Focus 580; National Public Radio coverage of the funeral of Ronald Reagan

This is special coverage from NPR News. I'm Neal Conan. And I'm Linda Wertheimer. Over the past few days tens of thousands of Americans took time out to come to the Presidential Library in Simi Valley California or to the Capitol here in Washington to pay their respects to Ronald Reagan. The final visitors walked through the Capitol Rotunda earlier this morning before another of the solemn ceremonies that accompany a nation's farewell to the president. A ceremonial honor guard from the U.S. armed services assembled and the U.S. Navy band performed Ruffles and Flourishes and hail to the Chief to a 21 gun salute. The casket bearing the body of President Reagan was then carried down the Capitol steps and placed

in a hearse along with the cars for the Reagan family and the honorary pall bearers. It's now part of a motorcade on its way up to Washington's National Cathedral. A great Gothic building that stands atop a hill overlooking the city. Friends and colleagues including current and former heads of state and government are gathered to say goodbye and celebrate the life of one of the key figures of the late 20th century. NPR's senior Washington editor Ron Elving is in the studio with us and before the Funeral services begin we'll also be speaking with presidential historian Alan Brinkley. But first we're going to NPR's Andrea Seabrook she is along the motorcade route close to the National Cathedral. Good morning Andrea. Good morning how are you Linda. Could you just tell us what what is what you're seeing where you are. Tell us what the scene is like. Yes I'm standing on the street just around the corner from the main entrance of the National Cathedral. And there are hundreds of people lining the streets as well as many many television

cameras and radio news reporters and all kinds of different press out here. There are lots of different police different kinds of police even we've seen Secret Service we've seen Metropolitan Police we've seen Military District Army soldiers keeping track of where people are it's a pretty closed route during the morning and up to now. I wouldn't call it really an atmosphere of solemnity it's much more of almost a parade sort of atmosphere people trying to catch a glimpse of some of the dignitaries officials diplomats politicians who have been on their way in. There have been lots a limo's lots of black dark tinted windows cars and a few people have stopped to shake hands with some of the crowds. Some of the passers by as they've been stopped at stoplights. What about the motorcade Have you seen the motorcade yet. No we have not seen the motorcade yet we have seen the clergy go by in just just moments ago and were waiting

for. Waiting for the motorcade to come through this way. The president is is already in the cathedral and that of course is a huge amount of huge amount of security is involved in bringing the president into any building. But it looks as though everything is proceeding pretty much on time Andria. That's that's true to form at least for this for this White House in the last couple of days. And. Standing by me right now there are quite a few people watching and waiting to see other people enter and get a sense of it there is definitely a sense in the crowd of history in the making people want to be here to see these final moments. Have you anybody there that we that you've met that would like to talk to us standing right next to me actually is a Polish American His name is David Patricia. He's from Albany New York and he arrived yesterday. Are you one.

Yeah I am. Mr. Patricia. I'm Linda Wertheimer. Very nice of you to talk to us. Well thank you for talking to me. Could you tell me why did you decide to come down from New York to Washington for the president. Ronald Reagan did so much for this country and for the world in ending the Cold War and making us realize the value of free markets and freedom around the world not just making us realize the value but accomplishing so much that he lived a life which is just so remarkable. And do you. Do you count yourself as a sort of admirer and supporter of the president the late president. AF Absolutely 20 years ago I determined to do this when this when this moment came. And its beak is it because of your Polish extraction that you that you are such an admirer do you think it's part of it I think you know you never fart the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree and the Cold War and the opposition to communism meant so much when when your own people

your own hands men across the seas are enslaved. And Ronald Reagan what he did in the 1980s. And to that end of that tyranny which I never thought I would live to see. And he did it. Mr. Richards who Thank you very much. This was a day that after a couple of days of brutally hot and humid weather here in Washington dawned cool and overcast with rain on the wind. NPR's Ron Elving is here with us in Studio 3A and Ron as these moments continue to do their procession it's an evitable air this inevitability develops as one of the ceremonies follows the next as the schedule is kept. We're going to be hearing from the celebrated at the National Cathedral in just a few moments and the four living former presidents are all there. They're already taken their seats. We're going to be hearing from one of them during the ceremony that of course Ronald Reagan's vice president George

