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“TRIBUTE TO FORMER PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S6596-S6604 on June 8, 2004.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO FORMER PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN
Mr. GREGG. Thank you, Madam President.
I rise today, as many Americans, to pay my respect and thanks, and also to celebrate the life of Ronald Reagan, an extraordinary man who has had such a huge impact on our generation and the generations to come in the world--especially Americans' place in the world.
I have a lot of fond and personal memories about Governor and President Reagan. First, I had the opportunity to meet him with my wife Kathy when he and Nancy Reagan came to New Hampshire to campaign in 1976. He was running against a sitting Republican President, Gerald Ford, appointed, of course, coming out of the Watergate era. Some in our party thought maybe it was time to move on, put a new face on our party, and put someone forward who had a certain charisma and attitude which was a little different. Certainly Reagan met that test.
As we traveled around New Hampshire, he was not the national figure he is today, although he was a significant figure. In fact, he was a movie star. People were flocking to meet him and see him. They wanted to hear what he had to say. But as we traveled around, a fairly small contingent in a bus and a few cars, we had a chance to get to know him a little bit. What came through most apparently to myself and Kathy was he was a genuine person who had a real sense of self and who had a way of making people feel at ease around him. He had a charisma, to say the least.
Then I had the great fortune of being elected to Congress in 1980. Prior to that, ironically I had been at the famous national debate in January of 1980 where President Reagan actually set the course for getting the nomination and moving on to become the President with the famous comment, ``I paid for this microphone, Mr. Green.'' Ironically, I was at the site and in charge of the site in advance of the nomination. So I had a chance to see a bit of history there.
But in 1990, along with 54 other Republicans, I was elected to the House of Representatives, and we came here with President Reagan. We had a purpose. We had a definite purpose. People will recall at that time coming out of the 1970s the inflation rate was 12 percent, interest rates were 22 percent, and we had American citizens being held captive in Iran. The President--then-President Jimmy Carter--said we were in a period of national malaise. We didn't feel that way. We felt America was a great and wonderful Nation. Ronald Reagan epitomized that view of the future being bright rather than dark--the future being one of unlimited opportunities rather than one of a decreasing pie. So 54 of us arrived in the House of Representatives.
It was a unique situation because the House of Representatives was being controlled at that time--and people do not appreciate it today, but it had been controlled by the Democratic Party for 26 years; continuously controlled by the same party, and it produced a lot of very interesting and very aggressive and strong individuals to manage the House. The strongest, of course, was ``Tip'' O'Neill, who was then the Speaker. He was not going to tolerate those 54 new Republican Members who arrived in the House of Representatives and were carrying the water for President Reagan. We were treated with an experience in education on how politics really works by ``Tip'' O'Neill, as we were exposed to what real power can do and how it can be managed in a congressional body.
We continued to charge the Hill, however, for the President, because President Reagan had a clear and defined agenda. He intended to fundamentally shift this country. The shift was going to be toward strengthening our national defense capabilities, toward reducing the burden of Government, toward reducing the burden of taxation, and toward reestablishing our confidence as a nation. There was a lot of legislation brought forward, with very difficult battles over the budget, very difficult battles over issues of making our defense capability stronger once again.
We became known as ``Reagan's robots.'' That was a derisive term used by some of our friends in the media and it was thrown at us. As Reagan's economics were called Reaganomics, a derisive term put out in the intellegentsia community by our friends who saw it as inappropriate economics and saw it as water bearers for a President who they considered to be superficial, and in some cases a caricature, but we took that as sort of a red badge of courage, those who came in that class. We enjoyed the fact we were tweaking the institution of the House at the time led by Speaker O'Neill, who I happened, over the years, to come to like as an individual very much. He obviously had a very strong personality and led the House very aggressively in a very partisan way. It was a unique and special time to have a chance to serve under a President such as President Reagan.
Going to the White House with Kathy and our two oldest children, I remember a lot of fond personal memories of how kind he was. Our daughters were then quite young. I think they were 4 and 5 or maybe 5 and 6. He took them aside and got hotdogs for them; he got popcorn for them.
