Former President Ronald Reagan Dies at 93

[thedrifter]

Former President Ronald Reagan Dies at 93

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON - Ronald Reagan (news - web sites), the cheerful crusader who devoted his presidency to winning the Cold War, trying to scale back government and making people believe it was "morning again in America," died Saturday after a long twilight struggle with Alzheimer's disease (news - web sites), a family friend said. He was 93.


He died at his home in California, according to the friend, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The friend said the family has turned to making funeral arrangements. A formal statement was expected later.


The White House was told his health had taken a turn for the worse in the last several days.


Five years after leaving office, the nation's 40th president told the world in November 1994 that he had been diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's, an incurable illness that destroys brain cells. He said he had begun "the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life."


Reagan body was expected to be taken to his presidential library and museum in Simi Valley, Calif., and then flown to Washington to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. His funeral was expected to be at the National Cathedral, an event likely to draw world leaders. The body was to be returned to California for a sunset burial at his library.


Reagan lived longer than any U.S. president, spending his last decade in the shrouded seclusion wrought by his disease, tended by his wife, Nancy, whom he called Mommy, and the select few closest to him. Now, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton (news - web sites) are the surviving ex-presidents.


Although fiercely protective of Reagan's privacy, the former first lady let people know his mental condition had deteriorated terribly. Last month, she said: "Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him."


Reagan's oldest daughter, Maureen, from his first marriage, died in August 2001 at age 60 from cancer. Three other children survive: Michael, from his first marriage, and Patti Davis and Ron from his second.


Over two terms, from 1981 to 1989, Reagan reshaped the Republican Party in his conservative image, fixed his eye on the demise of the Soviet Union and Eastern European communism and tripled the national debt to $3 trillion in his singleminded competition with the other superpower.


Taking office at age 69, Reagan had already lived a career outside Washington, one that spanned work as a radio sports announcer, an actor, a television performer, a spokesman for the General Electric Co., and a two-term governor of California.


At the time of his retirement, his very name suggested a populist brand of conservative politics that still inspires the Republican Party.


He declared at the outset, "Government is not the solution, it's the problem," although reducing that government proved harder to do in reality than in his rhetoric.


Even so, he challenged the status quo on welfare and other programs that had put government on a growth spurt ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal strengthened the federal presence in the lives of average Americans.


In foreign affairs, he built the arsenals of war while seeking and achieving arms control agreements with the Soviet Union.


In his second term, Reagan was dogged by revelations that he authorized secret arms sales to Iran while seeking Iranian aid to gain release of American hostages held in Lebanon. Some of the money was used to aid rebels fighting the leftist government of Nicaragua.


Despite the ensuing investigations, he left office in 1989 with the highest popularity rating of any retiring president in the history of modern-day public opinion polls.


That reflected, in part, his uncommon ability as a communicator and his way of connecting with ordinary Americans, even as his policies infuriated the left and as his simple verities made him the butt of jokes. "Morning again in America" became his re-election campaign mantra in 1984, but typified his appeal to patriotrism through both terms.





At 69, Reagan was the oldest man ever elected president when he was chosen on Nov. 4, 1980, by an unexpectedly large margin over incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Near-tragedy struck on his 70th day as president. On March 30, 1981, Reagan was leaving a Washington hotel after addressing labor leaders when a young drifter, John Hinckley, fired six shots at him. A bullet lodged an inch from Reagan's heart, but he recovered.

Four years later he was re-elected by an even greater margin, carrying 49 of the 50 states in defeating Democrat Walter F. Mondale, Carter's vice president.

___

On the Net: Reagan Library official Web site: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040605/thumb.ny11306051311.reagan_health_ny113.jpg


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=1&u=/ap/20040605/ap_on_re_us/reagan_obit


Ellie


Rest In Peace

[Sixguns]

Truly an honorable and respected man. A remarkable Commander-in-Chief who saw the value in a smarter, better equipped military to protect and defend our nation and it's allies around the world. It was through his commitment to a strong defense that our military was able to aquire the needed training, equipment and personnel that make our nation's armed services the most proficient and superior forces on and off the field of battle. Rest in peace, Mr. President.

