Nation mourns Reagan’s passing

Two days after his death, party lines have temporarily dissolved
as political leaders in the United States and abroad continue to
mourn Ronald Reagan.

Reagan, the actor-turned-politician who became one of the most
popular presidents in U.S. history, died Saturday in his Bel Air
home after a 10-year battle against Alzheimer’s disease. He
was 93, the longest any former president has ever lived.

The conservative icon, known as much for his staunch opposition
to communism as for his lasting impact on the Republican Party,
died of pneumonia at about 1:10 p.m., PST, with wife Nancy and
children Ron and Patti Davis by his side, said Joanne Drake, a
spokeswoman for the family. Michael, Reagan’s son from his
first marriage, arrived shortly thereafter.

“My family and I would like the world to know that
President Ronald Reagan has passed away after 10 years of
Alzheimer’s disease at 93 years of age. We appreciate
everyone’s prayers,” Nancy Reagan said in a written
statement.

Due to his declining health, Reagan has remained out of the
public eye for much of the past decade, and has been cared for by
his wife.

News of Reagan’s death comes on the heels of an
announcement last month by his wife that his health had
deteriorated markedly of late.

Five years after leaving office, in a poignant admission, Reagan
announced to the country in a handwritten letter in November 1994
that he had been diagnosed with the disease.

“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,” he wrote in the letter.

Ten years later, after a bitter struggle with the disease, the
sun has set on a life marked by determined optimism and courageous
persistence.

President Bush learned of Reagan’s death while in Paris to
commemorate the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in
Normandy.

“During the years of President Reagan, America laid to
rest an era of division and self-doubt. And because of his
leadership, the world laid to rest an era of fear and
tyranny,” Bush said in a statement.

The flag over the White House was immediately lowered to half
staff.

Though he was a hard-nosed conservative, Reagan is being mourned
by Democrats and Republicans alike.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the presumptive Democratic
presidential candidate, put his campaign on hold Saturday to
observe Reagan’s death.

“Even when he was breaking Democrats’ hearts, he did
so with a smile and in the spirit of honest and open debate,”
Kerry said in a statement. “He taught us that there is a big
difference between strong beliefs and bitter
partisanship.”

Former president Bill Clinton honored the memory of Reagan along
with his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY.

“Hillary and I will always remember President Ronald
Reagan for the way he personified the indomitable optimism of the
American people, and for keeping America at the forefront of the
fight for freedom for people everywhere,” Bill Clinton
said.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose ascent from
actor to governor resembles that of Reagan, released a statement
Saturday in which he called Reagan a hero.

“He served with dignity and determination, and left us
with a blueprint for executive leadership that is still a model
today,” Schwarzenegger said.

Schwarzenegger canceled his trip to Las Vegas that was scheduled
for today.

Reagan came from a humble background. He grew up in the Midwest
and attended Disciples of Christ Eureka College starting in
1928.

While there, he tended to be more involved with his
extracurriculars than his studies, including leading a student
strike his freshman year. The college president had been trying to
eliminate courses and lay off professors in order to save money. By
the end of the strike, the president had resigned.

Reagan landed a job as a sports announcer out of college, and
after several years was hired by Warner Bros. Studios in 1937. This
position was the beginning of an acting career that would span 27
years and over 50 films.

In 1940, in one of his best-known roles, Reagan portrayed
football player George Gipp in “Knute Rockne:
All-American.”

Reagan never achieved superstar status as an actor, but he
managed to serve as president of the Screen Actors Guild for four
terms, giving him a taste of political life.

Though he was a registered Democrat during his acting days,
Reagan campaigned for the Republican presidential bids of Dwight
Eisenhower in 1952 and Richard Nixon in 1960. Reagan formally
became a member of the Republican Party in 1962.

In a televised event, Reagan gave a rousing speech in support of
Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964,
effectively launching his political career.

From radio to the big screen to the political battlefield,
Reagan’s charisma and charm earned him the nickname
“the Great Communicator.”

Reagan began his official political career in 1966 when he was
elected governor of California over incumbent Democrat Edmund G.
“Pat” Brown by an overwhelming margin. By the time he
was elected to his second term as governor in 1970, Reagan had
firmly established himself as a leading figure for the Republican
Party.

Reagan was heavily involved in the affairs of the University of
California even before he took office as governor.

