The purpose of this paper is to analyze the article "Ronnie and Nancy: A Life in Pictures" by Gore Vidal in terms of a phrase in the article: "No wonder why Nancy thinks the ERA is just plain silly" (427). VidalÆs article was to show that Ronald and Nancy ReganÆs life, as chronicled by Leamer, shows a "gilded" image of the popular products of Hollywood. Both Ronald and Nancy were products of the star system, and the attributes that made them successful as celebrities, in an unreal world, made them popular as president and first lady. They both conformed to political and social stereotypes and played them, as people and as actors û VidalÆs tongue in cheek discussion indicates that he is trying to shnw that they are not real leaders but false gods, and that the values that they follow are false as well.
NancyÆs main claim to fame is not her own success, but rather as the wife of a famous man. She may have been a movie star before she met him, but Vidal implies that her success was even then because of her willingness to attach herself to famous people and her best skill was conforming to stereotypes such as the casting couch of MGMÆs vice president ("Barbara nodded to Miss Davis as she walked into the vice-presidentÆs office; nodded agains when she left later" (427) ).
The comment that Nancy thinks the ERA is just plain silly after noting that she was a debutant (416), had her nose fixed (425), and that she said she was scared to death over her new role as First Lady (424), shows that she worked the system that made her subject herself to her feminine, second-class role, and since she did that successfully, she didnÆt see any need to take seriously the thought that other women, without such access, might need or want to make it on their own and not on the coattails or casting couch of some man.
At one time, women like these were called æqueen beesÆ: they supported the oppressive system not only because the system...