H.W. Bush. Yes Bush 41 as they call him in the current White House. And of course his son will also be delivering one of the other addresses one of the other eulogies. That's George W. Bush our current president. And right now George W. Bush and his wife Laura are sitting next to Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne in the very front row among the distinguished guests. And right next to them filling out that row of six are Bill Clinton and his wife the junior senator from New York Hillary Clinton. There they seem to be a raid in order right in the order of service. So the most recent president in the front row. That's correct and in the row of mediately behind him then we have Gerald Ford we have Jimmy Carter and we have George H.W. Bush as you mentioned earlier. Each of them with their own first ladies the honorary pallbearers and are gathered outside the cathedral to receive the body together with the military pall bearers who will actually carry the casket in and the celebrants are there. Senator John

Danforth former senator from Missouri will be the celebrant at the request of President Reagan I believe that was at an invitation which was issued a decade ago. Yes Jack Danforth Saint Jack sometimes called in the Senate on those of us who remember him from his years there served three terms in the Senate retired voluntarily in 1994. He has since been a diplomat he has also been practicing as a lawyer and he's been practicing as an Episcopalian priest he has been an ordained Episcopalian priest since the 1980s got his law degree and his divinity degree simultaneously from email in 1963. You can hear very faintly in the background that the cathedral bells are tolling. They this is the boredom Bell it's a tenor bell. And this is the bell that is generally I believe people who know more about this than I do can correct me but I believe that this is a bell which is always rung for a dead man. And in this case they're going to there will be 40. It will peal 40 times to recognize the fact that President Reagan

is the present United States standing to receive the body is they. The bishop of Washington who is also the dean of the Cathedral John Bryson Chane and his vicar who is a retired bishop of Maryland. And. The bishop is carrying his staff the vicar who is in charge of the cathedral itself. Joining us now on the line from New York is Alan Brinkley professor of American history at Columbia University and a professor very nice of you to be with us today as Ron Elving was mentioning just a moment ago it was President Reagan himself who asked John Danforth to be the celebrant at this service whenever that moment should arrive. He thought a great deal about how he would say goodbye not just in his last appearances but the Oval Office at the Republican convention that sort of thing. But also for this service when that day arrives. Well this is you know this observance of President Reagan's death

is really of a piece with one of the very distinctive features of his public career when he was alive which is this very careful attention to the imagery of his presidency and of his career. I think people marvel in the 80s at the ability of the Reagan administration to create compelling settings for the press. Isn't that where the president could speak or appear. Two to three manage almost every every image of him that was projected to the world was one of the real ingredients of his political success. And you can see that same care being administered here in the observance of this week. I guess it's significant in that sense. Michael Deaver one of the honorary pallbearers of course is the man most responsible for arranging those moments in those settings and through much of Ronald Reagan's political career.

That's absolutely right he was the master of this in the 80s and probably had some role in organizing the event this week as we're speaking the hearse carrying the casket with the president's remains is arriving on the grounds of the National Cathedral having made the trip up from the Capitol and that's not a long drive through some of the gracious avenues the nicest parts of Washington D.C. that Ronald Reagan never visited so many times then through Rock Creek Park a leafy National Park in fact then up to the Hill atop Washington D.C. where the National Cathedral is Mt. Alban's It's called Size point a city. And the cathedral is the the Gloria in excelsis tower which is the bell tower is the tallest place in Washington. Hearing the color guard. That's the sound you hear here in Washington tens of thousands of people have sent spent portions of these past two days waiting in long lines to view the casket of President Reagan the most recent

on the drive up from the Capitol. We spoke with some of those people about why they were here. I owe a debt of gratitude to him and this is you know some small way I can show how thankful we are to him you know and to his family as a sign of respect and a chance to do something that's part of history too. I anticipate will be in line for the next six hours but it'll be worth it I'd wait six days like I want to go see B. I suspected the president because well when I got to do that in 1980 he's the first president I would have I was a joint chief of staff action officer under Reagan and it was his defense buildup it got me a job and let me retire like I am. You never saw him in the White House anywhere without a jacket. He respected his job and his country. The voices of some of the people waiting to pay their last respects to President Reagan yesterday as he lay in state at the Capitol rotunda in a few minutes the national funeral service for President Reagan is scheduled to begin. The hearse has arrived on the national grounds and the casket is now peeking out of the back as the doors opened the

ceremonial guard is assembled these are representatives from all of the armed services of the United States prepared to escort the body up the steps into the National Cathedral for this final service here in the nation's capital that Ronald Reagan served eight years at as president of the United States. We'll continue our live coverage in just a moment. You're listening to Special Coverage from NPR News. Her.