During his campaign in 1966, Reagan addressed the prominent
political demonstrations at UC Berkeley. He characterized the
actions of political protesters as “neurotic
vulgarities,” and attempted to quash the unrest on campus
through the powers afforded by his office.

Three days after giving his inaugural address, Reagan made his
case for restricting campus activities on moral grounds.

“It does not constitute political interference with
intellectual freedom for the taxpaying citizens who support the
college and university systems to ask that, in addition to
teaching, they build character on accepted moral and ethical
standards,” he said.

In an effort to purge the UC of left-wing extremism, Reagan
played an instrumental role in the ousting of then-UC president
Clark Kerr, whom Reagan considered one of the primary causes of
what he called the “degradation” of the UC.

As the battle between Kerr and Reagan came to a head, the UC
regents voted to fire Kerr on Jan. 20, 1967. This victory for
Reagan displayed his unflinching resolve to settle the
perceived unrest at the UC.

Reagan generated more controversy when, early in his first term,
someone leaked his plans to impose drastic cuts to the state
higher-education budget and establish tuition for UC students for
the first time, evoking widespread protests.

Though in-state UC students pay fees to the university, only
out-of-state students pay tuition.

Over the course of his two terms as governor, Reagan became a
figurehead for conservative politicians and parlayed his support
into presidential candidacy.

After nearly securing the Republican presidential nomination in
1976, Reagan roundly defeated the incumbent Jimmy Carter on Nov. 4,
1980, becoming the 40th president of the United States. At age 69,
Reagan became the oldest man ever elected to the presidency.

Armed with his own brand of conservative politics, Reagan
entered the Oval Office with the goals of defeating communism and
shrinking government.

With a strengthened resolve after his decisive victory, Reagan
set out to pull right the country that had sauntered leftward since
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies of the 1930s.

He lowered taxes, attacked government spending programs, and
challenged labor unions almost immediately after taking office.

But less than three months into his first term, Reagan narrowly
avoided tragedy after John Hinckley Jr. fired six shots at him as
he left a hotel in Washington, D.C., with one bullet lodged only an
inch from his heart.

The shooting’s gravity was not lost on Reagan, but ever
the charismatic showman, he managed to lighten the mood of even
such a heavy situation. In the emergency room, as he was being
readied for surgery, Reagan said to his wife, “Honey, I
forgot to duck.”

Looking abroad, Reagan sought an end to the power held by the
Soviet Union. On the belief that the Soviets could not afford to
compete in an arms race, Reagan began building up considerable
amounts of arms.

Reagan also achieved arms-control agreements with the Soviet
Union.

He developed the Strategic Defense Initiative, a space-based
missile defense system dubbed “Star Wars” by the news
media.

Reagan’s efforts to combat communism and bleed the Soviet
Union of its Cold War power culminated in June 1987 with
Reagan’s famous declaration to Soviet leader Mikhail S.
Gorbachev: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a longtime
friend and ally, credited Reagan with ending the Cold War.

“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,” she said Saturday.

Political opponents have long derided this accomplishment as a
mere inevitability which happened to occur while Reagan was in
office.

With the Reagan administration fighting communism around the
world and pouring money into defense and intelligence programs,
social programs took a hit and the economy withered.

During Reagan’s presidency, budget deficits ballooned
““ as did interest rates ““ and the national debt
tripled.

Due to ideological barriers, the Reagan administration dragged
its feet when dealing with the developing AIDS crisis in the early
1980s. The disease was then widely believed to be linked to
homosexuality.

Today, an estimated 40 million people in the world have
contracted HIV or AIDS.

In the 1984 presidential election, Reagan carried 49 of 50
states in the electoral college to defeat Walter Mondale, his
Democratic opponent.

Reagan’s second term experienced considerable controversy
after it was revealed the United States sold arms to Iran for aid
in negotiating the release of hostages from Lebanon, a move Reagan
authorized. As much as $30 million from this exchange was used to
support Nicaraguan rebels, known as the Contras, in a fight against
the leftist government in Nicaragua.

Though the scandal, known as Iran-Contra, left an indelible mark
on the Reagan presidency, Reagan left office with one of the
highest public approval ratings of any president leaving
office.

Reagan’s body remained in California over the weekend and
is scheduled to be flown to Washington, D.C., Tuesday night, where
it will remain in the Capitol Rotunda for two days. After a public
funeral in the National Cathedral, Reagan’s body will return
to the Reagan presidential library and museum in Simi Valley for a
private funeral.

With reports from Emily Inouye, Bruin reporter.