THE VALLEY AT DAWN:

Ronald Reagan, the cold war warrior, rides into the sunset aged 93 (James Hamilton, 6/05/04, Sunday Herald)

Ronald Reagan, who devoted his presidency to winning the cold war, trying to scale back government and making people believe it was “morning again in America”, died last night after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 93.

In Paris for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, President Bush said it was “a sad day for America”. He made an address to the nation earlier this morning. The flag over the White House was flying at half mast within an hour of Reagan’s death.

Reagan’s body was expected to be taken to his presidential library and museum in California, and then flown to Washington to lie in state. His funeral is expected to be at the National Cathedral, an event likely to draw world leaders. The body is to be returned to California for a sunset burial at his library. [...]

Baroness Thatcher, whose close relationship with Reagan defined Western politics in the 1980s, led global tributes last night. She hailed Reagan as “a truly great American hero”.

“President Reagan was one of my closest political and dearest personal friends,” she said. “He will be missed, not only by those who knew him and not only by the nation that he served so proudly and loved so deeply, but also by millions of men and women who live in freedom today because of the policies he pursued.

“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.”

-OBIT: Reagan Had Long Struggle With Alzheimer's Disease (MARILYN BERGER, June 6, 2004, NY Times)

To a nation hungry for a hero, a nation battered by Vietnam, damaged by Watergate and humiliated by Iran, Ronald Wilson Reagan held out the promise of a return to greatness, the promise that America would ``stand tall'' again.

He was America's oldest president and in some ways its youngest when he came to the White House in 1981, a vigorous 69-year-old Republican who called America back to the traditional values of a simpler era.

Preaching the hometown virtues of smaller government, lower taxes and a stronger military, Mr. Reagan brought a jaunty optimism to the White House and led the country out of the malaise lamented by Jimmy Carter, the Democrat who preceded him.

He managed to project the optimism of Roosevelt, the faith in small-town America of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the vigor of John F. Kennedy. In his first term in the White House he restored much of America's faith in itself and in the presidency, and he rode into his second term on the crest of a wave of popularity that few presidents have enjoyed.

Bismarck spoke of God holding a special providence for America and that is nowhere better reflected than by the fact that at the five points in our history that we have required great leaders we've had them: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

Edmund Morris, in a book that failed to grasp the Reagan presidency or the man, nonetheless captured his historic import:

For whatever reason, there was born here, far from the mattering world, an ambition as huge as it was inexorable. Out of Tampico's ice there grew, crystal by crystal, the glacier that is Ronald Reagan: an ever-thrusting, ever-deepening mass of chill purpose. Possessed of no inner warmth, with no apparent interest save in its own growth, it directed itself toward whatever declivities lay in its path. Inevitably, as the glacier grew, it collected rocks before it, and used them to flatten obstructions; when the rocks were worn smooth they rode up onto the glacier's back, briefly enjoying high sunny views, then tumbled off to become part of the surrounding countryside. The lie where they fell, some cracked, some crumbled: Dutch's lateral moraine. And the glacier sped slowly on.

In that sense, I suppose, one could say that the story of Reagan's life is a study in American topography. Thirteen hundred miles southeast of Tampico this winter day, the glacier has at last stopped growing. The nation's climate is changing; so is that of the world. New suns, new seasons, are due. Yet when all the ice is gone, when fresh green covers the last raw earth and some future skylark sings heedlessly over the Ronald Reagan National Monument, men will still ponder Dutch's improbable progress, and write on their cards, How big he was! How far he
came! And how deep the valley he carved!

The world we live in rests at the bottom of Reagan's valley.

The President though wrote his own epitaph in his final public statement to his fellow citizens:

In closing let me thank you, the American people for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your President. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future.

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.

MORE:
-OBIT: Unconventional politician who did it his way: Nation's voters always thought well of optimistic 40th president (Susan Page, 6/07/04, USA TODAY)
-OBIT: Reagan Dies After Long Battle With Alzheimer's Disease: Former President Was Role Model for Bush, Other GOP Politicians (William Branigin, June 5, 2004, Washington Post)

Former president Ronald Reagan died at his California home this afternoon after taking a turn for the worse in his decade-long battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 93, the longest-surviving former president in U.S. history.

-OBIT: America mourns ex-President (Terence Hunt, June 6, 2004, AP)
-OBIT: Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004: The former president died today, but his legacy will influence American politics for decades (TONY KARON, 6/05/04, TIME)
-OBIT: Ronald Reagan, all-American, dies (David Shribman, June 5, 2004, Boston Globe)
-OBIT: Ronald Reagan, 40th U.S. president, dies (Marie Horrigan, 6/05/04, UPI)
-OBIT: Ronald Reagan dies at 93 (Joshua Chaffin, June 6 2004, Financial Times)

Ronald Reagan, the 40th US president, who was both a sunny optimist and a Cold War lion, has died at the age of 93.