He was just a wonderful, inclusive individual and had a naturalness about him that was extraordinary and made everybody who was around him, when they had the chance, feel good. It was that personality that I think caused him to be able to be President during a time when there was a fair amount of strident partisanship. At the same time, there was less of a personal vindictiveness in the atmosphere, which was nice at that time, to have at least that sort of atmosphere where people were not into the personal assassination level that we sometimes see occur in politics, although it did happen to some degree.
The fond memories are there from an individual standpoint, but the real memory, the real force of President Reagan goes beyond the personal contact. It goes to what his mission was, what he accomplished for our Nation, which was so extraordinary, and what he accomplished for the world. It has been discussed. There is nothing unique about the discussion because it is so broadly accepted now what he did accomplish.
That was, essentially, this: He took a nation which was, as I said by its own definition, by its then leader, Jimmy Carter, in a period of national malaise and he turned us and reawakened our natural optimism. We are a nation of optimists. We are a nation that believes we can accomplish whatever we seek to pursue, whatever goal we set. He made us believe in that again. His ``city on the hill'' belief in our Nation was deep in him, but, more importantly, he was able to project it across our country and give people a sense of self and a sense of purpose that was optimistic and upbeat, that was essential to our country at that time.
Probably equally important to the world, he set America back on a course of leading us in what was then the true great confrontation of the 20th century, which was the question of whether Communist, Socialist economics, and a totalitarian state would dominate or whether democracy and market-oriented economies would dominate.
There were three major trends of the 20th century that were tested. The first, of course, was the issue of the philosophy of Communist versus market-oriented economies. The second, of course, was totalitarianism, first presented in fascism and secondly presented in the Communist states of Stalin, by Stalin and Mao versus democracy. The third was the issue of relativism. On those first two issues, he led the world and delivered the results which said unequivocally that democracy and market-oriented economies were the future for mankind and that individual rights meant something.
In accomplishing that, he passed on to our generation and all the generations to come a gift of freedom and a gift of possibility in the area of economic well-being that was not necessarily a given. It would not necessarily have occurred without him. It is possible the Soviet Union and certainly the mutations of the Soviet Union could have proceeded for a considerable amount of time. We could still be dealing with that issue today had he not been willing to stand up, because he had unequivocal confidence in our Nation and in the values that drive our Nation, had he not been willing to stand up and say essentially that we were going to compete in that race at a level that would essentially make it impossible for the Soviet Union and Communist-style regimes to compete with us. That is what he did.
He did it first in the military where he essentially said to the Soviet Union, we are just simply going to outbuild you and we are going to exceed your ability to compete, so they crumbled from within. Second, he did it by establishing, once again, that the basic values of democracy far exceeded any values that were being put forward, and clearly our much better lifestyle than anything being put forward by a Soviet Communist state.
So we owe him a great debt of thanks and we certainly owe his family a great debt of thanks. We thank Nancy Reagan for her wonderful service to this Nation. We thank his family for the gift of this great man to our country.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the unanimous consent, the Senator from Maine is recognized.
Ms. SNOWE. Our Nation mourns the passage of a man who called Americans to their economic purpose and renewed our age-old faith in the limitless possibilities of freedom.
With heavy but immensely grateful hearts, our country grieves the passing of President Ronald Reagan and extends our collective thoughts and prayers to his extraordinary wife Nancy and the entire Reagan family.
Reflecting today on the hope that President Reagan inspired in America, I am reminded of the story of Benjamin Franklin near the close of the Constitutional Convention. Franklin pointed to the painting behind Washington's chair, a landscape of the Sun just on the horizon and remarked:
I have often . . . looked at that sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now
. . . I have the happiness to know it is a rising and not a setting sun.
Let the record forever show that in a time of great consequence, President Reagan assured an uncertain nation that ours remains always a rising Sun. He brought a passionate belief in American ideas to bear in advancing freedom as a force for good in the world and heralded a new dawn of confidence at home.
Like so many Americans, I remember well the steep challenges facing the Nation in 1980. At that time, having already served 2 years in the House of Representatives, we could look back to the late 1970s as an incubator of change.
Before President Reagan, we had become conditioned to accept limitations on what we might aspire to as individuals and as a nation. But out of those days of national disillusionment and political drift came a bold leader to inspire confidence.
