WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden on Monday praised Nancy Reagan as a primary lady who “made such a difference,” as the present first lady hosted the revealing of a latest U.S. postage stamp honoring a girl who held the role 40 years before Biden stepped into it.
The issuance by the U.S. Postal Service of a perpetually first-class stamp bearing Nancy Reagan’s image is a component of a yearlong commemoration of the previous first lady’s centennial by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.
At a White House ceremony, Biden talked concerning the “incredible platform” first ladies gain to serve the people after “we’re just form of thrust into the national highlight in a way that I do know none of us could have anticipated.”
“First lady Nancy Reagan served the American individuals with grace,” Biden said. “She understood that the role of first lady got here with inherent pitfalls and scrutiny, yet she found the humanity in all of it. She knew the potential of this role.”
“Next month would have been her a hundred and first birthday,” Biden continued. “And with this stamp we’re affirming that she made such a difference.”
Nancy Reagan was born on July 6, 1921.
Fred Ryan, a White House aide to President Ronald Reagan, said the previous first lady advocated for foster grandparents, championed the humanities, and restored and remodeled parts of the White House. She can also be remembered for her “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign, for undergoing a mastectomy after her breast cancer diagnosis in the course of the Reagan presidency and a fierce devotion to her husband.
However the White House announcement last week of Monday’s event sparked offended commentary on social media by individuals who noted the Reagans’ indifference toward gays and lesbians and to the AIDS crisis that exploded during their time as president and first lady.
Other commentators expressed indignation that the White House under a Democratic president hosted the event in any respect, let alone during Pride Month, which celebrates LGBTQ people.
Jill Biden’s office didn’t reply to an emailed request for comment. Last week, President Joe Biden issued a Pride Month proclamation during which he said the rights of LGBTQI people currently are under “relentless attack” and sought to reassure them that “my administration sees you for who you’re, deserving of dignity, respect and support.”
In her remarks, Jill Biden spoke of the necessity for everybody to assist “bring our communities together.”
“We’ve got to learn from those we don’t understand, to succeed in across the divide and find common ground, because that’s where the muse of our future have to be laid,” she said.
Also participating in the revealing were U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Anne Peterson, Nancy Reagan’s niece. Ryan is also chairman of the board of trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.
Nancy Reagan is the sixth first lady to seem on a U.S. postage stamp after Martha Washington, Dolley Madison, Abigail Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt and Lady Bird Johnson, DeJoy said.
The stamp is about to officially be issued on July 6 during a dedication on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, he said.
Nancy Reagan died in March 2016 on the age of 94.
