Author's Rap Session

Ms. Kelley was the guest at the National Press Club's Authors' Rap Session, one of the final stops on her publicity tour for her book, Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography. The scathing account of Nancy Reagan's life, which mentions drug use by the Reagans in California and a long-standing affair between Frank Sinatra and Nancy Reagan among other scandals, was a best-seller during the spring of 1991, and was featured in a front page article in the New York Times upon its release. Ms. Kelley described the book as being the story of how Nancy Reagan manipulated her husband and ran the White House. She said the resulting furor over the book, raised by supporters of the Reagans including members of the Washington press corps, displayed the power and hypocrisy of the press covering the Reagans, many of whom had been sources for the book itself. Ms. Kelley responded to questions following her opening remarks.