In a service reflecting Ronald Reagan’s belief in God’s gift of eternal life, present and former world leaders paid tribute to the 40th president this morning at the National Cathedral in Washington, praising him as a man of faith, optimism and integrity who changed the world.
 Ronald Reagan in 1990 |
President Bush eulogized Reagan as having been as “firm and straight” as the columns of the cathedral.
“Ronald Reagan believed that everything happens for a reason and that we should strive to know and do the will of God,” Bush said. “He believed that the gentleman always does the kindest thing. He believed that people are basically good and have the right to be free.
“He believed that bigotry and prejudice were the worst things a person could be guilty of. He believed in the golden rule and the power of prayer,” Bush said.
Noting Reagan’s achievements, Bush said he “acted to restore and reward the spirit of enterprise. He was optimistic that liberty would thrive wherever it was planted.”
In a previously recorded message, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said her close friend and political partner during the 1980s faced great challenges such as the Cold War with “almost a lightness of spirit.”
“His politics had a freshness and optimism that won converts from every class and every nation — and ultimately from the very heart of the evil empire,” she said.
Thatcher has given up public speaking because of declining health, but made the trip to Washington to attend the service.
“I have lost a good friend,” she said, who “sought to mend America’s wounded spirit” and “embodied a great cause … the great cause of cheering us all up.”
Thatcher closed with a focus on Reagan’s personal life, founded on his faith in God and centered on his relationship with his wife, Nancy.
“Ronald Reagan’s life was rich not only in public achievement, but also in private happiness. Indeed, his public achievements were rooted in his private happiness. The great turning point of his life was his meeting and marriage with Nancy.
“On that we have the plain testimony of a loving and grateful husband: ‘Nancy came along and saved my soul.’ We share her grief today. But we also share her pride — and the grief and pride of Ronnie’s children.
“For the final years of his life, Ronnie’s mind was clouded by illness. That cloud has now lifted. He is himself again — more himself than at any time on this earth. For we may be sure that the Big Fella Upstairs never forgets those who remember Him. And as the last journey of this faithful pilgrim took him beyond the sunset, and as heaven’s morning broke, I like to think — in the words of Bunyan – that ‘all the trumpets sounded on the other side.’
“We here still move in twilight. But we have one beacon to guide us that Ronald Reagan never had. We have his example. Let us give thanks today for a life that achieved so much for all of God’s children.”
Former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney, speaking after Thatcher, said “Ronald Reagan was a president who inspired his nation and transformed the world.”
“Ronald Reagan does not enter history tentatively; he does so with certainty and panache,” he said. “At home and on the world stage, his were not the pallid etchings of a timorous politician. They were the bold strokes of a confident and accomplished leader.”
Mulroney said Reagan had “a rare and prized gift called leadership, that ineffable and sometimes magical quality that sets some men and women apart so that millions will follow them as they conjure up grand visions and invite their countrymen to dream big and exciting dreams.”
Reagan’s vice president, the first President Bush, became choked with emotion when he told of Reagan’s impact.
“I learned more from Ronald Reagan than from anyone I encountered in my years in public life,” Bush said.
Bush, who turns 80 tomorrow, said, “Perhaps as important as anything, I learned a lot about humor, a lot about laughter. And, oh, how President Reagan loved a good story.”
The former president, eliciting laughter from the congregation, recalled Reagan’s response to how his meeting with South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu had gone: “So-so.”
Rev. John Danforth, who became an Episcopal priest after retiring from the Senate, began his message with the words of Jesus from the book of John, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Preceding the eulogies, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner cited a sermon by John Winthrop in 1630 which invoked the bibical phrase often repeated by President Reagan, of a “city on a hill.”
Danforth said, “If ever we have known a child of light it was Ronald Reagan. He had no dark side, no scary hidden agenda. What you saw was that sure sign of inner light. He didn’t need to be president to be a complete person. He shined the light, but not on himself.”
After Irish tenor Ronan Tynan sang “Amazing Grace,” Danforth led the congregation in recitation of the Lord’s Prayer.
Reagan’s flag-draped casket was carried to a hearse by members representing each of the armed services. His body is being flown to California for a sunset burial at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
This morning, the casket was brought to the cathedral from the Capitol where an estimated 105,000 people had filed past reverently in the previous 24 hours to pay their respects.
Related text:
President Bush eulogizes Ronald Reagan
Margaret Thatcher’s eulogy of Reagan
Brian Mulroney’s eulogy of Reagan
George H.W. Bush’s eulogy of Reagan
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