The cost of her inaugural trousseau was roughly $25,000. The inaugural festivities themselves would run to upwards of $16 million. But it was only the beginning. A penchant for expensive clothes and jewelry, lavish entertaining, and astrology would associate Nancy Davis Reagan with materialism, opulence, and frivolity at a time when many Americans were experiencing economic hardships made worse by the Reagan administration's cuts in social welfare programs.

Glamour, glitz, and unabashed materialism -- these were hallmarks of the financially well-off during the go-go years of 1980's America. Comfortable in this "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" milieu, Nancy Reagan wore designer dresses, performed on Broadway, and welcomed singer and pop icon Michael Jackson to the White House. She also outfitted the presidential mansion with new china and expensive renovations, assuring the public that neither the refurbishment of the White House nor its tableware would come at the taxpayers' expense -- private donations would cover the combined $1 million price tag.

But since these private donations were tax deductible, taxpayers were in effect paying for them, if only indirectly. To make a public relations snafu even worse, the public learned of Nancy's china -- which the First Lady considered a dining necessity -- at the same time the Reagan administration announced a $41 billion cut in welfare program funding. It also coincided with the administration's finding that ketchup was to be considered a vegetable, satisfying that dietary requirement in the nation's subsidized school lunch program. The dissonance, especially during a time of recession, was too obvious to miss.

It was glaringly apparent to the President's staff. Top aides wondered what to do about the growing "Nancy problem." The First Lady, who refused to travel without her hairdressers, loved partying with the wealthy and cavorting with royalty. Her high profile and high-cost style made her a target for the press and champions of the poor, a source of concern for Republicans, and a potential liability for the President. Something had to be done. In response to these criticisms, aides worked to overhaul her image. They urged her to leave the hairdressers at home, tone down the excess, cultivate the press, and champion a cause. Comfortable with valid criticism and committed to protecting her husband and his administration, Nancy complied. Her hairdressers stayed home, and she limited her contact with glitzy friends, made fun of herself in public, and visibly threw the weight of her office behind her antidrug campaign.

Her concern about drug abuse was not just for show. As first lady of California, Nancy Reagan had been involved in antidrug issues, as well the Foster Grandparent program and efforts to locate missing servicemen. Her decision to focus openly on an antidrug campaign, this time as the nation's First Lady, was therefore not an attempt solely to curry favor with the public and the press. And her efforts were admirable. She used her position to lobby against teen drug abuse, appearing at many school events to promote the issue. She concerned herself with both prevention and rehabilitation, and focused international attention on the topic when she spoke to an audience of first ladies from throughout the world at the United Nations. She also used the media and popular culture to her advantage, appearing on a popular sitcom and at a Super Bowl halftime show to discuss drug abuse, and scheduling a celebrity White House tennis tournament to raise funds for drug rehabilitation centers.

The success of her program was limited, however. Though she focused attention on the issue of drug abuse, her program did little more than celebrate local efforts, nonprofit groups, and children who were winning the battle against drug addiction. In addition to a less than ambitious project goal, Nancy's "Just Say No" campaign encountered further criticism when Reagan budget cuts reduced funding to drug-abuse programs. Nancy defended her husband's actions and her project's continued relevance by explaining that it was awareness, not funding, that was important.

As much as Nancy Reagan adopted drug abuse as her public cause, her private crusade still remained serving and protecting her husband. Indeed, her stated goal as First Lady was simply "to help my husband." Though she declared openly her intention to act as the President's sounding board, her influence in the Reagan Administration amounted to much more than merely serving as a ready listener who proferred the occasional opinion. Nancy Reagan closely supervised the President's schedule, played a significant role in the hirings and firings of key presidential staff, and, from time to time, supplied her husband with comments when he appeared stumped in public. She also was integral in softening the President's hard-line conservative stance on issues such as abortion, school prayer, and, in particular, the Soviet Union. Indeed, Ronald Reagan admitted that with regard to "the evil empire," it was Nancy who had persuaded him "to lower the temperature of my rhetoric."

While the White House tried to keep the public from learning about Nancy's advisory activities, the nurturing she provided her husband became familiar to all. As Ronald Reagan survived an assassin's bullet and then colon and prostate cancer surgeries, he acknowledged the importance of First Ladies in general, and his First Lady in particular: "First Ladies aren't elected, and they don't receive a salary. They have mostly been private persons forced to live public lives, and in my book they've all been heroes. Abigail Adams helped invent America. Dolley Madison helped protect it. Eleanor Roosevelt was FDR's eyes and ears. Nancy Reagan is my everything."

Though she might have been "everything" to the President, Nancy Reagan had become a favorite target for the press and the public for almost anything. In some cases, she created her own problems. Her own dependence on astrology and her insistence that the President's schedule accord with astrological predictions made her look somewhat silly. Her failure to return "borrowed" designer gowns and expensive jewelry, and then to report them to the Internal Revenue Service, made her look dishonest. In some cases, criticism of the First Lady went too far. Even her decision to have a mastectomy instead of a lumpectomy to remove a malignant breast engendered public censure.

It had become almost sport to criticize the First Lady -- for her expensive tastes, for her "running" of her husband, and for her faith in the stars. But there was much more to Nancy Reagan than the nicknames "Queen Nancy" and the "Dragon Lady" implied. Indeed, the First Lady not only accepted constructive criticism, she appreciated differing opinions, and valued good people -- regardless of their party affiliation. Perhaps most important -- and what many overlook -- is that Nancy Reagan's ultimate goal remained her husband's success as President, and to that end she worked tirelessly to protect him and to shield him from criticism, even if that criticism was then deflected onto her.

While she worked to ensure the success and legacy of her husband's presidency, Nancy Reagan recognized the special prerogatives of the First Lady. She believed that, "a First Lady genuinely has the power to make a difference," and advised her future successors to remember that they would "never again be in this unique position to make such a contribution." She urged them to "voice [their] opinions, either to [the President] or his staff. In spite of a White House full of people taking care of various aspects of a President's life, you're the one who knows him best. You don't give up your right to an opinion just because you're married to the President."

Often regarded as the power behind the throne, Nancy Davis Reagan remains one of the nation's most controversial First Ladies. Criticized and condemned, she pursued what she considered the most important job as First Lady: supporting and protecting her husband.