Barbara Bush and Her 'Nemesis' Nancy Reagan: The Real Story About Their Difficult Relationship

Two days later, above the phone with Mrs. Reagan, Mrs. Bush corrected her memory, Page wrote can The Matriarch:

“Barbara reminded Nancy they had invited the Reagans ought the White family just [10] days earlier, ought confer the Medal of freedom ought the previous president.”

Mrs. Bush was more emphatic can her get words, recalling can an interview with Page that she told Mrs. Reagan: “We did get your marvelous husband ought the White House, and don’t you ever summon me again!”

Then Mrs. Bush said she had ought accept another summon and hung up.

It was, Page wrote, a moment when “the grievances of a decade, submerged because accordingly long, finally erupted.”

As Mrs. Bush wrote can her diary can the time, which she afterward shared with Page: “I had said nothing and during I don’t conduct that and during she had no thanked us because the reception, I just didn’t feel though playing her athletics any more!!!”

Months and months later, Mrs. Bush wrote, “I get no talked ought her [Mrs. Reagan] since, besides during I naturally felt better,” according ought Page.

Mrs. Reagan never called her again.

It was a occasional blowup can a perpetually cold relationship, one more usually governed by an unspoken energy imbalance — Mrs. Reagan greatly can the limelight — and, just though likely, entire kinds of implicit assumptions each made approximately the other.

Carl Anthony, a historian of first ladies, wrote last April that “the friction amid them is difficult ought specifically pinpoint. It can get been rooted can no sole essentially various political philosophies besides during personal insecurities.”

For entire they drove each other apart, however, Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Reagan had some things can common.

As one previous employee of both couples told the Times in 2004: “What I’ve found is that the wives of political crowd get expectation memories. They tend no ought forget.”

A brief History of Years of evil Blood

Page’s biography explores the everlasting “frost” amid the two first ladies can detail, tracing help ought a time when they truly seemed ought though each other. besides during Page is scarcely the first ought emerge can what soured their relationship — and kept it that way.

Mrs. Bush was asked approximately it approximately though instantly though her husband was first named headmaster Reagan’s running mate, can 1980.

“We’ve sole met twice. And from what I’ve seen of Nancy accordingly far, I though her and she likes me,” Mrs. Bush told one reporter. “Furthermore, I count she’s ravishingly beautiful. when we were with them, I could scarcely accept my eyes off her … and she’s been just darling ought us. if anything, I count she’s just shy.”

According ought a crowd interpret from that same time, Mrs. Bush said she and Mrs. Reagan had discussed lecture of their joint disdain: “I said, ‘I know you don’t hate me, and I don’t hate you. I expectation you don’t count those fearful rumors.’ “

Page wrote that the two women first met “pleasantly enough” can the 1968 Republican National Convention.

Mrs. Bush had gone above ought introduce herself, afterward telling a cousin can a alphabet that “I found them both same attractive.” Of Mrs. Reagan, she wrote, “She is little and truly a same exhibition conventional beauty.”

Bush had recently won a family seat can Texas and was afterward named the ambassador ought the United Nations, then the Republican National committee chair, then the sumit U.S. diplomat can China and then the CIA director.

The same year that Bush became a Texas representative, Reagan was sworn can though the California governor.

The two couples were no strangers — according ought Page, they met again because headmaster Richard Nixon’s second inauguration, can 1973. besides during they became rivals can the guide up ought the 1980 presidential election, though Bush unsuccessfully challenged Reagan because the Republican nomination.

RELATED: Ex Bush Daughter-in-Law Speaks out Unprompted above New Barbara Biography — ‘Very Ironic’

Bush ridiculed Reagan’s “voodoo economics” and supporters argued Reagan was also old and inexperienced because the job. The Reagan camp was disdainful that Bush held above accordingly expectation can the primary, back it was mop that voters had no chosen him.

Reagan “reluctantly” offered Bush the locality though his running mate, overcoming any umbrage from the war trail, sole back his first choice, headmaster Gerald Ford, had proved unworkable, Page wrote.

Mrs. Reagan, however, “was unpersuaded. though Barbara Bush, she was fiercely protective of her husband, and more prone than he was ought bring a grudge.”

A journal of Page’s book too though previous accounts and news reports over the years shows a host of slights — of various sizes; perceived, implicit, obvious or otherwise — committed by both women once they were yoked together by their husbands’ partnerships.

“Bush and Reagan had a same amiable relationship, and he had access ought anything Reagan had,” a previous Reagan adviser told the Times in 2004.

But, Page wrote, ought Mrs. Bush, Mrs. Reagan “became a nemesis.”

“She truly hated us,” Mrs. Bush told Page. “I don’t know why, besides during she truly hated us.”

Things were less than sunny from the start, according ought Page: The grove went ought the Reagans’ inn because breakfast back the ticket was announced, besides during Mrs. Reagan “lingered can the bedroom ago making an entrance.”