Are good. Will. You're listening to Special Coverage from NPR News I'm Neal Conan. And I'm Linda Wertheimer. At the grounds of the National Cathedral here in Washington D.C. The president of the body of former President Ronald Reagan has arrived. The funeral is expected to get

underway in about 10 minutes from now. Members of the family are gathered outside waiting and sort of in the porch area and the honor guard is standing by so. Things Every The scene is set and everything is ready to begin. We're going to talk a little bit about how these enormous spectacles are created and what the what the the customs and rules that govern them are. We have on the line with us the librarian and American history specialist the Library of Congress Emily Howie who has had to answer a great many questions some from officials and some from ordinary people like us during the course of this week she joins us from her home in Fairfax Virginia. Miss Howie thank you for joining us today. Thank you very much for having me. What is the thing that people have been most curious about in the last few days. Basically how many presidents have had state funerals in Washington and that

and the number the number of presidents and the names of the president. One of the most interesting questions we received was someone who was asking about the difference in the phrases lying in repose and lying in state. That was something I was certainly curious. Yes and the proper use of the phrase lying in state is when they are in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol and at all other places. The proper phrase would be lying in repose. So we have had. President who have lain in repose or lay in repose in the East Room of the White House. And and there have been a number of presidents a fairly large number of presidents who were laid in state at the Capitol Rotunda correct. Very many presidents have been buried from the National Cathedral. That's exactly right. President Reagan will be the Kent president

to have lain in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Only two other services have been conducted at the National Cathedral. That was for Woodrow Wilson who of course was a brick was no longer president but was living in Washington when he died. And they had a simple service at his home in Washington and then he was taken to the at the cathedral which was still under construction. They had a service there that was broadcast over the radio and then he is buried in the National Cathedral. Let's let's pause for just a moment as how he at the grounds of the National Cathedral now you hear Hail to the chief the body of President Reagan has been removed from the hearse and the honor guard of Paul get Paul there is again representing all the armed forces of the United States are now going to carry the body of President Reagan into National Cathedral. Let's listen. Start the music here this morning is being provided by military

orchestras the Marine orchestra various bands and military services. And the cathedral wires are also there. But you're hearing a military band as they call their ears are pausing at the door of the cathedral and preparing to take the President's body inside. He's praying that with Jesus Christ this is the body of our brother Ronald for burial. Let us pray with confidence to God the Giver of Life. That he will raise him to perfection in the company of the saints. You live your servant Ronald run Lord Christ from all evil and set him free from every bond. That he may rest with all your saints in the eternal habitations.

Where with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live in Reign one God forever and. Let us also pray for all who were born that then they cast their care on God. And know the consolation. Of his love. Almighty God look with pity upon the sorrows of your servants for whom we pray. Remember them Lord in your mercy. Nourish them with patience. Comfort them with a sense of your goodness. Lift up your countenance upon them and give them peace. Through Jesus Christ amen. The bishop of Washington. That was John Bryson Chang.

Standing at the door of the cathedral holding the silver shepherd's crook which is the symbol of his office. And now the officiant which include. THE BISHOP. His vicar the former bishop of Maryland the Right Reverend Theodore Eastman and Senator John Danforth. The bodies proceeded by the American flag and followed by the president's own colors. This is Reagan. Is being escorted into the cathedral by her military escort. There's also another. Soldier there with her carrying an umbrella. A light rain is now falling in Washington D.C. as the promise of this morning's weather has finally arrived. This is going to be a relatively ecumenical service in that. The Catholic Archbishop of Washington. Theodore Cardinal

McCarrick will participate as well. Archbishop Dimitrios who is primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America and Mohamed Magid Ali who is the director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society. So there in addition to the civilians in the the former president and the president and former heads of state that are going to speak there will be a variety of clergy here. The procession is almost as silent at this moment. It's you can barely hear their footfalls says as they walk in but there's no music led by the cross and the candlesticks and the military honor guard and the honorable bears. This cathedral among the largest anywhere is of

his companion. But it's also a National Cathedral. There is no parish church itself inside the cathedral there is no particular flock there. There's a smaller church on the same grounds where many of those functions are performed of course but this is a cathedral for all of the people. And that's why services like this one and many of you will remember the national service after the attacks of 9/11 are held in the National Cathedral. You're listening to Live coverage coming to you from NPR News. This is live coverage from NPR News I'm Neal Conan. And I'm Linda Wertheimer. We are we're bringing you coverage of this the national funeral of President Ronald Reagan. The funeral is underway.

