Raisa Gorbachev

When former First Lady Nancy Reagan published her book, My Turn, in 1989, federally financed babysitting was a hot topic in American politics. Her book contains an eye-opening tidbit on this subject on page 311.

Mrs. Reagan had been discussing what she called her "difficult relationship" with Raisa Gorbachev, wife of former Soviet dictator Mikhail Gorbachev, but added that there was "a happy postscript."

"In December 1988," Mrs. Reagan wrote, "Gorbachev flew to New York to address the United Nations. While he and Ronnie met for lunch, Raisa and I were among the guests at a women's luncheon at the home of Marcela Pérez de Cuéllar, the wife of the secretary general of the U.N."

"At the table, Raisa talked with Matilda Cuomo, the Governor's wife, and acknowledged that Soviet society had not done a good job in the area of child care. 'We could have handled this better,' she said. 'We always provided day care in the mother's workplace, but now I think it might have made more sense to keep the child at home for the first few years.'" Mrs. Reagan admitted she was "touched" by what Raisa Gorbachev had said.

Mrs. Gorbachev's candid words should be published far and wide for the enlightenment of American preschool activists, educators, and lawmakers.