-OBIT: Reagan: Simplicity was his strength: Communism would have collapsed even without Ronald Reagan but he will be remembered because he put into words what very few dared to say - that something was rotten in the system. (Paul Reynolds, 6/06/04, BBC News)
-End of a love story: When he announced his Alzheimer's in a letter to the American people, Ronald Reagan's first thought was for his beloved wife. (BBC, 6/06/04)
-A meeting of minds: If ever there was a political match made in heaven it was that between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. (Nick Assinder, 6/06/04, BBC)
-TRIBUTE: Making Our Best Days Possible: Ronald Reagan’s successful legacy. (Steven F. Hayward, 6/05/04, National Review)
-TRIBUTE: The Reagan of History: Reflections on the death of Ronald Reagan. (Mackubin Thomas Owens, 6/05/04, National Review)
Former president was sports announcer (ESPN.com news services, June 5, 2004)

After graduation, he continued his association with sports, going to Chicago to seek a job in the young medium of radio and was advised by a station receptionist to try "what we call the sticks."

He got a job as a $10-a-game sports announcer for WOC in Davenport, Iowa, and went on to a $75-a-week salaried position at WHO in Des Moines. He covered track meets, title fights and Big Ten football live, and simulated broadcasts of Chicago Cubs baseball from a play-by-play telegraph wire.

He lined up a screen test while in California for Cubs spring training, was signed to a $200-a-week contract and made his debut as a radio announcer in the 1937 film, "Love is on the Air."

In his first four years, Reagan made 28 movies. He got his first big break as the halfback George Gipp in "Knute Rockne, All-American." It was Gipp, in the movie, who implored the coach from his deathbed to have the boys "win one for the Gipper," a phrase associated with Reagan for the rest of his life.

ARCHIVAL:
SITES:
-NY Times Commemorative Page
-Ronald Reagan Memorial
-President Reagan Information Page
-Reagan Library and Museum
-Past Presidents > Ronald W. Reagan (Whitehouse.gov)
-Reagan Ranch
-FILMOGRAPHY: Ronald Reagan (Internet Movie Database)

SPEECHES:
-SPEECH: A Time for Choosing Speech (Ronald Reagan, 1964)
-SPEECH: We Will Be A City Upon A Hill (Ronald Reagan, January 25, 1974, First Conservative Political Action Conference)
-SPEECH: First Inaugural Address (Ronald Reagan, January 20, 1981)
-SPEECH:The Evil Empire (President Reagan's Speech to the House of Commons, June 8, 1982)
-SPEECH: Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals (Ronald Reagan, March 8, 1983)
-SPEECH: Second Inaugural Address (Ronald Reagan, January 21, 1985)
-SPEECH: Ronald Reagan at Bitburg Air Base (Remarks at a Joint German-American Military Ceremony at Bitburg Air Base in the Federal Republic of Germany, May 5, 1985)
-SPEECH:: Challenger Disaster (Ronald Reagan, January 28, 1986)
-SPEECH: President Reagan's words at the Brandenburg Gate (June 12, 1987)
-Q&A at Moscow State University (Ronald Reagan, May 31, 1988)
-SPEECH: Farewell Address to the Nation (Ronald Reagan, January 11, 1989)

