His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [293]
Not even the presence of the President and First Lady could stem his tirades. At a Kennedy Center concert attended by the Reagans in 1983, he offered a toast: “To the confusion of our enemies—the press in general and the gossip columnists in particular.” Saying that Washington has “a little gossip now and then,” he asked how anyone could be expected to live with “those idiots,” and hoped that “they all break their typewriters or sew up their mouths.”
Nancy Reagan, too, had felt persecuted, misunderstood, and threatened by probing journalists at the beginning of her husband’s first term in office in Washington, D.C. Frank, in turn, had felt quite protective toward the First Lady when press coverage focused on her extensive wardrobe, the designer clothes she had accepted free and was forced by law to return, the $250,000 diamond necklace and earrings she had borrowed from Harry Winston for the inaugural and kept for six months, the $209,508 she spent for 220 place settings of new White House china, and the $822,641 she raised from private donors to redecorate the White House. Because of the First Lady’s love of luxurious living, the Reagan administration soon became known as “millionaires on parade.”
“She’s had such a bum rap,” said Frank. “The china was a terrible, terrible misrepresentation. The china was given by citizens. She didn’t buy it with our … tax money. It was given to the White House, and what’s wrong with having pretty china in the White House? What’s wrong with having a White House that’s the most wonderful capital building in the world? Nothing wrong with that at all. When she first came to town … she got a bad going over by the press, which doesn’t surprise me … [Nancy] is a very classy lady. She’s quite shy, contrary to what is said about her … she is warm and fun. She has a great sense of humor and giggles and … she’s just great… just great.”
Nancy, in turn, acted like a thrilled schoolgirl in Frank’s presence. A special rapport developed between the First Lady and the singer, whose Secret Service code name was “Napoleon.” Frank flew to Washington several times to have private luncheons with her in the White House solarium, where they chatted for hours. On his trips to Washington to see Nancy, Frank came unaccompanied by his wife, who was not close to Mrs. Reagan. Barbara seemed to resent her husband’s fawning attentions to the First Lady. The feeling was mutual on Nancy Reagan’s pan.
“Even when the Sinatras were invited to a White House state dinner, Mrs. Reagan always wanted Frank seated next to her and Barbara … well, we had to seat Barbara in outer Mongolia,” said a staff member.
After his private luncheons with the First Lady, Frank flew back to Palm Springs. The White House staff ushered him in and out of the family quarters so that he was never seen by the press. “We always knew better than to ever interrupt those luncheons,” said a member of Mrs. Reagan’s staff. “When she was with Sinatra, she was not to be disturbed. For anything.”
As soon as Frank heard about the assassination attempt on President Reagan, he rushed to Washington to be at Nancy’s side; he sat next to her on the Truman balcony watching the Fourth of July fireworks; he danced with her most of the night at the Annenbergs’ New Year’s Eve party, which so angered his wife that she stormed out and refused to attend the following year. Frank offered to buy Nancy Reagan the Bulgari jewels that she had borrowed to wear to the wedding of Prince Charles; he contributed ten thousand dollars to her White House redecoration project; he arranged for her to receive the Scopus Award from the American Friends of Hebrew University; he helped her promote the Foster Grandparents program by singing with her at the White House and then recording the song for Reprise Records, with all royalties going to Foster Grandparents. He even flew into Washington to be the surprise entertainer at a Congressional Club luncheon in her honor.
Bedazzled,