Sixguns

[HardJedi]

In my opinion, the last TRUE leader we have had. Good or bad, I think he was a great President.

Farewell, and thanks.

[yellowwing]

I am honored to be counted as on of HIS warriors. He had the courage to direct us to our greatest threat. And under his Command, we prevailed.

God Bless Ronald Reagan, and God Bless the USS Ronald Reagan ~ May She Ever Rule the Sea!

Hand Salute! :marine:

[greybeard]

The man had more guts than anyone since FDR in my opinion.

[Wyoming]

Semper Fi, Mr President, Semper Fi.

[firemanfrank]

Hand Salute! Present Arms!

Mr President, You were a true American Hero!

Semper Fidelis Sir

[CPLRapoza]

Our flag here at U.S Embassy Montevideo is at half mass, for you Mr. President. Semper Fi.

[Super Dave]

Semper Fi Mr President, You lead this nation with honor and courage. You blessed this nation by your service and may god bless you in your passing.

[USMCWifeNMom]

Thank you Mr. President for your service to our beloved Country. May you find peace in God's loving embrace.

[thedrifter]

Key dates in life of Ronald Reagan


Feb. 6, 1911: Born in Tampico, Ill., younger of two sons of Nellie and John Reagan.


1932: Graduates from Eureka College, Eureka, Ill.


1932-1937: Works as radio announcer at WOC, Davenport, Iowa, and then WHO, Des Moines.


1937: Makes film debut with "Love Is on the Air."


Jan. 26, 1940: Marries Jane Wyman, actress. Children: Maureen, born 1941, Michael, born 1945, and Christine, born four months premature in 1947 and died the next day. Marriage ends in divorce in 1949.


1940: Plays "the Gipper" in "Knute Rockne: All-American," one of his best-known roles.


1942-45: Serves war effort by making air force training films.


1947: Becomes president of the Screen Actors Guild (news - web sites).


March 4, 1952. Marries Nancy Davis, actress. Children: Patti, born 1952, and Ronald, born 1958.


1952, 1956, 1960: Though a Democrat, campaigns for Republicans Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon. Formally switches to Republican Party in 1962.


1954-62: Works as host and performer on General Electric Theater, tours as speaker for GE.


Oct. 27, 1964: Gives influential speech in favor of GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.


Nov. 8, 1966: Elected California governor over incumbent Democrat Edmund G. "Pat" Brown.


1968: Makes last-minute bid for Republican presidential nomination.


Nov. 3, 1970: Elected to second term as governor.


1976: Challenges President Ford unsuccessfully in the Republican primaries.





Nov. 4, 1980: Elected president over incumbent Jimmy Carter, garnering 51.6 percent of the popular vote to 41.7 percent for Carter and 6.7 percent for independent John Anderson.

Jan. 20, 1981: Sworn in as 40th president of the United States. Iranian hostages released.

March 30, 1981: Wounded by one of six shots fired as he left a Washington hotel after giving a speech.

June 5, 1981: The AIDS (news - web sites) crisis begins when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports five gay men in Los Angeles are suffering from a rare pneumonia.

July 7, 1981: Announces he is nominating Arizona judge Sandra Day O'Connor (news - web sites) to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites).

August 1981: Fires more than 11,000 air traffic controllers after they go out on strike against the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites).

Oct. 23, 1983: 241 U.S. Marines and sailors are killed in a suicide truck-bombing in Lebanon.

Oct. 25, 1983: U.S. troops invade island of Grenada after a leftist coup there.

Nov. 6, 1984: Re-elected, besting former Vice President Walter Mondale with nearly 60 percent of the popular vote. He took 49 out of 50 states for an Electoral College (news - web sites) vote of 525-13, the most lopsided since Franklin Roosevelt defeated Alf Landon in 1936.

May 5, 1985: Visits German military cemetery at Bitburg as a gesture of reconciliation, inciting worldwide protests because 49 of Adolf Hitler's dreaded Waffen SS troops are buried there.

