Nancy Smith

Dallas Celebrity in the Glamorous 1980s Era of Ronald and Nancy Reagan Nancy Smith

President Ronald Reagan said "America is too great for small dreams", and as the result of his inspiring messages, his Dallas supporters were dreaming in glorious Technicolor. Since both Ronald and Nancy Reagan had been movie and television actors, they took their star-quality to the White House which seemed magical for the first time since the Kennedy Camelot years. The 1980s decade was a phenomenon when patriotism and prosperity and Hollywood and Broadway converged bringing to Dallas such celebrities as Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Prince Charles, Robert Redford, Jack Lemmon, Liza Minnelli, Shirley MacLaine, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth and hundreds more. Leading to the Republican Convention in 1984, Dallas streamlined the city with a dozen new skyscrapers, founded the Arts District, presented dazzling benefit galas, and was recognized as a center of glamour and luxury. The flair of visiting stars and royalty was a catalyst that helped change a medium-size Texas town into a model of the Reagan ideal "shining city".