There's a procession down the center aisle of the enormous Cathedral and the body following the body of numbers of clergymen members of the family. There is a it's quite an extensive extensive procession. The cathedral holds almost 4000 people. And as I understand it if you take the 500 change members of Congress and their wives and then all of the dignitaries who must be invited heads of state members of the cabinet diplomatic corps and so forth. That leaves Mrs. Reagan and her family about a thousand seeds to distribute among the president's many thousands of friends. So the cathedral is packed. This of course just the first of two services today. Some of the friends who are here and many others who are in California will be attending a private service later today. When Ronald Reagan is buried on the grounds I used to resurrect library YTB Valley

California. He that believeth in Me though he were dead. Yet shall he live and whosoever love us. And believe both in Me shall never die. I know that my Redeemer lives. And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though this body be destroyed yet shall I see God. Whom as I shall see for myself. And mine eyes shall behold. And not as a stranger. For none of us live up to himself. And no man die off to himself. For if we live. We live under the lord going to identify him. And if we die. We Die and The Lord.

Whether we live therefore or die. We are the Lord. While sort of the dad who die in the Lord you've been so selfless spirit. For they were absent from their labors. Former Senator John Danforth he's an Episcopal priest he is the chief celebrant for this service and a personal friend of the Reagans. He was commissioned by the former president the late president to do this duty. The pall bearers have laid the body of the president inside the casket out of the plane in the front of the cathedral. Another family is coming and the commander of the military district General Galen has been described as a scolded Mrs. Reagan throughout these

ceremonies and I believe that that's General Galen with Mrs. Reagan on his arm. Members of the family are taking seats in the front of the cathedral on the right hand side as you come up the right hand side including the three surviving children Ron Ron Reagan and his wife Michael Reagan and his family. And Nancy Davis Patty Davis who has taken her mother's name I believe I'm sorry it's Patty Davis who is the child of Nancy. Families in places near here come Mrs. Reagan knew this was coming to her. Place in the cathedral. She will be sitting directly across from the president President George W. Bush and she stops to greet him.

Now she takes the president's arm as he accompanies her the last few steps to her place at her seat in the right front seat of the right. Oh God whose mercies cannot be numbered. Accept our prayers on behalf of thy servant Ronald and grant him an entrance into the land of white and joy in the face of violence. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Who led us in a reign of with the Holy Spirit. One God now and for ever. We're now going to hear readings two of them the first from the Hebrew Scriptures by Rabbi Kushner DSF familiar to many of you is the author of Why Bad Things Happen to Good People.

Where does a person find the strength to persevere in difficult times. Many people find that strength from the pages of the Bible. Turning to the book of Isaiah the 40th chapter book Covais at the Najaf a leaf will fall off Yalu has ever come to shut him you know to follow you got yellow food for food. Hostile not known as though not heard. That the everlasting God the Lord creator of the ends of the earth faint if not neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fail. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall

mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk. And not feel faint. Here ends the reading Harold Kushner who is a who is from the Boston area he was for many years. The rabbi at Temple Israel in Natick as a Jew since before he became a famous author. The second reader today is Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. This is a reading from a sermon delivered in 16:30 by the pilgrim leader John Winthrop who was aboard their ship the arrow béla on his way from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The city on the Hill passage was referenced by President Reagan in several notable speeches. Now the only way to provide for our posterity is to follow the counsel of Micah.

To do justly to love mercy. To walk humbly with our God. We must delight in each other. Make others conditions our own. Rejoice together. Mourn. Together. Labor and suffer together. Always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work as members of the same body. The Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among us as his own people. For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us. We shall be made a story and a by word through the world. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor first woman to be named to the Supreme Court appointed

by President Ronald Reagan he appointed three justices but I think in the case of Sandra Day O'Connor It's one of the most historic things that the president did. She was also asked to read that particular passage years ago by President Reagan when the moment should arrive. This is we've heard this we've heard the phrase the city on the Hill over and over again during the course of this week it's something the president was fond of saying. This hymn. Jerusalem. Song by the Cathedral Choir. Boys. Girls. And the men of the cathedral the massed choir. The. Green. Was. Weak. We meet our to.

