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Monday, Jun 07, 2004

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International

Reagan remembered for optimism, leadership

The former U.S. President, Ronald Reagan, who died on Saturday.

WASHINGTON, JUNE 6. Ronald Wilson Reagan, a former film star who became America's 40th President, the oldest to enter the White House but imbued with a youthful optimism rooted in the traditional virtues of a bygone era, died peacefully on Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 93.

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

The U.S. President, George Bush, who was in Paris for meetings with allies on the eve of the 60th anniversary of D-Day, said after he learned of Mr. Reagan's death, ``A great American life has come to an end.''

In 1994, Mr. Reagan touched the hearts of Americans when, in a handwritten letter, he let it be known he was suffering from the illness. ``I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life,'' Mr. Reagan wrote. ``I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.''

Last month, Nancy Reagan, the former first lady, said that his mental condition had worsened considerably. ``Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him,'' she said.

When he first entered the White House, he was a vigorous 69-year-old Republican who called America back to the traditional values of a simpler era, promising he could make it ``morning in America again.'' He managed to project the optimism of Roosevelt, the faith in small-town America of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the vigour 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.

But late in 1986, halfway through his second term, Mr. Reagan and his administration were plunged into disarray by an effort to deal too rashly with the same kind of hostage crisis that he had accused the former President, Jimmy Carter, of handling too gingerly.

Contrary to official policy, Mr. Reagan's subordinates sold arms to Iran as ransom for hostages in Lebanon and diverted profits from the sales to the rebels fighting the Marxist Sandinistas then governing Nicaragua.

A joint congressional investigating committee reported that the affair had been ``characterised by pervasive dishonesty and secrecy'' and that Mr. Reagan bore ultimate responsibility for the wrongdoing of a ``cabal of zealots.''

The deception and disdain for the law invited comparisons to Watergate, undermined Mr. Reagan's credibility and severely weakened his powers of persuasion with Congress. Scrutiny of his appointees increased; Supreme Court nominees were rejected or withdrawn; and more presidential aides were charged with ethics violations than in any other administration.

New York Times News Service

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