Posted on 06/06/2004 8:30:34 AM PDT by knighthawk
RONALD Reagan, the Hollywood actor who became one of the most admired US presidents and the world leader credited with speeding the collapse of the Soviet Union, died at his home in California yesterday, aged 93.
The 40th US president, who died with his family by his side, will be honoured with a state funeral in Washington on Friday that will be thronged by world leaders.
Reagan, a two-term president from 1981-89, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease 10 years ago and died at 1pm local time (6am Sunday AEST) of pneumonia, a complication from the incurable, memory-destroying illness.
His flag-draped coffin is due to be flown to Washington midweek according to US reports that say he will lie in state in the rotunda of the Capitol Building, ahead of a horse-drawn funeral procession, ending with a service at the National Cathedral.
US President George W. Bush, whose father was Reagan's vice-president, led the tributes from around the world.
"This is a sad hour in the life of America," an emotional Mr Bush said in Paris, where he was attending the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
"He leaves behind a nation he restored and a world he helped to save. Under his leadership the world laid to rest an era of fear and tyranny."
Speaking from London, John Howard paid tribute last night, saying Mr Reagan was "the greatest of the post-World War II American presidents".
Mr Bush has appeared to model his presidency on Reagan, who remade the Republican Party in a more conservative image. An optimist, he said he stood for large tax cuts, small government, individual freedom, a strong military and the defeat of evil.
Mr Bush credited the former leader with reviving self-confidence in the US – which he called a "shining city on a hill" – and forcing an end to the Cold War.
"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."
Flags across the US dropped to half-mast as Reagan's coffin was moved by hearse from his home in the ritzy Bel Air district of Los Angeles. Reagan was the oldest president to hold office, aged 78 when he left, and the longest-lived.
"My family and I would like the world to know that president Ronald Reagan has passed away. We appreciate everyone's prayers," his wife of 52 years, Nancy, said in a statement. Children Michael, from his first marriage, and Patti Davis and Ron were at the home.
When Reagan learned of his Alzheimer's diagnosis, he wrote: "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead."
But for Mrs Reagan, it brought a long ordeal. "Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him," she said recently.
She is now likely to step up her campaign for Mr Bush to loosen the rules on research using stem cells from embryos, which scientists believe might find a cure for the disease.
Tributes and sympathy poured in for Reagan, whose Hollywood acting background was mocked by some, but provided the communication skills that were his most potent political weapon as he secured massive tax cuts and military spending that blew out the budget but lifted the US out of deep recession.
"Ronald Reagan had a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty and he did it without a shot being fired," former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher said.
"To have achieved so much, against such odds, and with such humour and humanity, made Ronald Reagan a truly great American hero."
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, with whom he held a summit in 1986 that helped end the Cold War, said he felt "deep regret" at the passing of Mr Reagan.
"Reagan, who was considered to be far-Right, made steps toward us, and herein lies his credit," Mr Gorbachev said. "A statesman who, despite all of our disagreements at the time, displayed the foresight and determination to meet our proposals halfway and change our relations for the better."
Pope John Paul II, himself ailing at 84, was saddened by the death of Mr Reagan, with whom he shared a vision of a world free of communism.
French President Jacques Chirac lamented the death of "a great statesman who through the strength of his convictions and his commitment to democracy will leave a deep mark in history".
Former US president Bill Clinton called Mr Reagan "a true American original" who would be remembered because he "personified the indomitable optimism of the American people, and for keeping America at the forefront of the fight for freedom for people everywhere".
Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry praised Mr Reagan's patriotism and good humour. "Even when he was breaking Democrats' hearts, he did so with a smile and in the spirit of honest and open debate," he said.
Democrats called him the "Teflon president" because no problem ever seemed to stick.
Mr Reagan's central political mantra was that government was the problem, not the solution. But he failed to cut the size of government, and tripled the US's debt.
It is the massive increase in the Pentagon budget, including for his controversial Star Wars missile shield plan, that is credited with forcing the breakdown of the Soviet system, which could not afford to keep up.
Ping
"The Man That Ended the Cold War", what a remarkable legacy and what a remarkable man. Leaders like that are rare treasures.
As a personal aside, it's a shame Holland's Pym Fortyn didn't survive when he was shot by another loon; history turns on events like this. What would the world be like if Reagan had been killed?
I don't want to know how this world would be like without Reagan.
Baloney. Reagan squared off on Gorby and never flinched. He even walked out of nuke talks rather than compromise.
i remember coming home from school the day Ronald Reagan was shot. I had written a letter to him although I can't remember what it was about. I imagine it was a school project or something. So my grandmother told me he had been shot, and my first reaction was extreme sadness and childish selfishness ----" i guess he won't get my letter". then she told me he was alive. and i was happy. that night i got to work with my crayons and construction paper and made a get well card with all my favorite super heroes on it. a few months later i got a thank you note in the mail. i still have it. i think it's really signed by Ronald Reagan. It's his signature and it's definitely signed in ink. those were the days.
Best regards
And also I meant that his signature was probably hand-signed because that was his way. He wasn't a rubber-stamper.
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