July 13, 1985: Undergoes successful surgery for colon cancer.

Nov. 19-21, 1985: Summit in Geneva with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan calls it a "fresh start" in U.S.-Soviet relations.

April 15, 1986: United States launches an air raid against Libya in response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin 10 days earlier. Libya says 37 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

Oct. 11-12, 1986: Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, on arms reduction, U.S. strategic defense initiative or "Star Wars."

November 1986: The Iran-Contra affair becomes public. White House admits selling arms to Iran but denies it sold arms for hostages. Later in the month, Reagan announces aide Oliver North has been fired and national security adviser John Poindexter has resigned. It is disclosed that up to $30 million in arms-sale profits were diverted to Nicaraguan rebels, known as the Contras.

March 4, 1987: Reagan acknowledges in a televised speech that his Iranian initiative deteriorated into an arms-for-hostages deal, saying, "It was a mistake."

Oct. 23, 1987: Senate rejects Reagan's nomination of Robert H. Bork for the Supreme Court.

Dec. 8-10, 1987: Summit in Washington. Reagan, Gorbachev sign treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces, but disagreement over Star Wars blocks progress on a strategic arms reduction treaty.

May 29-June 2, 1988: Summit in Moscow. Reagan, Gorbachev exchange ratified texts of the INF treaty, discuss strategic and conventional arms and stroll in Red Square.

Nov. 8, 1988: Reagan's vice president, George H.W. Bush, defeats Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis for the presidency.

Dec. 7, 1988: Summit in New York City. Gorbachev's plan to reduce Soviet armed forces is discussed. President-elect Bush takes part.

January 1989: Returns to California after second term ends.

November 1990: Publishes his memoir, "An American Life."

Nov. 4, 1991: Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., dedicated; with President Bush (news - web sites) and former Presidents Reagan, Carter, Ford and Nixon in attendance.

Nov. 5, 1994: Discloses he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (news - web sites).

Jan. 12, 2001: Breaks his hip in a fall at his home.

March 4, 2001: Christening of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan.

Aug. 8, 2001: Daughter Maureen dies of cancer.

Oct. 11, 2001: Becomes the longest-lived president ever, having lived 33,120 days. The nation's second chief executive, John Adams, lived 33,119 days, from 1735 to 1826.

July 12, 2003: U.S. Navy (news - web sites) commissions its newest aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, the first carrier to be named for a living president.

[Sparrowhawk]

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/031208/031208_reaganwords_vmed_4p.vmedium.jpg



“If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here, to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” —Speech at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987

May he rest with Moses

cook

[greybeard]

I think that speech defined him as well as anything.

[Sgted]

Mr. Regan, Mr. President.
You have been and will continue to be part of this man's collective 58 years of memory here on earth.
You HAVE and WILL be missed.
God bless and Semper Fi.

[WillManning]

Semper Fi

[thedrifter]

A sad hour in the life of America, says Bush



Text of President Bush's remarks in Paris on President Reagan's death.
"This is a sad hour in the life of America. A great American life has come to an end.

"I have just spoken to Nancy Reagan. On behalf of our whole nation, Laura and I offered her and the Reagan family our prayers and our condolences.
"Ronald Reagan won America's respect with his greatness, and won its love with his goodness. He had the confidence that comes with conviction, the strength that comes with character, the grace that comes with humility, and the humor that comes with wisdom.
"He leaves behind a nation he restored and a world he helped save.
"During the years of President Reagan, America laid to rest an era of division and self-doubt. And because of his leadership, the world laid to rest an era of fear and tyranny.
"Now, in laying our leader to rest, we say thank you.
"He always told us that for America, the best was yet to come. We comfort ourselves in the knowledge that this is true for him, too. His work is done. And now a shining city awaits him.
"May God bless Ronald Reagan."

[thedrifter]

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today
"One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for."

BY RONALD REAGAN
Sunday, June 6, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

(Editor's note: President Reagan delivered this speech June 6, 1984, the 40th anniversary of D-Day, to a group of World War II veterans at Pointe du Hoc, France.)

We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.

