so many crazy things happened to her. she had such a full life. and i remember one time we were, you know, stretching and she was really doing great and i thought i'll just push it a little bit and she goes, you're hurting me dear. i went, oh, of course. well, we'll stop that then. but she never had, you know -- it was just lovely to be with her. none of my other clients go, you're hurting me, dear. i'm pretty sure they're "hey, what's the matter with you." >> you feel very happy for mrs. reagan at this point because you're certain that she has now rejoined ronnie, as she called him, so affectionately, and i'm happy for you that you not only got a chance to, you know, do your work, great work that you do with someone like the stature of mrs. reagan but you have so many wonderful memories and smiles left behind in your heart. thank you very much.

>> oh, thank you. >> wonderful affectionate fond memories of mrs. reagan. absolutely. >> that's why i wanted to get her on because i got to hear some of the stories and i thought it was great for america to hear those stories. >> terrific insight, just so loving. judy miller is with us now. the adjunct professor fox news contributor. reminds me there's a woman running for president now, but we're hearing through the stories of the white house insiders that we've already had a very powerful woman symbol in the white house and that was nancy reagan. >> yes, precisely. this was the difference between nancy reagan who was the size 2 fashionista pit bull, behind the scenes woman, a woman who believed in exercise power through her husband and the modern incarnation of what to be a powerful woman is all about

hillary clinton. you couldn't have a more stark contrast. look, nancy reagan was famously quoted as saying my life didn't really begin until i met ronnie. you cannot imagine that kind of statement today from a modern woman politician. and i think that's the big difference in the way in which nancy reagan thought about herself, thought about exercising power and projecting it. she was so terribly influential. as ed rowlands has told us. but she didn't really come forward with her passions whether it was drug abuse, unless it was approved by her husband, but she didn't come forward on the stem cell campaign until it was announced her husband had alzheimer's and that the cure may lie in stem cell research. and then she fought very, very hard and openly and publicly and

that was such a total break with her own style and her own background. she didn't speak directly. she said she spoke only once to president bush, george w. bush, about stem cell research. when he adopted another policy, she was kind of heart broken, bub she was quiet about it. when president obama reversed that policy, she said this is a step forward, she wished it had happened earlier. but this is the modern post reagan, post ronnie reagan woman that we came to see at the very end of her life. the contrast could not be starker. we see how feminism has changed the role of american women in power and politics, and i think nancy reagan did so much that so many people only learned about after her husband died. >> your expertise, one of them is in foreign affairs of course. talk a little bit about her influence directly. back in 1995, she apparently was

influencing him to start having those summit meetings with gorbachev. gorbachev was a new leader of the soviet union that could usher in a new era and that eventually happened. how do you prod your husband, who's the leader of the free world, to go, you know, pick up the telephone and actually corral the state department bureaucracy and all the other officials to actually reach out and do that? >> well, i think that's another one of her great accomplishments. i mean, she really did understand that the world had changed with the collapse of communism and that gorbachev was a transition to a different kind of future, if her husband and the united states could take advantage of it. she pushed him to be on the forefront of that history, to do what you could, especially after the iran/contra scandal, if you remember. the white house was very eager to change the subject, to shift gears. for ronald reagan who made his

reputation fighting communism to embrace what could be a new russia, a new country, i think she understood the political and the public relations value of that, and she urged him to do that and, once again, this is one of these things we now know. we know that she talked a lot about nuclear weapons with him. they talked a lot about that together. we have the famous meeting with gorbachev. where ronald reagan tries to sell gorbachev on the idea of going to zero, no nuclear weapons. once again, always behind the scenes, but she was tremendously influential. the former adviser to the white house called her the most influential secretary we've ever had. >> almost a slip of the tongue -- >> i know, secretary of state. >> you can talk a bit about -- you can perform that role as the loving spouse, as the partner to your husband or, as the partner

to your wife, who ever is president. talk about that dynamic if you could. some americans would just look at the dresses and the glamour perhaps but they don't see that substance and that escapes some people. >> they don't understand how important a man who had control of over 4,500 nuclear weapons, how important it is that he have or she have peace of mind. i think the role of the spouse, especially in a more traditional marriage, the wife supporting the husband, giving him the confidence and the peace of mind to pursue what he deems is in the best interest of america is so important, and she played that role to the hit. it was not just playing a role, though she was a former actress, it was something she believed in because she so believed in him. i think this has got to be one of the great love affairs of american political life. it was a love affair that endured, enabled him to be everything he could be, and