As I said, I had just completed my freshman term as a Member of Congress, and this was a period of self-doubt for America. Internationally, our country was mired in the cold war and reeling from the Iranian hostage crisis. On the domestic front, our economy had been sapped by double-digit inflation, double-digit prime interest rates, and stifled by massive tax burdens, including a top tax rate of 70 percent. We also had been undercut by a serious energy crisis at that point in time. In fact, we had gasoline lines here in Washington and all through the country at that point. So suffice it to say, these were not bright days in Washington or America. As I said at the time, whoever won the White House would bear the responsibility for making America productive once again, and President Reagan did. With his conviction that the greatest untapped potential lie in the American people themselves--by embracing hope, not resignation, and by projecting an optimism in our Nation and her people that was as genuine as the man himself--he charted a course for America for greater prosperity and security.
As President, as we know, he confronted the world's only other superpower, laying the foundation for victory in the cold war. He campaigned to reduce the size of the Federal bureaucracy, to return tax dollars to the families that had earned them, and to devolve out of Washington and back to local governments--all ideas whose time had come, just as President Reagan's had. Not only that, but he reinvigorated America with his unabashed faith in her essential goodness.
The other night, I had the opportunity to recount the Reagan era with my husband, Jock McKernan, who also served 4 years in Congress. He served the other congressional district in the State of Maine. He was there for 4 years as well under the Reagan Presidency. We were recalling a time in which we visited the White House, regarding the shaping of defense policy. As Senator Gregg was recounting, we were building up our national defense.
We recalled the statement the President made at the time, which I think summed up his belief in trying to make a distinction between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. He said: You know, it tells something about a country when more people want to leave the country than want to come in. His simple logic was indeed compelling.
President Reagan was a conservative Republican from California, and I, of course, was a moderate Republican from New England. Obviously, there were times--and many times, in fact--when we might differ on policy. Yet I can also recall meeting with him and other members of the Republican caucus, as well as Democrats. We had numerous meetings at the White House either in the Cabinet room or within the Oval Office itself. We were able to negotiate our differences, whether it was within our party or across party lines. The issues ranged from defense policy, to the MX missile, to Central America, to the budget. We had numerous budget discussions where we negotiated the actual budget resolutions and the budget numbers themselves.
And I spearheaded an effort to meet with the President to talk about women's issues, to close the gender gap which at that time was affecting the Republican party. In fact, it led to ultimately passing the landmark child support enforcement legislation, that heretofore had not been part of the Federal lexicon, much less part of Federal policy.
And to this day I have on my wall a letter of appreciation from President Reagan for my efforts to help develop and pass the 1986 Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act, which he signed and which contained a provision I authored to create an accountability review board within the State Department to investigate all incidents involving serious security failures.
With regard to trade policies, we had a number of meetings. In fact, my husband and I met in the Oval Office with the President to discuss the impact of international trade policies, particularly as they affected Maine's industries, whether it was the potato industry, shoe industry, or the lumber industry.
He was always respectful of divergent views and willing to keep his Oval Office door open, even as he always knew what he believed. In terms of his principles, his compass was steady. At the same time, he was certainly committed to the fine and, in Washington, rare art of listening. He was also willing to seek consensus, even though we surely had a partisan environment at that time.
We had a divided Government, with the Democrats controlling the House and the Republicans controlling the Senate, and obviously a Republican Presidency. But again, he was willing to forge consensus because he believed that was the only way you could get things done. Rather than by controversy and division, in the final analysis you had to do it by persuasion and openness. So he was willing to develop pragmatic approaches in the final analysis because he was a problem solver. Actually, he gave life to what he once said: ``If I can get 70 or 80 percent of what it is I'm trying to get . . . I'll take that and then continue to try to get the rest in the future.''
He certainly did live by that axiom throughout his tenure of 8 years, irrespective of the differences. Ultimately, he wanted to achieve the great things he set out to do when he became President and also to make sure he could be resolute in implementing his vision for this country.