We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.

The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers on the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the Continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting only 90 could still bear arms.





Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.

Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your "lives fought for life . . . and left the vivid air signed with your honor."

I think I know what you may be thinking right now--thinking "we were just part of a bigger effort; everyone was brave that day." Well, everyone was. Do you remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51st Highlanders? Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help. Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming. Well, they weren't. They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around him.

Lord Lovat was with him--Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, "Sorry I'm a few minutes late," as if he'd been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he'd just come from the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken.

There was the impossible valor of the Poles who threw themselves between the enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold, and the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who had already seen the horrors of war on this coast. They knew what awaited them there, but they would not be deterred. And once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back.

All of these men were part of a roll call of honor with names that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore: the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Poland's 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England's armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard's "Matchbox Fleet" and you, the American Rangers.





Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith, and belief; it was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge--and pray God we have not lost it--that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you. people of your countries were behind you.

The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They thought--or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4 a.m., in Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying, and in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.

Something else helped the men of D-Day: their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Col. Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer, he told them: Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask his blessing in what we're about to do. Also that night, Gen. Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."

These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies.





When the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and governments to be returned to the people. There were nations to be reborn. Above all, there was a new peace to be assured. These were huge and daunting tasks. But the Allies summoned strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who fell here. They rebuilt a new Europe together.
There was first a great reconciliation among those who had been enemies, all of whom had suffered so greatly. The United States did its part, creating the Marshall Plan to help rebuild our allies and our former enemies. The Marshall Plan led to the Atlantic alliance--a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace.

In spite of our great efforts and successes, not all that followed the end of the war was happy or planned. Some liberated countries were lost. The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in the streets of Warsaw, Prague and East Berlin. Soviet troops that came to the center of this Continent did not leave when peace came. They're still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost 40 years after the war. Because of this, Allied forces still stand on this continent. Today, as 40 years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose--to protect and defend democracy. The only territories we hold are memorials like this one and graveyards where our heroes rest.

We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars: It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.

But we try always to be prepared for peace; prepared to deter aggression; prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms; and, yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation. In truth, there is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union, so, together, we can lessen the risks of war, now and forever.

It is fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II: 20 million perished, a terrible price that testifies to all the world the necessity of ending war. I tell you from my heart that we in the United States do not want war. We want to wipe from the face of the earth the terrible weapons that man now has in his hands. And I tell you, we are ready to seize that beachhead. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest. There must be a changing there that will allow us to turn our hope into action.

We will pray forever that someday that changing will come. But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it.

continued.....

[thedrifter]

We are bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions and beliefs. We are bound by reality. The strength of America's allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies. We were with you then; we are with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.
Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."

Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.

Thank you very much, and God bless you all.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005179


Ellie

[Phantom Blooper]

Reagan to Be Honored With State Funeral

June 6, 2004 03:37 PM EDT


SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Ronald Reagan was remembered with jelly beans, flowers and American flags on Sunday at memorials in his hometown and outside the mortuary where the former president's body lay.

Reagan will be memorialized at the first presidential state funeral in more than three decades, a ritual rich in traditions from the country's earliest days. His remains will be flown to Washington to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The funeral, undoubtedly attended by world leaders, will be at Washington National Cathedral. President Bush will speak at the funeral.

Tokens of remembrance were left in Santa Monica for the nation's 40th president, who was 93 when he died of pneumonia, as a complication of Alzheimer's, at his Bel Air home on Saturday. "Thank you for changing the world," said a handwritten note.

The family's spokeswoman said Nancy Reagan was thankful for thousands of expressions of sympathy over the death of her husband, and despite her sadness was relieved he was no longer suffering.

"I can tell you most certainly that while it is an extremely sad time for Mrs. Reagan, there is definitely a sense of relief that he is no longer suffering, and that he has gone to a better place," Joanne Drake told a press conference outside the mortuary where Reagan's body lay.

"It's been a really hard 10 years for her," Drake said of Nancy Reagan, as nearly a week of tribute to the former president was detailed.