that's an extraordinary tribute to her. >> i was -- do you mind if i ask a question? referencing -- i'm sorry, judy, i'm listening to the stories and the picture you paint with your words, and, you know, i wonder if that tone will somehow settle over us as a country. as i think we all need to sort of remember the love of country, the love of each other at this point. >> i certainly hope so. given what we've seen in the past weeks. of the polarization of america political life, the anger, the frustration, the bitterness. i think we could all use a little more of the confidence and the love of one another and of the country, that the reagans displayed. both with each other and for the country. >> judy miller, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> so well said. >> absolutely. >> thank you, judy. >> gail burt is with us now.

the former social secretary to first lady nancy reagan. tell us please your initial thoughts and memories of mrs. reagan. >> initial thought is one of almost happiness because i went to see mrs. reagan in october. we had tea together. at one point during our tea together she said she thought perhaps god had forgotten her, and i think today god did not forget her. and i think she's in a place where she's very happy and where she wants to be and needs to be. >> i agree with you. i believe that as well. i would like to know though more about that time. what was going on inside the white house in terms of just whatever turmoil? what was facing mrs. reagan at

that time when she had that feeling got had forgotten her? >> i think what she was alluding to is she had lost all of her -- almost all of her friends and acquaintances and she was really doing nothing but attending funerals or writing condolence letters and i think she felt quite alone at the end. so -- and i also think that she was perplexed by the republican party and wanted someone to talk to about it. so i think -- i think at the end she was wanting to go join her husband. >> we just showed a very touching photo of mrs. reagan sitting there at the grave site of her husband, president reagan. i want to ask you, because,

gale, you were the former social security to former first lady mrs. reagan. do you feel mrs. reagan focused more on parties or policy in terms of trying to bolster her husband and whatever he might have faced in his political strife, if you will? >> right. i know she gets sort of a rap of being -- of focusing just on the superficial and the parties and the clothes and the china. but what she really brought to -- ronald regan, in particular, was the art of friendship. when i went for my interview with mrs. reagan, mike deaver took me to lunch prior to the interview, and she said, don't forget, when you go upstairs, ronald reagan would not be president, were it not for nancy reagan. and her friendships made in the carpool line of her kid's school

led to the kitchen cabinet, which led to his great support for running for president. and i think it also helped him very much in governing. he had great friendships with the g-7 and the g-8 leaders. i mean, really good friendships. not just meet once a year friendships. he and brian mullroney traded irish limmerics all the time. he supported them during a very difficult time and of course the legendary friendship with thatcher. these were friendships when the cruise michelssile debate and everything else was taking place, these friendships really mattered, and that's what she was really about, she knew how to -- she knew the art of

friendship and she used it through the art of entertaining, and she never lost sight of reaching out to people who were not only friends but also foes, and bringing them into the white house. >> boy, isn't that a great point there. bringing in friend and foe into the white house. i want to ask you -- again, the former social secretary to former first lady nancy reagan. was mrs. reagan a demanding boss? was she meticulous? >> she was demanding, but she was fair, she was very fair. she was meticulous. she did -- she did reach out on the phone, i would guess, maybe ten times a day, so she was very on top of everything. but not in a mean way. she was very fair about everything. she made her views very well

heard, and, you know, you either took them or you didn't. as in the case of don reagan. that was ultimately his demise because he failed to understand her sort of value to the president. they were two halves that made a whole. and failed to understand how she could have helped him. >> we have spoken about mrs. reagan's strength and her influence on the president. we have also referred to mrs. reagan as a glamorous woman. tell us a little more about that side of nancy reagan. >> she was glamorous. she was a product of hollywood. the entertainment world is about glamour. she brought a lot of hole to the

white house. i think washington, d.c. was sort of intrigued by whole thing because that west coast element had not been at the white house before. suddenly we had frank and sammy davis jr. sort of in every aspect of planning a lot of our things. it was glamorous but it all had a reason. i think if any book should be written about nancy reagan, it would be how she used the art of entertaining and brought it to bear to diplomacy and governing. and it was a great marriage in that way. >> what a great note to end on. thank you for your time. former social secretary to nancy

reag reagan. >> michael reagan, of course, the son of the president, the adopted son, by his first wife, jane wyman. wrote moments ago, i am saddened by the passing of my stepmother nancy reagan. she is once again with the man she loved, god bless. simple, to the point, ambassador bolton, we talked about the relationship that she is now, again, re nigunited with ronald reagan. we just mentioned don regan and that famous firestorm, but james baker, the secretary of state, he was george h.w. bush's campaign manager, and she did not object to him joining the white house staff. michael dever, 30 years, from california to the white house, ed meese, give us some inside if you can on her influence and the fact that she could pick out talent.