Our. See. Our our. Sheet. Eat. The meat the we we eat. You told me. He. Was.

Weak. Shoot. Easy. You found you. Oh yes you eat the meat. Plow. The trans fat. The

trans. Female. Thanks. Lance. Going to. Going to. Last six to. Lend. Lend. A hand. Going to. Land. Thank. You. Thank. You thank. You. Going to.

Thank. Us. The cathedral gone he's those long held wish was that Lady Thatcher should participate in this service. But as the years have passed Lady Thatcher his health too has suffered its ups and downs.

Eighteen months ago her doctors advised her to give up all formal public speaking but she was determined to record her tribute to President Reagan. Come what may. And this she has done. She was equally determined on learning of the president's staff. To be with us today. The next voice you will hear will be Lady Thatcher's. We have lost a great president a great American and a great man and I have lost a dear friend. In his lifetime Mondragon was such a cheerful and inveterate in presence that it was easy to forget what daunting historic task he said himself. He sought to mend America's wounded spirit to restore the strength of the free world and to fear the slaves of communism. These are causes hard to accomplish and heavy with us.

Yet though pursued with almost a lightness of spirit for Ronald Reagan also embodies another great cause what Ronald Bennett once called the great cause. Cheers all up. His politics had a freshness and optimism. One converts from every class and every nation and ultimately from the very heart of the evil empire. You know his humor often has a purpose beyond humor. In the terrible hours also the attempt on his life he is hearing jokes gave rare Charlene's her anxious world. They were evidences in the aftermath of terror and in the midst of hysteria one great hearted Lister and same one jocular. They were truly grace under pressure. I have sensitive grace of a deeper kind. Ronnie himself certainly believed

that he had been given back his life for a purpose. As he told the priest after his recovery. Whatever time I've got left now belongs to the Big Fella are still ours. I'm sure it is hard to deny the Lord Reagan's life was providential when we look at what he had cheered in the eight years that followed. Others prophesied the decline of the West. He inspired America and its allies with renewed faith in their mission of freedom. Others saw only limits to growth. He transformed a stagnant economy into an engine of opportunity. Others hope the best for uneasy cohabitation with the Soviet Union. He won the Cold War not only without firing a shot but also by inviting enemies out of their fortress and turning

them into friends. I can't imagine how any diplomat or any dramatist could improve on his words to Mikhail Gorbachev at the Geneva Summit. Let me tell you why it is we just trust you. Those words are candid and tough. And they cannot have been easy to have. But they're also clear invitation to a new beginning and a new relationship. That would be rooted in trust. We live today in the world of an old Reagan began to reshape with those words. It is a very different world with different challenges and new dangers. All I know however it is one of greater freedom and prosperity there are more hopeful in the world he inherited on becoming president as prime minister I worked closely with Ronald Reagan for eight years the most important

years of all our lives. We're told regularly both before and after his presidency. And I've had time cause to reflect on what made him a great president. Ronald Reagan knew his our mind. He had firm principles and I believe right ones he expounded them clearly. He acted upon them decisively. When the world through problems at the White House he was not baffled or disorientated or overwhelmed. He knew almost instinctively what to do. When his aides were preparing option papers for his decision they were able to cut out an entire raft of proposals so they knew the old man would NEVER Wow. When his allies came under Soviet or domestic pressure they could look

confidently to Washington for leadership. And when his enemies tested American resolve his own discovered that his resolve was firm. I'm down there with them. Yes his ideas are so clear. We're never simplistic. He saw the many sides of truth. Yes he wandered the Soviet Union had an insatiable drive for military power and territorial expansion. But he also sensed that he was being eaten away by systemic failures. Impossible to reform. Yes he did not shrink from denouncing Moscow's evil empire but he realized as a man of goodwill might nonetheless emerge from within its dark corridors. So the president resisters solver's expansion and first down Soviet witness at every point. Until the day came when communism began to

collapse beneath the combined weight of those pressures and its own failures. And when a man of goodwill did emerge from the war in his person Reagan stepped forward to shake his hand and to offer sincere cooperation. Nothing was more typical of our own braver than that large hearted magnanimity. Nothing was more American. Therein lies perhaps the final explanation of his achievements. Ronald Reagan carried the American people with him and his great endeavors because those powerful examples are between them here and they loved America and what it stands for freedom and opportunity of all ordinary people. As an actor on Hollywood's golden age he helped to make the American Dream lives for millions all over the globe. His own life was a

