Posted on 06/10/2004 3:02:54 PM PDT by ZGuy
When Ronald Reagan could no longer recognize his elder son, hugs took the place of familiar words, Michael Reagan said Thursday, speaking emotionally of their relationship during his father's descent into Alzheimer's.
"As the years went by and he could no longer recognize me, I began a process of hugging him whenever I would see him. I would hug him hello and hug him goodbye," Michael Reagan said during a tribute to his father at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex.
One time, he said, he forgot to hug his father goodbye. The former president followed him out the front door and stood with his arms open.
"I ran back and gave him a hug," Reagan said, his voice cracking with emotion.
He said the greatest gift his father had given him was faith.
"I know where he is. I know he's in heaven," said Reagan, 57. "Someday I want to be there with him, and I know I will be. My father and I, and all of us, will be dancing before the great Father in heaven, Alzheimer's-free."
More than 200 people who gathered for the event, mostly former Reagan administration workers, gave Michael Reagan a standing ovation after his speech.
Reagan political buttons inside large frames sat on easels. In the middle of the stage, behind the lectern, was a picture of Reagan wearing a cowboy hat and smiling broadly.
Nancy Reagan spent the day across the street at the Blair House presidential guest house. A long line of dignitaries stopped by to pay their respects. Her daughter, Patti Davis, and son, Ron Reagan, also were there.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were among the visitors. Thatcher signed a condolence book, writing "To Ronnie — "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, one of four eulogists at Reagan's funeral service Friday, talked with Mrs. Reagan for more than a half-hour. He said she "looked good, very dignified."
"Given the very painful circumstances, she's in remarkably good shape," he said.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, speaking through a translator, said he "told her I felt very privileged to have an opportunity to work with one of the greatest American presidents."
He said he reminisced with Mrs. Reagan about a visit many years ago to the Reagan presidential library in California and a tour of the grounds conducted by the former president. At one point, Reagan stopped and pointed.
"He told me that would be the spot he would be buried and right next to him would be buried Mrs. Reagan," Nakasone recalled. He asked Mrs. Reagan if that still was the plan and she said it was.
In a telephone interview, Reagan family spokeswoman Joanne Drake said Mrs. Reagan had been moved by the outpouring of love and respect for her husband. Drake said that during Wednesday's flight to bring the former president's body from California to Washington, Mrs. Reagan spent some time alone with the casket, then was joined by the three surviving Reagan children. Daughter Maureen, from Reagan's first marriage, died from cancer in 2001.
Drake said Mrs. Reagan also recounted the former president's final moments before death last Saturday.
"She told me that as he neared death and it became evident it was close, he opened his eyes and he gazed at her. His eyes were as blue as ever and he closed them and died. She told me it was the greatest gift ever," Drake said.
She's with her children - that doesn't mean Michael should have to "sit below the salt". This is family time and Michael is family.
Other posters have noted that Ron never had anything good to say about his father - when he has been civil it is always with just a touch of attitude. How ironic that Michael who has openly praised his father for years is the one excluded.
In an article last year, Ron Jr. said that he has cats instead of kids because of tuition costs. Soon enough he'll have plenty of money to give to democrats.
I heard last night Nancy resented it when Michael went to live with her and Ronnie, when Michael was a young boy.
I'll get an extra helping in your honor.
Yes, if she couldn't do it because it was the right thing, she should have done it because this is the only negative memory that we, supporters of President Reagan, will have about his funeral ceremonies.
I'm going to send Michael a condolence via email. My
heart sure goes out to him.
Good idea. He always supported his father instead of thinking that life should be "all about him" the way his siblings apparently did.
I couldn't find Mike Reagan's email address but this was easy enough to find on his website
Studio Phone: 1 (800) 468-MIKE (1-800-468-6453)
Studio FAX: 1 (888) 226-4430
Snail Mail:
Michael Reagan Show
PO Box 6061-405
Sherman Oaks, CA 91413
Ronald Reagan loved and respected his Michael; Michael loved and respected his father.
That fact will endure through the ages.
God Bless Ronald Reagan and may God comfort Michael in this time of grief.
AMEN!
The sight of Michael, standing with his hand over his heart and tears streaming down his face, at the end of the service really got to me.
As an adoptive mom, I sometimes think that people don't understand that when you adopt a child, that child becomes YOUR child...just as if they were born to you. The fact that Michael was adopted by President Reagan shouldn't even be an issue.He is his son....that's all. No adjectives needed.
One wish I have is that Nancy come to realize that as much as the loss of her husband, friend, partner, confidant and soulmate pains her....so, too, has the loss greatly pained Michael. That is evident by the vision you mentioned and most of us saw of Michael paying respects to his father in the Rotunda. One who could not feel Michael's pain within their own heart are truly incapable of empathy.
why wasn't michael shown during the service? they shoved him in back row in DC, but he was next to Nancy, Ron, and Patti in CA. is this something nancy requested, that he not be shown?
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