ronnie said, honey, i told you not to do that unless there was a problem, unless it wasn't going over. i said, well, i just thought we'd liven things up a little bit. >> what's the bess training for a first lady? >> oh, i don't know that there is any training for a first lady. i don't think there is any training. i mean, even being first lady of california for eight years, still when you get to the white house, it's different. >> go down and look at something that's not easy to talk about, the alzheimer's letter. mrs. reagan, when was that picture taken? >> i don't know. i don't know when it was taken. >> would it have been around the time 1994? >> i think so, yes.

i think so. >> when did you first notice that the president was having a memory problem? >> i didn't. i mean, we all forget. i forget. you forget. don't you? tell me you do. >> absolutely. some days are better than others. >> so he might not be able to remember somebody's name but i can't remember people's names. so i didn't notice anything. it wasn't until -- we yearly went to mayo for checkups. it was in august of that year, '94 that he was diagnosed. i didn't -- >> this letter was written on the board here. is that the actual letter, by the way? >> yes. >> november 5th, 1994. how did you decide to do that? >> well, we have always --

always gone public with whatever we had. i had cancer. he had two cancer operations. and we both went public with it thinking it would help people. and in each case it did. and he felt very strongly about it. with alzheimer's, people were very embarrassed and self-conscious about alzheimer's. they didn't no that it was a disease like any other disease. there was an embarrassment about it. and there shouldn't have been. and he helped to dispel that. and now, you know, now it's amazing how many people come up and say to me that their mother, their father, their husband, somebody in their family has

aul alzheimer's. now they feel free to talk about it. he did a great thing. >> what have you learned about this disease? >> that it's probably the worst disease you can ever have? >> why? >> because you lose contact and you're not able to share. in our case, you're not able to share all those wonderful memories that we have. we had a wonderful life. >> can you have a conversation that makes sense to you with the president? >> not now. no. >> the letter itself, what were the circumstances in which you wrote the letter? were you with him when he wrote it? >> i was with him. we were in the library. he was sitting at the table in the library and he sat down and

wrote it. that was it. >> first draft. >> he crossed out one word or two words there. one or two words. i don't know what that was. but only ronnie could write a letter like that. only ronnie. the way he expressed himself. i don't know anyone else who could do that. >> one of the stories that came out of this, george schultz, you've got a letter from george schultz, two days later. i don't know where i read it but he was supposedly visiting the president and he didn't recognize him. it was tough on him? >> no, no, no. >> not two days later. at some point after -- in the last five years. >> well, he hasn't seen george in a long time. >> the question i want to ask you, though. >> the letter is a very sweet, nice letter.

he's referring to ronnie's letter and saying how, as he puts it, devastated to hear about his development. it's a very nice letter. a you though, as you go through this disease and begin to lose contact, how have you dealt with when people come to visit and he didn't recognize them? >> well, have visitors. >> when it did happen, was it tough on you? >> well, we never let that >>he about, you've been the caregiver. what do you tell people that are watching you as an example about this period? to day? it's often they say tougher on the caregiver than the other individual because they don't know that it's happening? >> it is. yes, it . tougher.

but you know, he would do the same thing for me, and i know that. but there are many -- i'm not the only person. there are many, many, many people out there who are caregivers. it's very difficult to watch somebody you love. >> what kind of shape is the president in now? we heard yesterday from john that he still recognizes him. >> i don't know was referring back to another year because he doesn't go for walks, swim anymore, any of the things john was talking about. john did come to see him last august, i think it was. he was going to a baseball game. i think ronnie recognized him,

but he doesn't do any of those other things john was talking about. john got mixed up. >> the assassination attempt, the cancers, your cancer. what have you learned about dealing with illness and how did you deal with it when it was in the white house itself? did you have a technique or advice you could give others? >> you just do it. you just get up and take each day as it comes and put one foot in front of the other. i don't know how. and you love. >> next stop on your trip is the oval office. >> okay. >> before we go there, ask you why did you build an oval office? >> he wanted to have the oval office the exact size of his office. and everything that was in his