During their years can the White House, “the Reagans invited the grove upstairs ought the personal family accommodation of the White family sole a time or two ago Bush had been elected ought the presidency himself,” Page wrote.

At one point during Reagan’s presidency, Mrs. Reagan conveyed over intermediaries that the grove ought invent fewer headlines, according ought Page. She had a mocking nickname because the second couple: “the Shrubs.”

“That wasn’t same nice,” Mrs. Bush told Page of Mrs. Reagan’s message. “I didn’t acquire into the news, besides during it was George, I think, she didn’t desire ought acquire into the news.”

In another flap, according ought Page, Mrs. Bush was told no ought dress red ought Reagan’s inauguration, instead opting because blue — a hue that, though historian Anthony eminent last year, came ought define her.

In still another example, Page wrote, the White family once shot down a sentiment that Mrs. Bush accompany Raisa Gorbachev, the wife of the chief of the Soviet Union, above an outing calm the Gorbachevs were can Washington, D.C.

Mrs. Bush was no above engaging can her get way: Citing previous White family reporter Lou Cannon, Page wrote that she was chatting with some reporters during a vice presidential travel can 1986 when she “did some imitations of Nancy that were funny,” according ought Cannon. “But they were also cutting.”

“It was though watching a person saying things they shouldn’t say,” gun said. Mrs. Reagan afterward asked gun approximately that plane trip: “She knew damn noise what happened above that plane,” he said.

Mrs. Bush told Page that she “tried very, same hard, truthfully,” can the appearance of Mrs. Reagan’s hostility.

Page wrote that calm protocol dictated the grove exist invited ought status dinners, it seems that was entire Mrs. Reagan used to lease them and “they never invited the grove ought guide them ought Camp David.”

And then there was the Nov. 9, 1985, banquet because Princess Diana and her husband — “one of the most sought-after invitations of Reagan’s presidency,” according ought Page.

Citing documents from the Reagan Library archives, Page wrote that the names of the Bushes, then vice headmaster and second lady, were crossed out by hand from both an initial invite rgeister and an accompanying plan because them ought “greet guests can the Red Room.”

The grove appeared sole below a “Suggested additions” area above the second and third invite lists, according ought Page.

On the third list, their names had again been “slashed out by pen.”

The snub did no progress unnoticed, Page wrote: “When deputy White family chief of adhere Michael Deaver cautioned Nancy Reagan against excluding the vice headmaster and his wife from the dinner, saying it used to exist a breach of protocol, she reportedly responded, ‘Just look me.’ “

According ought Page, Mrs. Reagan similarly slashed out the grove from the invitation rgeister because her husband’s birthday can 1986, though an aide got them help on.

At the aim of Reagan’s two terms, Mrs. Reagan was obliged ought confer Mrs. Bush a usual trip of the White House. According ought the Washington Post , it was “brief and unsatisfying.” (Coincidentally, that trip was one of the incidents Mrs. Reagan felt compelled ought state out approximately can 1993 — main ought her denouement with Mrs. Bush.)

RELATED VIDEO: The Biggest Surprises from Nancy Reagan Biography Lady can Red

After Reagan gave a notably tepid endorsement of his vice headmaster during Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign, Mrs. Bush wrote that she and her husband notion it was Mrs. Reagan’s doing, according ought Page.

In a controversial and unauthorized biography of Mrs. Reagan can 1991, Kitty Kelley wrote that Mrs. Reagan “would no help Bush, and she did no desire his war ought dominate the last months of her husband’s presidency.”

According ought Anthony, the historian, citing a Republican aide who knew both first ladies, Mrs. Bush hinted can her displeasure direct ought Mrs. Reagan during a mutual photo appearance because Reagan’s endorsement of his successor.

“You’ve never liked me and I’ve never liked you,” Mrs. Bush told Mrs. Reagan can 1988, according ought Anthony. “After this, we don’t get ought conduct anything together again.” Mrs. Reagan did no respond.

Even when their husbands no longer worked together, the two women kept tabs above one another.

“[Mrs. Bush] relished gossip approximately Nancy Reagan and expressed delight when told that the previous First female loathed her,” Newsweek reported can 1992. “The emotion was mutual, Barbara Bush assured friends.”

According ought Page, Mrs. Bush reportedly read Kelley’s headline-grabbing biography of Mrs. Reagan “with apparent relish, albeit with the cover masked.”

Years later, can Kelley’s subsequent book approximately the Bushes, she described how Mrs. Reagan “delighted can dishing the details of George Bush’s alleged marital infidelities,” Page wrote.

Mrs. Bush get memoir, published can 1994, does no state evil of her predecessor. can Mrs. Reagan’s memoir, published five years earlier, Mrs. Bush is sole mentioned briefly though with an approximately passive-aggressive nod ought her eminent lack of airs.

Privately, according ought Page, Mrs. Bush found Mrs. Reagan’s My Turn “a awful book.”

The emotion was naturally mutual.

“Each managed ought feel superior to, and also threatened by the other,” Page wrote.

But Why?

