thumb|left|Vice President George H. W. Bush, Reagan, and Raisa Gorbacheva (spouse of Mikhail Gorbachev) in Washington, D.C., 1987 After the presidency of Jimmy Carter (who dramatically reduced the formality of presidential functions), Reagan brought a Kennedy-esque glamour back into the White House. She hosted 56 state dinners over eight years. She remarked that hosting the dinners is "the easiest thing in the world. You don't have to do anything. Just have a good time and do a little business. And that's the way Washington works." The White House residence staff found Reagan demanding to work for during the preparation for the state dinners, with the first lady overseeing every aspect of meal presentations, and sometimes requesting one dessert after another be prepared, before finally settling on one she approved of.Brower, Kate Andersen (2015), pp. 110–112.
thumb|left|Vice President George H. W. Bush, Reagan, and Raisa Gorbacheva (spouse of Mikhail Gorbachev) in Washington, D.C., 1987 After the presidency of Jimmy Carter (who dramatically reduced the formality of presidential functions) Reagan brought a Kennedy-esque glamour back into the White House. She hosted 56 state dinners over eight years. She remarked that hosting the dinners is "the easiest thing in the world. You don't have to do anything. Just have a good time and do a little business. And that's the way Washington works." The White House residence staff found Reagan demanding to work for during the preparation for the state dinners, with the first lady overseeing every aspect of meal presentations, and sometimes requesting one dessert after another be prepared, before finally settling on one she approved of.Brower, Kate Andersen (2015), pp. 110–112.