In a piece written for Time magazine before Reagan's death, Nancy Reagan remembered her husband as "a man of strong principles and integrity" who felt his greatest accomplishment was finding a safe end to the Cold War.

"I think they broke the mold when they made Ronnie," she wrote in the article appearing Monday. "He had absolutely no ego, and he was very comfortable in his own skin; therefore, he didn't feel he ever had to prove anything to anyone."

Bush, in France to commemorate D-Day, recalled that 20 years earlier Reagan had come to Normandy on the anniversary of the June 6, 1944, invasion.

"He was a courageous leader himself and a gallant leader in the cause of freedom, and today we honor the memory of Ronald Reagan," Bush said.

On Monday, the Reagan family was to travel in a motorcade with the body to the presidential library in Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles. After a private ceremony, the body was to lie in repose for public visitation through Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the body will be flown to Washington, D.C., then driven to the U.S. Capitol for a state funeral. Reagan's body will then lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda through Thursday.

Friday morning, a motorcade will take the casket to the National Cathedral for a national funeral service. It will then be flown back to California for a motorcade to the library for a private interment service.

At Reagan's boyhood home in Dixon, Ill., mourners left flowers, flags and packets of Jelly Belly jelly beans - his favorite - at the feet of a life-sized statue of Reagan in the front yard.

Ken Dunwoody, 82, who grew up outside Dixon, said the Republican icon transcends partisan politics.

"I just think of him as being an American," Dunwoody said. "I wish we all could get back to that."

At Bel Air Presbyterian Church, which Reagan attended during and after his presidency, worshipper Rose McNally recalled how members of the congregation would react to his arrival.

"As soon as he'd start up the ramp, people would pick up a piece of paper, any piece of paper, to get him to sign," she said. "He was a great man."

The Rev. Mark Brewer opened Sunday's first service with a remembrance, saying, "As a nation, we grieve this week."

"He brought with him not only a love for the nation but also a sense of humor," Brewer told about 500 people. He lauded Reagan's leadership in the Cold War, calling it the "third great war" of the century.

Reagan's "Star Wars" program drew the Soviet Union into an unaffordable arms race, and his 1987 declaration to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the Berlin Wall - "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" - was the ultimate challenge of the Cold War.

Gorbachev on Sunday looked back on those tensions with equanimity and forgiveness.

"I take the death of Ronald Reagan very hard," Gorbachev told reporters. "He was a man whom fate set by me in perhaps the most difficult years at the end of the 20th century."

"It was his goal and his dream to end his term and enter history as a peacemaker," he said.

Reagan died at 1 p.m. Saturday and his body was taken to a Santa Monica funeral home. A shrine that sprouted outside grew to include a cowboy hat, personal letters, flags, candles and jelly beans.

Hand-written cardboard signs read: "Because of you, we are proud Americans," "God bless you, Ron, and God bless America" and "Good night, Mr. President."

---

Associated Press Writers Laura Wides in Los Angeles and Mike Colias in Dixon, Ill., contributed to this report.

[thedrifter]

CONDOLENCE BOOK

We invite you to sign our condolence book and share with us your thoughts on the legacy of Ronald Reagan. Your message will be shared with Mrs. Reagan and the Reagan family, and while they will not be able to respond personally to each one, please know how much they appreciate your kindness.


https://www.ronaldreaganmemorial.com/condolence_book.asp



Ellie

[DSchmitke]

Rest In Peace Mr. President Semper Fi. and God Bless

[Kegler300]

Long live the Gipper...

http://www.strangecosmos.com/images/content/100403.bmp

[cjwright90]

Rest in Peace, Sir!

[Sparrowhawk]

http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/RONALD_REAGAN.sff_CAJC139_20040607205948.jpg

[Sparrowhawk]

http://www.thestate.com/multimedia/thestate/KRT_packages/ariaillg.gif

[CAS3]

Good one Cook...
I was only 10 when President Reagan came into office but I remember him as one of the best Commander In Chief's we've had. There has been no greater since. He will be missed. Rest in peace, Sir.


I am wondering if anyone is coming into DC to view President Reagan?