Essay by Dan Rather, read at the very end of a CBS News special report, on the evening of June 5, 2004. --- "President Reagan led the West in a decisive hour of a long battle for the survival of Western culture, Western ideas and ideals. He was a son of the West. Born in the American Mid-West, he grew to full manhood and died in its far West. All of his life, he favored the West Wind. He dressed the part, acted it, spoke it, and lived it. The Reagan presidency began on the front steps of the Capitol....