They were just four words, but they denoted something that led to a wonderful swerve in world history. They were words U.S. President Ronald Reagan repeatedly used when referring to something that happened long before he spoke his most famous four words: "Tear down this wall." The other four words described the most important event in his eventful life, an event without which Reagan probably would never have been in a position to bring down the Berlin Wall:
"Then along came Nancy." If she had not come along, he would not have come to the place he now occupies in history and in the hearts of his countrymen.
When filling out forms that ask if one is married, many people perfunctorily check that box. The Reagans should have put not a check mark but an exclamation point: They were the most married couple imaginable. Ronald was a reproach to every husband who does not write love notes to his wife as they sit together in evening repose. It was a remarkable woman who could elicit such private devotion from a public man with presidential preoccupations.