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CNN Live At Daybreak

Remembering Maureen Reagan

Aired August 09, 2001 - 07:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: People who knew Maureen Reagan say the daughter of former president Ronald Reagan rarely held her tongue. Maureen Reagan died at her Granite Bay, California home after battling skin cancer for five years. She ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat from California in 1982 and formerly served as co- chair of the Republican National Committee. She was an author, political analyst, talk-show host as well.

Once her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, she became an advocate for research into the disease and raising public awareness as well.

She talked about that last year with CNN's Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAUREEN REAGAN, RONALD REAGAN'S DAUGHTER: I don't fear it -- no. We've got to stop being afraid of this disease and confront it. I am at war with Alzheimer's, and I plan to win. There are some genetic markers that have to do with Alzheimer's, but again, you have to live long enough. So something else may get you first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: Well, flags are at half-staff at the Reagan Presidential Library. A public memorial and mass is scheduled Saturday in Sacramento. Maureen Reagan was 60 years old.

Well, photojournalist Roger E. Sandler knows the Reagan family well. He photographed Ronald Reagan's first presidential race, including every Reagan family member over a span of some 25 years.

He joins us from Washington to help us remember Maureen Reagan -- thanks for joining us, Mr. Sandler.

ROGER E. SANDLER, PHOTOJOURNALIST: Pleasure. Good morning.

MCEDWARDS: What struck you about her?

SANDLER: Well, more than anything else was Maureen's smile. When she walked into a room -- you know that old saying that a person walks into the room, and they light up the room. Maureen always lit up the room with her smile and with her energy. She was a very good example for anyone, who is interested in going into politics, to follow to be able to go in with a good heart and a happiness and having fun, which is something a lot of people in politics miss.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, she was just infectious, wasn't she? And I have read that she was close to her father, but also felt a little bit that she was out of that inner circle as well.

SANDLER: Yes, this pained Maureen. Maureen lived her life with a lot of pain in her heart. She very much would have liked to have been closer to President and Mrs. Reagan, to have been more of a confident, more in the inner circle, and more accepted by the staffs of her father, when he was governor, a candidate and as president and ex-president.

MCEDWARDS: And what was her relationship with him like?

SANDLER: Well, it was very much the same as with his other three children. Each of the three children suffered some pain and heartache that their father was more a public man and has been more a public man throughout his career, whether as a movie actor or as a public speaker or as a candidate or as president than as a father. And they are all pretty sensitive, and no more sensitive amongst them was Maureen. And therefore, she constantly dealt with that on the inside, even though from the outside, few people could tell.

MCEDWARDS: And I read in her memoir, you know, she said that she described neither of her parents as being able go below the surface, I think was the quote.

SANDLER: Well, I disagree with that. I think very much Mrs. Reagan and President Reagan are very deep below-the-surface individuals, for whom I have got a great deal of respect. He didn't, however, go beneath the surface, I think, as a father to her. And I think that is to which she was referring.

MCEDWARDS: Roger, what was it like for you photographing the family over so much time? And maybe as you are describing that, I don't know if you can see them there, but we have been showing some of your pictures that you're going to see only here on CNN. Maybe you could just describe some of them to us, too, if you can see them.

SANDLER: Well, I have photographed every White House since Richard Nixon and every presidential campaign since 1972, and Nixon running against McGovern. And in fact, being with the Reagans and the Reagan staff and the Reagan family was probably the most pleasurable of all of those. I always have said publicly that the men were always gentlemen, and the women were always ladies, and ladylike and gentlemanlike. And it's something that kept them very much in office and has sustained Reagan's legacy in people's minds.

MCEDWARDS: And in terms of her own fight with cancer, did you have much access to her during those five years?

SANDER: Well, interesting -- a year ago in Philadelphia for the convention, I was put up in the hotel with Mrs. Reagan, and Maureen and her husband's hotel room was next to mine. So we did have a chance to visit. You would never know during that week at the convention that she was suffering at all or was in between treatment. But having learned that - we didn't talk about it - but having learned that since, I kept in touch with her and her husband this past year.

MCEDWARDS: And I think we've got one of the shots up now of her as it looks like in her talk-show host days.

SANDLER: Yes.

MCEDWARDS: Tell us about that.

SANDLER: Maureen had a lot of jobs in her career. She was an early actress and a public speaker, and she wrote a book, and she was a radio host, and she actually did some commercials for some products, and she spoke for the Republican Party in causes that she believed in. And she even tried to, as you have reported, tried to run for public office.

And one of the heartaches to which I referred was the fact that she didn't carry the Reagan aura to victory in an election. And though she tried twice, I think she settled, certainly after the second time, even though the first time was quite a blow, that she was Maureen and he was Ronald. And she would live with that separation.

MCEDWARDS: So what do you think she is going to be remembered for?

SANDLER: Well, I hope that she is remembered for that tireless energy and that smile and that good heart she had. As I started saying at the top, people in politics don't always go in for the best of reasons with a good heart and unselfish energy. And Maureen did. And the fact that she had fun and made sure that everybody around her enjoyed whatever event she was attending was very important to her. So it was very ingratiating to be in her company that way.

And I think younger people going into politics can learn a lot. And children of personalities and children of politicians, in particular, could learn a great deal for how Maureen Reagan was able to live her life and live a full life, even though she was at pains, but in fact continued to be loyal to her father and to respect the stature that he and Mrs. Reagan have had...

MCEDWARDS: And I am sure...

SANDER: ... in people's hearts.

MCEDWARDS: ... I am sure they will learn from that. Roger E. Sandler, thanks so much. Good to talk to you today.

SANDLER: Pleasure.

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