>> because of her focus on making sure the president was able to accomplish his objectives, she was very concerned about the people around him and the ability to use the resources of the white house and the political skills of the president. i'm surprised so far into this tragic remembrance is no one has called him the great communicator. she was a professional woman herself in the '40s and '50s. she knew how to communicate. i think she was determined to make sure that enormous capacity of president reagan was utilized. and honestly she thought he was numero uno in the white house and that's the way it should be and people would didn't understand that ran into trouble

with her. >> is that something we should consider now, we're in the heat of this incredible republican primary, you know, it's just unbelievable, is that something we should also balance today? >> i think the ability that ronald reagan had, certainly in political terms today people are looking for, is something who can inspire his followers. he clearly had his own vision of what american should be. it was an optimistic vision. she did everything she could to help portray it. i think if you can't communicate what your objectives are, to get them through congress, to get them through elections, whatever, then you can have great ideas, they're not going anywhere. although we look back at the reagan years as a period we wish we could return to, at the time, it was tough.

let's start with the attempted assassination. it was a shock to the country. it was stunning to all of us working across the nation for the president, and i think in that period, she was an inspiration to us. it was important to show confidence. that the president would recover. that he would be fully able to take on the duties of the presidency again. i think she contributed to that in a material way. and that's why going forward, having been through such a -- literally, a near death experience, that she was determined that the president -- that his ability to get done what he wanted to get done was increased to every extent she could. >> finally, the reagan years of the white house. we have to remember in 1976, he challenged a sitting president, gerald ford and of course she was very instrumental in that.

>> she was, i think that was part of the overall reagan legacy, it was a view that she helped foster that you could get things done, and that you shouldn't hide your convictions. it was a matter i think of reinforcing reagan's own instincts. and that's why she and the president together were such an inspiration. i just say from the perspective who is a presidential appointee out on the bureaucracy saying then the two of them together, looking at that optimism and happiness and confidence, really inspired me in some pretty bleak days out there in the bureaucracy -- >> what was that like? >> you don't measure that -- well, i think when you're trying to implement policies that cut against the conventional wisdom, whether it's the state department or anywhere else, knowing that the president's got your back, even if he doesn't know day by day what you're doing is important, i always try to think if ronald regularen were sitting in my chair in my little office at the state department what would he do?

the ability to keep him optimistic was just enormously important. obviously a large majority of the american people. >> did you have an opportunity to meet with him at all or meet with him? >> i didn't know her well at all. i think it was impossible to miss even from that distance. ambassador john bolton will stay with us as we reflect and remember the life of nancy reagan today. judy, you were here at the top of the hour when we first shared the sad news of first lady nancy

reagan having passed at 94 years old. you've been listening now to the various stories and accounts over the past 50 minutes. what are some of your thoughts now? something you want to add to or something that perhaps those comments have evoked in you?

country and people. the role she played at the time cannot be overestimated and the role of a wife/supporter is underestimated. the unifiers begin within a home whether it's your own home or the white house. that's what she was. that's what she was for her husband and what the reagans were for all of us. it was morning in america after a bleak period and she's now with the man that she loved so much. >> indeed. stay with us a little bit longer. we have some tweets now coming in from donald trump saying "nancy reagan, the wife of a truly great president, was an amazing woman. she will be missed." that's a tweet just posted by

donald trump and we also have a -- >> ted cruz, senator cruz tweeting this. nancy reagan will be remembered for her deep passion for this nation and love for her husband. the reagan family is in our prayers." >> we remember nancy reagan this morning. >> we have heard so many wonderful accounts of nancy reagan former first lady and strength. she was strength behind the president. perhaps believing in him more so than he believed in himself when he was after having had his acting career trail off as it normally does and he became involved in politics at a local level in the world of entertainment mostly and then decided to, nancy says, look, you can be more than this. you're not a failed actor that will run affairs in the

