Posted on 06/12/2004 9:56:35 AM PDT by SandRat
'He is home now; he is free'
After a week of somber pageantry, U.S. bids farewell to Ronald Reagan
By Calvin Woodward and Jeff Wilson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. - In a final, majestic hail to the chief, the nation bade a lingering goodbye Friday to Ronald Reagan at a stately service in Washington under somber skies and at a hilltop burial ceremony in his beloved California beneath a setting sun.
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A trying, sad day is borne gracefully
THE NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON - Nancy Reagan started her sixth day of mourning on Friday bowed over her husband's casket in the Rotunda of the Capitol.
By the time the sun set in California 12 hours later, she had attended a state funeral at National Cathedral, a formal send-off at Andrews Air Force Base and, after a cross-country flight aboard an Air Force jumbo jet, Ronald Reagan's burial on a hillside outside Los Angeles.
It was an exhausting and emotional test of endurance, all the more so for an 82-year-old woman who for 10 years has barely been able to step out for lunch while she cared for her ailing husband.
It was also the climax of a meticulously planned week of pageantry and tribute that she was, characteristically, intimately involved in arranging, right down to the selection of the tenor who sang Ave Maria at National Cathedral on a rainy morning.
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Farewell to President Reagan
Thousands in D.C. offer final respects
By Calvin Woodward
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - From Boy Scouts to Supreme Court justices, tens of thousands of Americans filed solemnly past Ronald Reagan's casket at the Capitol on Thursday, a quiet prelude to a majestic funeral shaped by his own hand. Visitors from the Reagan-era ranks of power and friendship flocked to his widow's side.
World leaders including his long-ago Soviet rival Mikhail Gorbachev were among those who gazed upon his casket in hushed contemplation under the Capitol Dome.
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George F. Will: He brought end to malaise that had gripped U.S.
BY GEORGE F. WILL
One measure of a leader's greatness is this: By the time he dies the dangers that summoned him to greatness have been so thoroughly defeated, in no small measure by what he did, it is difficult to recall the magnitude of those dangers, or of his achievements. So if you seek Ronald Reagan's monument, look around, and consider what you do not see.
The Iron Curtain that scarred a continent is gone, as is the Evil Empire responsible for it. The feeling of foreboding - the sense of shrunken possibilities - that afflicted Americans 20 years ago has been banished by a new birth of the American belief in perpetually expanding horizons.
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Reagan cast spell on her at age of 12
By Betsy Hart
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
It was the news I'd been dreading. Ronald Reagan was dead.
One sort of hoped that he was different - that, icon that he was, maybe death would somehow pass him over.
Of course, that was a vain hope, but one had such thoughts when it came to someone like Ronald Reagan.
After I'd absorbed the news, I thought of one thing: the day President Ronald Reagan called me on the phone to say "thank you."
Let's start at the beginning. I first got to know Reagan in Illinois in 1975. OK, I didn't get to know him, but I came to adore him. I was 12 years old. (Yeah, do the math. So what?)
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If you go to Tributes just over to the right there is a slide show and in the same column at the end of the slide show there is a poll asking What will be your lasting memory of Ronald Reagan? So far the number look like this
What will be your lasting memory of Ronald Reagan?
| The Great Communicator: A man who could connect to all people |  |
8% |
| The Iran-Contra affair president | |
28% |
| Reaganomics: Massive tax cuts and large national debts | |
24% |
| The Cheerful Crusader: Ended the Cold War | |
37% |
| The Gipper: Professional actor | |
0% |
|
|
||
| 45 votes | ||
Remembering President Reagan.
Thanks for putting these all in one place for us! Just curious... which is your favorite tribute to RWR? I'm going to send one or two of the best out to non-FReeper friends and relatives on my e-mail list. Thanks.
Just curious... what's the best RWR tribute you've seen this week? (I haven't had a lot of time this week to find/read many of them) I'd like to send one or two of the best out to non-FReeper friends and relatives on my e-mail list. Thanks.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
Just curious... what's the best RWR tribute you've seen this week? (I haven't had a lot of time this week to find/read many of them) I'd like to send one or two of the best out to non-FReeper friends and relatives on my e-mail list. Thanks.
Thank you! Yes, sending Lady Thatcher's speech via slideshow would be perfect. I was reduced to tears immediately upon seeing her amazing tribute live (well, her taped tribute) during the National Cathedral portion of Ronald Reagan's funeral.
Thank you for the Ping
Go to the Bush-Cheney campaign web site.
Not bad ...not bad at all.
My word, he did so much for us. He gave us confidence, optomism. He made us strong.
Great idea... thank you! :-)
Bump!
Sad to see him go. It was a beautiful send off last night, bagpipes and all. Quite stirring.
He was a giant.
Thanks nutmeg.
Thanks, SandRat!
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