An upcoming book about Ronald and Nancy Reagan by a former spokesman reveals that Reagan came up with a disastrous Valentine’s Day plan as commander-in-chief.
In 1981, newly sworn-in Reagan informed his Secret Service detail that he wanted to head to a “nearby gift shop” to “purchase a Valentine’s Day card for the first lady,” author Mark Weinberg recalls.
When Reagan’s guards objected, he explained “to their consternation” that he’d bought Nancy a card himself for 29 years and was not giving up the tradition.
“Reagan could be very stubborn,” Weinberg writes in “Movie Nights With the Reagans,” out Feb. 27.
But when the Gipper arrived at the card shop, “That was when Reagan fully absorbed just how much his life had changed. The result of this excursion was not what he expected: total pandemonium.”
The president later reckoned: “That was just about the last shopping expedition outside the White House. It caused such a commotion . . . I never wanted to do that to a shopkeeper again.”
But, “still he was quite tickled that he could surprise Nancy with a card that Saturday at Camp David.”
It was one of their very first visits to the retreat.