fulfillment of that dream. He never succumbed to the embarrassment some people feel about an honest expression of love of country. He was able to say God bless America. With equal fervor in public and in private and so he was able to call confidently upon his fellow countryman to make sacrifices for America. And to make sacrifices for those who look to America for hope and my skill. With the lives of American pastures as he lifted up the world. And so today the world in Prague in Budapest in Warsaw and Sofia. And you're caressed in here and in Moscow itself. The world mourns the passing of the great liberator and echoes his prayer God bless America.

Well Reagan's life was rich not only on public achievement but also on private happiness. And there's public achievements were rooted in his private happiness. The great turning point of his life was his marriage in a marriage with Nancy on that we have the plain testimony of a loving ungrateful husband. Nancy came along and saved myself. We share her grief today but we also share her pride and the grief and pride around his children. Her final years of his life run his mind was clouded by illness. That cloud has now left where he is himself again. More herself than at any time on this earth for we may be sure that the big fella Obst us never forgets those who remember him.

And those last journey of this faithful Pilgrim took him beyond the sunset. And as Heavens mourn him broke. I like to sing and the words about the older trumpet sounded on the other side. We are still moving Twilight but we have one beacon to guide us. So Ronald Reagan never had. We have his example letters Q sank today for our lives doesn't change so much for all of God's children. A videotape tribute to Ronald Reagan from former British Prime Minister Margaret now. Baroness Thatcher. Lady Thatcher is here. But her health is not fair to her. Her doctors felt her health was not equal to the task of delivering the eulogy at the cathedral.

So I was prepared much earlier. This was the first in a series of tributes to former President Reagan that we will hear next will be former Canadian prime minister bored to the point a friend to the Reagan family. Brian Mulroney. In the spring of 1987 President Reagan and I were driven into a large hangar. At the auto airport. To await the arrival of. Mrs. Reagan and my wife prior to departure ceremonies for their return to Washington. We were alone except for the security details of President Reagan's visit had been important. Demanding and successful. Our discussions reflected. The international agenda of the times the nuclear threat posed by the Soviet Union and the missile the climate by needle pressures in the Warsaw Pact. Challenges resulting from the Berlin Wall and the ongoing separation of Germany

and bilateral and hemispheric free trade. President Reagan spoken to parliament. Handle complex files with skill and good humor strongly impressing his Canadian hosts. And here we were waiting for our wives. When their car drove in a moment later. Out stepped Nancy and Neela. Looking like a million bucks. And as they headed towards us. President Reagan beamed. He threw his arm around my shoulder and he said with a grin. You know Brian. For two Irishman We sure are married. In that visit. In that moment. One saw the quintessential Ronald Reagan. The leader we respected the neighbor we admired and the friend we loved. The president of the United States of America. Was truly remarkable

life. We celebrated. In this magnificent cathedral today. Presidents and prime ministers everywhere I suspect. Sometimes wonder how history will deal with them. Some even evince a touch of the insecurity of Thomas Darcy McGee an Irish immigrant to Canada. Who became a father of our confederation in one of his poems. McGee thinking of his birthplace wrote poignantly. And I remembered an errand. I charge you speek me true as my name a sound a meaning in the scenes. My boyhood knew. Ronald Reagan will not have to worry about Iran. Because they remember him well and affectionately there. Indeed they do. From Aaron to a stonier. From Maryland to Madagascar from Montreal to Monterey.

Ronald Reagan does not enter history tentatively. He does so with certainty and panache at home. And on the world stage. His were not the pallid at cheese of a timorous politician. They were the bold strokes. Of a confident and accomplished leader. Some in the West during the early 1980s believed communism and democracy were equally valid and viable. This was the school of moral equivalence. In contrast Ronald Reagan saw Soviet Communism as a menace to be confronted in the genuine belief that its squalid underpinnings would fall swiftly. To the gathering winds of freedom. Provided as he said. That NATO and the industrial democracies stood firm and United.

They did. And we know now. Who was right. Ronald Reagan. Was a president. Who inspired his nation and transformed the world. He possessed a rare and prized gift. Called leadership that ineffable. And magical. Quality. That sets some men and women apart so that millions will follow them. As they can.