He was entirely comfortable with stepping outside of others' conventional perception of himself and his politics. He was also extremely credible as Commander in Chief, as leader of this country when he set about to build up our military and to defy the Soviet Union and to ultimately bring down the Wall. The fact is, he also, on the other side of the coin, ultimately negotiated the first pact to reduce the United States and Soviet nuclear arsenals--he negotiated that with Mikhail Gorbachev--because, again, he understood what needed to be accomplished in the end.
His legacy will forever be his vision that brought about the end of the cold war because, again, he saw the difference between dictatorships and democracy and our ability to foster liberty in the dark corners of the world.
Some thought his bold descriptions and his plans to bridge the wide chasms that separated democracy from despotism were ill-considered. Yet he viewed the world through that crystal clear prism of, in the words of Shakespeare, ``simple truth miscalled simplicity.'' I believe that says it all because I think President Reagan understood that in order to be an effective leader, to be a strong President, to be the leader of this country who was a force for good and to project that force for good, you ultimately had to move the process, and you had to work within the system and with the other branch of Government to make that happen.
Another great of the 20th century refused praise for having lent his lion-hearted strength to an entire nation. Instead, Winston Churchill remarked, it was his nation that had the ``lion's heart'' all along, and it fell to him only to ``give the roar.''
So it was with President Ronald Reagan. His words summoned our resolve and our goodness, and his steady hand guided America to a triumph for all free people. As providence would have it, President Reagan gave America's roar during what would become--in no small part, thanks to him--the last decade of the cold war. With peace through strength, Ronald Reagan called America to a purpose he described in his own hand in 1980 when he wrote:
I believe it is our pre-ordained destiny to show all mankind that they too can be free without having to leave their native shore.
For this legacy, the American people and free people everywhere are in his debt, just as he is in our hearts and his family, as well, in our prayers.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from California is recognized for 10 minutes.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I rise today to pay my respects to one of California's own, President Ronald Reagan.
I first met President Reagan right after I was elected to Congress in 1982. We were a large Democratic freshman class, and when I was invited to the White House, I wondered how President Reagan would greet us. After all, he had campaigned hard for a Republican Congress, and having lost an election myself I knew the feeling of disappointment. When we arrived at the White House, President Reagan could not have been more gracious to us; the same for Mrs. Reagan. I still have the photo from that evening hanging in my home office.
Twenty-two years ago, Ronald Reagan taught me that you can disagree without being disagreeable, that you could set aside those disagreements even though they were deep.
President Reagan once said:
A lot of trouble in the world would disappear if we were talking to each other instead of about each other.
He believed if we were all respectful and pleasant to one another, we could find those areas of common ground. We can reach across the aisle. We can get things done. Believe me, that was a good lesson for me and for all of us that evening because clearly, in the Senate, with the rules of the Senate, the only way to get things done is by working together. I look at the occupant of the Chair, and I know that with our disagreements on many issues, we have come together on a few occasions, and we have won for our constituents and for this country.
When I look back to President Reagan's record, I realize that not only did he bring this kind of an attitude of working together to Washington, but that had been his hallmark in California as well. As a Republican Governor, he was working with a Democratic State legislature. So it seems President Reagan had to learn how to do this both in the State and in the Nation's Capital.
In those years as Governor, in keeping with the values and wishes of most Californians, he helped to establish the Redwood National Park. He regulated auto emissions to reduce pollution. He signed a bill that liberalized a woman's right to choose. He opposed the State proposition that discriminated against teachers based on sexual orientation. You can see Governor Reagan was willing to reach across and find consensus.
Ronald Reagan, of course, did continue to reach across the aisle when he became President. Although there were serious disagreements, he worked closely with a Democratic House to ratify and sign important arms control agreements, increasing funds for math and science education, reauthorizing the Superfund hazardous waste cleanup program, which is so important. The basis of the program is the polluter should pay. Interestingly, we don't seem to have that kind of support today.
President Reagan once said: ``There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go, if he doesn't mind who gets the credit.'' And how important that quote is when it comes to politics. President Reagan was a conservative. He was not an ideologue. He fulfilled a campaign promise to appoint the first woman to the Supreme Court. He chose Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, even though she was considered too moderate by many conservatives. He tried to abolish the National Endowment for the Arts but, after losing that fight, he moved on. I remember that. He moved on without trying to force the issue through the backdoor. I respect that.