office, he wanted in his office and we've done it. >> let's go take a look. mrs. reagan, what's the -- what do you think the attraction is in the country to the oval office? >> so few people get to see it. if they get to washington, they are lucky to get a tour of the white house but they don't get to the oval office. >> is this the exact -- >> this is the exact replica, everything ronnie had. pictures, saddles, the history of the western saddles. everything is exactly -- the rug. this is the rug we had in the oval office. everything is the same. the desk. >> is this the exact rug? >> yeah, this is the exact rug. >> the desk, anything special you can tell us about the desk? >> well, it was the desk john

kennedy had. >> is this the desk? >> no. >> a replica. >> a copy. >> how many times did you come to the oval office? >> only when i was asked. i did not sit in on meetings, you know. >> did you -- did the two of you sit in the oval office and talk? >> no. that was his business. when he was through in the oval offi, time of day would he normally get back? >> well, depending. again, it's like asking me about the highs and lows. every day was a little different. around -- probably around 6:00. >> when he was president, we used to do programs with him and 45 high school students called students and leaders. used to do them when he was

governor and did them c-span in the white house. the one time he came back to the family quarters and called our call-in show. did you ever see that? >> no. >> the reason i bring it up, i wonder how often -- it seems like he was saying i'm now no longer surrounded by my aides, i'm going to call that call-in show whether they want me to or not. did he watch much information television? did the two of you watch that kind of thing? >> oh, sure. when we could. when we had an evening free, you know. we'd have dinner on trace in the library and watch television. >> did you follow the news much? >> yes. >> what does it do to you when you see yourself on television all the time? >> depends on how they show us. >> is it a good idea to watch yourself? >> well, i thought so. ronnie -- you're curious about

how something is covered. >> sometimes they say it's better not to get mad. >> i know, but we were curious. >> in this office and on that desk is a little tiny plaque we hear a lot about. >> uh-huh, which he believes very strongly. >> you're talking about it, can you remember the whole thing? >> there's no limit to what a man can be or. >> where he can go. >> where he can go. >> if he doesn't mind who gets the credit. >> yes. >> how long have you known him to use that saying? >> that was in sacramento. he had that on his desk in sacramento. he firmly believes that. he never -- it didn't matter to him who took the credit ever. >> did you follow the same -- did you feel the same? >> with the drug program it was just me. >> looking back on your drug

program, did it work? >> i thought so, yes, it did. i'm sorry it didn't continue, because it was a good program. you know, just say no, the expression, just say no, i'm sure a lot of people think that that was handed to me by an agency or something. actually it happened by accident. i was in oakland, a school in oakland talking to fifth graders, i think. and one little girl raised her hand and she said, well, mrs. reagan, what do you do when somebody offers you drugs. i said, well, you just say no. and it caught on and became a rallying point. obviously that wasn't the whole answer but it was good. it got it off. got the attention. i mean it's -- even today, the

expression is used, just say no. >> one of the things that a library like this does is provide history. how do you think president reagan is doing today in history? >> i think he's doing very well. i think a lot of people are taking another look at him and seeing things they didn't see before, perhaps. i think he's doing very well. >> what do you think of the book "dutch." >> i was disappointed. >> why? >> i'm not going to get into that brian. >> do you think -- looking back on that experience, would you have somebody come in in the middle of an administration like that as a biographer?

>> i'm sure it can be useful. depends. >> what is there to be written of what you know of what's available here? >> there are a lot of books, as i understand it, that are being written about ronnie, because everybody kind of held back until this book came out. so there are a lot that are in the process of being written. luke cannon is doing a revision of his story. ronnie's book that he wrote, which is a very, very good book called "an american life," is being reissued. i know of two or three other people who are writing books about him. >> what do you want your own

history to say about the job. >> i'd like them to talk about the drug program. i think that was probably my finest hour. and the fact that i tried to make the white house more livable and attractive and fix it up. >> last question. if you take for granted you spent a lot of your life protecting your husband from others, would you agree that's something you did a lot of? >> yes. >> how hard is that to do and how did you do it.