entertainment world. you can be the governor of california. sure enough there is when the strength of nancy reagan first came to bear and actually became at the forefront in the headlines where we realized who the strength was behind ronald reagan. >> they met in 1952. that's when they married. a look back for a moment at the last video that we have of mrs. reagan on june 5th, 2014. a very poignant reflection as you can see. she's at the grave site of her husband. this is where mrs. reagan will be buried also at the reagan presidential library in simi valley. i think in a sense, ambassador bolton is here, as we look at that, that is the sense of love, dedication, caring and it is really almost heartbreaking and

so poignant with her love as you think what's going through her mind. i think of any image that we've had. former first lady in a wheelchair at her husband's grave rch grave. >> definitely an endearing piece of video there. it's tough to watch it speaks volumes. >> it really does. >> it's extremely touching. we have another one of our staff members that would like to share thoughts with us. oliver north is here. >> the lieutenant colonel is on the telephone. >> can you hear us, sir? >> i can indeed. >> what are your thoughts right now? i would like to hear your personal thoughts first, sir. >> it's a passing of an era. i mean, this is the last close connection many of us had with the greatest president in my lifetime and certainly this was a love story.

there is absolutely no doubt in my mind having seen the two of them together as often as i did what a great love story it really was when they were both with us. it's an endearing memory to most of us because ronald reagan drew a great deal of strength from the relationship he had with nancy. >> colonel, if you can talk about that strength for a moment. you had been in the white house working closely with the president through those years. what was it like? would you see her? would you talk to her? what advice did she give you? did you talk about anything like that? >> well, she didn't give me advice but she did -- i stepped back from the president at one point to introduce him to someone coming out of a cabinet room meeting and i stepped on her foot. she was -- you know, marines. we're not walking forward, we step backwards and we step on somebody and i stepped on her

foot. she very gently got me in the ribs and said, forward, forward, right direction to go. i watched them in various settings from california -- i was the junior staff officer and had to make a lot of trips in 1984 when he was campaigning. my recollection is she didn't miss a single one of those campaign stops. those are gruelling experiences even when you're the president of the united states and you've got air force one to fly around on. back then it was a 707. it wasn't the big comfortable 747 they've got today. and she would travel with him. she would make all of those stops particularly during the convention which was in dallas that year in 1984. and was right there beside him. literally. this is not a person who would be so fatigued they wouldn't get up and make one of those appearances. she was a very gracious hostess to all of those receptions. >> colonel, your reflections on her influence on his foreign

policy? on the end of the cold war, i earlier talked about an evening in which gorbachevs were at the white house and she asked for moscow to be played and said that was the moment the cold war crumbled. >> it could well have been. again, this is a gracious lady. she was the kind of person that ronald reagan could count on to be in that kind of a situation where there was no doubt she would be the perfect hostess. it's that kind of thinking that would go into preserving his legacy. no doubt that's what she wanted to do most of all particularly after his presidency. she wanted to preserve the legacy of ronald reagan and part of that legacy was bringing down the evil empire. there's no doubt in my mind that if you could have shown what the department of education was going to help bring down the soviet empire, you would get your budget approved. it was that kind of thing with

ronald reagan. the department of agriculture showed how it would hurt the soviet empire. i don't know what her political class was except she was going to do everything in her power to support him in what she wanted to do. >> strong willed woman. great photograph of her dancing with frank sinatra and the president is trying to cut in. you don't cut in on the chairman of the board or mrs. reagan when you're dancing. colonel north, thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> good to talk to you. sadly under these circumstances. we have video now of mrs. reagan's hearse. this is outside of the home in bel air, which will at some point be moving and we understand she will be buried as we have said at the reagan library in simi valley, california. no schedule at the moment has been released about when we can expect that but clearly in the

coming days. >> it's a sad picture to see that hearse rolling away. it's taking first lady nancy reagan to join her beloved husband, president ronald reagan. this is a fox news alert. i'm bret baier in washington. welcome to a special hour remembering former first lady nancy reagan. the news breaking just a short time ago according to her assistant, mrs. reagan died this morning at her home in bel air, california. the cause, congestive heart failure. she was 94 years old. nancy reagan was thrust into the political life when her husband ran for governor back in the '60s and then ronald reagan's political ambitions swept them into the white house in 1981 after a successful 1980 presidential campaign. she'll be remembered for her complete devotion to her husband. always standing behind him as his fier