I remember the fight to keep the National Endowment for the Arts. Many Republicans in my State didn't agree with President Reagan. They mobilized with the Democrats. President Reagan said, Well, this is what I think. He went forward, and when he lost, that was it.
Of course, there are other issues of disagreement--from offshore oil drilling to the role of the national Government, to the fight against AIDS, to policies in Central America. Those disagreements were deep, but they were never taken personally by President Reagan. He and House Speaker Tip O'Neill were genuinely fond of each other. They often shared a drink after work, and they laughed after a day of locking horns. Their good nature was infectious. It raised the level of comity throughout the Nation's Capital. How I long for those days. It is time that in the spirit of Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill, we see more bipartisan spirit in our work.
In California, there are tributes to Ronald Reagan running around the clock. I know it is true nationally, but because he was our Governor and we are so proud he is part of our legacy, we are seeing and listening to Ronald Reagan's stories and Ronald Reagan quotes. I found one of these very interesting.
There was a question asked to President Reagan after he had completed his 8 years in office. The question was: What do you most want to be remembered for? His answer was this: The millions of jobs that were created while he was President and America regaining respect in the world. Millions of jobs created and America regaining respect in the world. You think about how universal those two achievements are because right now that is a lot of the focus of attention--job creation and respect in the world. It is interesting how prophetic those words are.
I personally believe that 50 years from now, if not now, President Reagan will be remembered for his focus on freedom for the people behind the Iron Curtain. He saw in Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev a man he could successfully challenge to step to the plate. And when President Reagan said, tear down this wall, he said it directly to Mr. Gorbachev. He touched Mr. Gorbachev, and he touched America. He touched people around the world.
In a moving eulogy in yesterday's New York Times Mr. Gorbachev wrote:
Reagan was a man of the right but while adhering to his convictions, with which one could agree or disagree, he was not dogmatic. He was looking for negotiations and for cooperation.
In that, you have to understand that respect for other people and their ideas, the ability to step into their shoes is very important.
We name buildings and rooms and public places after leaders, and we have named many public places after Ronald Reagan. But I truly believe that now the greatest thing we can do in Ronald Reagan's memory is to find a cure for the disease that took his life and took him away from his loved ones and the world stage long before his physical life ended.
Alzheimer's disease is a plague that ravages millions of Americans and those who love them. Caused by abnormal plaques and tangled nerve fibers in the brain, the disease attacks the cells that control thought, memory, and language. The brain, if you look at it, becomes more and more like a child's brain. It kills nerve cells that are vital to memory. If you think about it, when you lose your memory, you lose who you are. And to see someone like Ronald Reagan, who held all the power for 8 years that anyone could ever dream to hold, and to have him not be able to remember that is a tragedy.
Alzheimer's lowers the level of chemicals that carry messages between nerve cells and the brain. The progress of Alzheimer's is usually slow, but it is inexorable. Beginning with mild symptoms, such as forgetfulness, Alzheimer's gradually robs its victims of the ability to think clearly, speak clearly, understand others, or care for themselves in any way.
Ten years ago Ronald Reagan knew he was battling Alzheimer's. He knew he was losing the battle. In an act of tremendous courage and in a handwritten open letter, he told the American people he was suffering from the illness. He wrote:
I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life.
And he movingly wrote:
I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.
So even in his darkest hour, President Reagan's eternal optimism shone through.
Nancy Reagan stood by her husband throughout this long ordeal, protecting him in his most vulnerable time. In recent years, she has become a leading advocate of increased funding for medical research to fight Alzheimer's and other diseases. She has been brave and courageous in her advocacy.
Ironically, just a few weeks ago, I wrote an open letter to her praising her for her strength and moving forward to use her considerable influence to push forward stem cell research.
To honor Ronald Reagan and relieve the suffering of millions of American families, we must pursue every avenue of research and treatment for Alzheimer's and other diseases.
In memory of Ronald Reagan and all of the families who have lost loved ones to Alzheimer's, let us seek a brighter dawn for Alzheimer's victims and their families.