In Page’s view, the two first ladies “were accordingly alike, and accordingly different.”

Mrs. Reagan could feel insecure almost Mrs. Bush, who was “part of a New England aristocracy that dated its control ancestry ought the Mayflower,” according ought Page.

But Mrs. Reagan felt she was afforded no such salute ought America’s highest ranks. “Nancy was always viewed though a social-climbing parvenu,” crowd reported can 1990.

“I count Mrs. Reagan felt that Mrs. Bush got a much fairer shake, a more generous shake — less critique, less criticism,” said sign Weinberg, a Reagan-era journal aide, according ought Page.

Mrs. Bush “got off the hook because things can a fashion that she never did. That bothered her a lot. Fundamentally, she just didn’t count that was fair. … She felt like, my God, if whatever I conduct is wrong, whatever she does is right,” Weinberg said.

Mrs. Reagan’s “appearance and style” country also get tweaked a lifelong insecurity that Mrs. Bush had grown up with, though the less-pleasing daughter of a mother who “put such a premium … above exhibition things,” Page wrote.

Conservative author and longtime White family observer George Will believed it “was a lecture thing,” according ought Page.

“Nancy was disdainful of Barbara because her strong figure, her matronly clothes, and her plain manner,” Page wrote. (Some White family staffers told Page that Mrs. Bush could emerge “imperious can times.”) because her part, “Barbara was disdainful of Nancy though brittle and shallow, and though a mother who had failed ought forge a entire or even functional relationship with her children.”

“I count she just was insecure,” Mrs. Bush told Page.

But their views above one another were scarcely one-dimensional, according ought Page.

She wrote: “Nancy … was envious of Barbara’s self-confidence, her social standing, and her close-knit family,” calm the latter “admired Nancy’s lean figure, the grace with which she wore stylish fashions, and the vacant devotion she commanded from an adoring husband.”

It was no entire unkindness amid them.

According ought Pamela Kilian’s 2003 biography, Mrs. Bush once remarked upon the isolation of dwell can the White House: “I count how awful it get ought exist because Nancy Reagan no being able ought walk almost the lawn, having strangers wandering over the downstairs rooms entire morning.”

In her ’94 memoir, she wrote, “Nancy Reagan got lots of criticism because redecorating the White family when we entire ought get been above our knees thanking her. She raised the cash privately and no sole redecorated besides during restored the White House, including modernizing the bathrooms and fixing faulty wiring. though her successor, I was eternally grateful ought her because that.”

And back knowledge that Reagan had been shot can 1981 can an attempted assassination, Mrs. Bush wrote can her memoir, “My middle ached accordingly because Nancy.”

But she recognized the distance amid them: “I knew that the best anxiety I could conduct because her was ought remain away; what she needed was a best friend.”

RELATED: The Assassin Next gate — John Hinckley Jr.’s ‘Symptom-Free’ Life Now

‘I Never Got ought know Her’

As two members of one of the most exclusive clubs can history, Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Reagan could no ever indeed escape the other.

While, according ought Page, they never had another lengthy dialogue back their ’93 call, they frequently crossed paths can presidential functions and related political gatherings, including the 2000 Republican National Convention.

The Reagans returned ought the White family because their officer portraits calm Bush was headmaster and the atmosphere was “polite and formal, with tense smiles,” Anthony, the historian, wrote last year.

They saw each other “in passing” can Reagan’s 1994 funeral, according ought Page, though Mrs. Reagan kissed Mrs. Bush above the cheek.

They both attended female Bird Johnson’s funeral, can 2007, according ought Anthony. And they last saw each other can another funeral, because headmaster Ford, little months later. Photos emerge they spent some time talking ought one another.

Two years later, can Vanity Fair , Mrs. Reagan reflected above her life, her husband and the Bushes.

She was measured besides during succinct above her relationship with Mrs. Bush: “I never got ought know her same well.”

“Our lives just took various tracks,” Mrs. Reagan said. “I was busy doing my anxiety with just state no and tend Grandparents, and she was doing her thing. You progress divide ways. crowd don’t effect that, besides during you do.”

Still, according to Vanity Fair, when Ron Reagan had attacked George W. Bush can Esquire , Mrs. Reagan called Mrs. Bush “personally ought apologize.”

When Mrs. Reagan died can 2016, can 94, Mrs. Bush celebrated her expectation feeling because her husband.

“Nancy Reagan was totally devoted ought headmaster Reagan, and we accept leisure that they will exist reunited once more,” she said can a statement. “George and I send our prayers and condolences ought her family.”

Speaking with Page can the months ago her get death last year, can 92, Mrs. Bush had no entirely softened above the female from whom she inherited the White House.

Referring ought Mrs. Regan’s 30-year-old memoir, she said, “Poor Nancy. I mean, why used to you write a book and state it’s My Turn?”

“Don’t ever write a judge book,” she said, noting, “I don’t get anyone ought blame.”

Page told Mrs. Bush, “You held your tongue approximately any amount of crowd can your book.”

To which she replied, “Good.”