First Lady Sells Memoir Rights; Random House Promises Candor

First Lady Nancy Reagan has sold the rights to her memoirs to Random House for an undisclosed sum, with publication expected in the fall of 1989, it was announced Monday.

“I think she’s come to the conclusion that it’s an important historical document,” said Morton L. Janklow, the First Lady’s agent.

Mrs. Reagan, 65, wrote an autobiography called “Nancy” when President Reagan came to the White House in 1981, but it was brief and parts of it were considered less than candid.

Her birth date was forward-dated by two years, for example, and the book glossed over such events as the President’s first marriage and the birth of the Reagans’ first child less than eight months after their marriage.

Janklow said that the new book, however, will be “quite candid.”

“It is designed to be a major autobiographical memoir” of the First Lady, who has been keeping a diary since she came to the White House, he said.

Press Secretary Elaine Crispen said that someone will help Mrs. Reagan write the book but that that person has not yet been selected.