ESSAYS, REVIEWS, MISC:
-ESSAY: TIME 100: Ronald Reagan: He brought Big Government to its knees and stared down the Soviet Union. And the audience loved it (PEGGY NOONAN, TIME)
-ESSAY: Reagan’s Leadership, America’s Recovery: One titan of history writes about another. (Margaret Thatcher, Decemeber 30, 1988, National Review)
-ESSAY: Too Big a Man for the Small Screen (EDMUND MORRIS, 11/09/03, NY Times)
-ESSAY: The Intellectual Origins of Ronald Reagan's Faith (Paul Kengor, Ph.D., April 30, 2004, Heritage Lecture)
-ESSAY: The Odd Couple (KIRON K. SKINNER, 1/19/04, NY Times)
-ARTICLE: Reagan Wounded In Chest By Gunman; Outlook 'Good' After 2-Hour Surgery; Aide And 2 Guards Shot; Suspect Held (Howell Raines, 3/30/1981, The New York Times)
-BOOKNOTES:
Title: Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan  Author:Edmund Morris
(CSPAN)
-BOOKNOTES: Lou Cannon, President Reagan: A Role of a Lifetime (C-SPAN, May 19, 1991)
-BOOKNOTES: Kiron Skinner, Reagan In His Own Hand (C-SPAN, April 29, 2001)
-REVIEW ESSAY: Voice of America: Reagan on the Radio (Andrew Ferguson, 02/05/2001, Weekly Standard)
-ESSAY: Covering the Gipper: One of his great advantages was that he didn't care for or about the press. (Fred Barnes, 02/05/2001, Weekly Standard)
-ESSAY: Reagan's Greatness: Giving a president his due. (William Kristol, 11/10/1997, Weekly Standard)
-ESSAY: A Democratic Statesman: Reagan's foremost achievement. (Irving Kristol, 02/05/2001, Weekly Standard)
-ESSAY: Reagan and the Russians: The Cold War ended despite President Reagan's arms buildup, not because of it--or so former President Gorbachev told the authors (Richard Ned Lebow and Janice Gross Stein, February 1994, The Atlantic)
-ESSAY: The Day Reagan Was Shot: The author reveals previously undisclosed transcripts of the deliberations in the White House Situation Room (Richard V. Allen, April 2001, The Atlantic)
-ESSAY: The Education of David Stockman: "None of us really understands what's going on with all these numbers." (William Greider, December 1981, The Atlantic)
-REVIEW: of 'Reagan: A Life in Letters' edited by Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson and Martin Anderson (Edmund Morris, Washington Post)
-ESSAY: The Real Reagan: Think you know what made him tick? His letters may surprise you (MICHAEL DUFFY AND NANCY GIBBS, 9/21/03, TIME)
-ESSAY: Reagan's heartfelt letters illuminate his presidency: Collection of letters provides new glimpse of the former US president. (Peter Grier, 9/03, CS Monitor)
Reagan Easily Beats Carter; Republicans Gain in Congress (HEDRICK SMITH, November 5, 1980, NY Times)

Ronald Wilson Reagan, riding a tide of economic discontent against Jimmy Carter and promising ''to put America back to work again,'' was elected the nation's 40th President yesterday with a sweep of surprising victories in the East, South and the crucial battlegrounds of the Middle West.

At 69 years of age, the former California Governor became the oldest person ever elected to the White House. He built a stunning electoral landslide by taking away Mr. Carter's Southern base, smashing his expected strength in the East, and taking command of the Middle West, which both sides had designated as the main testing ground. The entire West was his, as expected.

Mr. Carter, who labored hard for a comeback re-election victory similar to that of Harry S. Truman in 1948, instead became the first elected incumbent President since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to go down to defeat at the polls. [...]

Despite pre-election polls that had forecast a fairly close election, the rout was so pervasive and so quickly apparent that Mr. Carter made the earliest concession statement of a major Presidential candidate since 1904 when Alton B. Parker bowed to Theodore Roosevelt. [...]

Mr. Reagan also suggested that enough Congressional candidates might ride the coattails of his broad sweep to give Republicans a chance to ''have control of one house of Congress for the first time in a quarter of a century.'''

The Republicans picked up Senate seats in New Hampshire, Indiana, Washington, Iowa, Alabama, Florida and South Dakota and were leading in Idaho. Going into the election, the Senate had 58 Democrats, 41 Republicans and one independent. The Republicans also appeared likely to gain at least 20 seats in the House, nowhere nearly enough to dislodge the Democratic majority.

In the Presidential race, Mr. Carter managed six victories - in Georgia, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Maryland, Minnesota and the District of Columbia - for 45 electoral votes. But everywhere else the news was bad for him. By early this morning, Mr. Reagan had won 39 states with 444 electoral votes, and more were leaning his way.

In the South, the states of Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky fell to the Reagan forces, an almost total rejection of the President by his home region. In the Middle West, the former California Governor took Ohio, Illinois and Michigan, three states on which Mr. Carter had pinned heavy hopes, as well as most others.

But Mr. Reagan's showing was even more startling in the East. He took New York and Pennsylvania, always vital bases for Democrats, as well as New Jersey, Connecticut and several smaller states.

A New York Times/CBS News poll of more than 10,000 voters as they left the polls indicated that the predominant motivation among voters was the conviction that it was time for a change. The biggest issue in their minds was the nation's economy, especially inflation. [...]

''It was really a referendum on leadership,'' countered Richard Wirthlin, the Reagan pollster. ''The Presidential debate did not have a tremendous influence on the vote, but it strengthened Reagan's credibility for taking Carter on as sharply as we did in the last five days and drive home the attack on the economy.''

The Times/CBS News survey revealed a general collapse of the traditional coalition that has elected Democratic Presidents since the New Deal. It showed Mr. Carter running behind his 1976 performance not only in the South but also among such groups as blue-collar workers, Roman Catholics and Jews.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 6, 2004 11:50 PM