So, Mr. President, Californians are speaking across party lines for a man who was able to set aside ideology to make progress, to work with those who might not have agreed with him on every point. I think it is a terrific lesson to all of us in this time and in this place in our Nation's history.
I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Enzi). Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, Ronald Reagan is seen by the State of Illinois as being his birthplace, as well it should. They feel very strongly about the legacy of Ronald Reagan in Illinois. California, of course, is where Ronald Reagan became famous. They have tremendous ties to Ronald Reagan. The State of Nevada has lots and lots of ties to Ronald Reagan. Not only are we a neighbor to the State of California, but the history of Ronald Reagan and the State of Nevada are intertwined. I come to the Senate today to join a procession to praise Ronald Reagan as a great leader and a fine man.
My first trip to the Oval Office was to meet with Ronald Reagan. I was a young Congressman and I was called to the Oval Office to discuss with the President the situation in Nicaragua, aid to the contras. I was joined there by three other Members of Congress. Vice President Bush, at the time, was there. It is the first time I had the opportunity to visit with, in any depth, Ronald Reagan as President of the United States.
There was a time when I was Lieutenant Governor of Nevada, and Governor O'Callaghan was unable to go to an event at Lake Tahoe. I represented the State. Governor Reagan, at the time, and I spent time together, but it was in a public setting and really not a time where you got to know anyone well.
My first trip to the Oval Office was one that I will always remember. Not only was it my first trip to the Oval Office, it was my first experience in sitting down and talking with Ronald Reagan, President of the United States. His personality came through in that meeting. I have often repeated the story of my visit there.
A Congressman asked Ronald Reagan at the time: Mr. President, I'm afraid you are going to invade Nicaragua. President Reagan did not wait a second. He came back so quickly, with that smile on his face, and said: I'm not going to invade Nicaragua, but I want those SOBs going to bed every night thinking I'm going to.
That was Ronald Reagan. His views of the world were views that all of us could understand. He made it very clear to us that he was not going to invade Nicaragua but he was not about to show any weakness to the Nicaraguans. That is exactly how he said it. From where I come, that was talk that I understood.
I have fond memories of Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan, of course, is someone we all watched on TV, ``Death Valley Days.'' But those in Nevada remember him also, and the papers in Nevada have been full the last few days about his entertainment qualities in Las Vegas.
He came to Las Vegas as an entertainer. He appeared on the Las Vegas strip as an entertainer. We were discussing what he did. I don't know what he did, but he came all the time. He was a headliner. I don't know if he sang or danced. I don't know what he did. He made money and they kept bringing him back.
He was born in the Midwest but he was really a son of the West. He stood for a lot of what we now identify with Ronald Reagan. He believed in freedom, independence, and opportunity. These are the values that all Americans share. We probably understand them a little better in the West.
He handled the Soviet Union much as he handled the situation in my first meeting in the Oval Office. He was direct and to the point with us about how he felt about Nicaragua. In the situation with the Soviet Union, he was direct and to the point.
The first breakthrough in peace for Israel in the Middle East came as a result of a hawk by the name of Menachem Begin. Menachem Begin was the leader of the underground against the British. He was someone who fought the British as no one else did. He did it in secret. But he was the leader. And Menachem Begin's own family did not know that he was the leader of the underground until after the British announced that he was. It took Menachem Begin, somebody who was very hawkish, to make a deal with Egypt. None of the other Israeli leaders could have done it because they would have been seen as capitulating to the Egyptians.
The same with President Reagan. No one could take away his Communist-
fighting credentials. He had them from the time he was an actor, with the Screen Actors Guild, Governor, and President.
I watched a TV program, and the same speech that Ronald Reagan gave as head of the Screen Actors Guild, he gave as Governor, he give as President. He was a certified anti-Communist. So who could better make a deal with the Communists than Ronald Reagan?
No one could question his credentials, no more than they could question the credentials of Menachem Begin. Had it been Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton, it would not have happened. But no one could question his Communist-fighting credentials, and, therefore, people accepted the deal we made with the Soviet Union, which was good for the world and good for our country.
Ronald Reagan has been a good neighbor to the State of Nevada. The State of Nevada shares a national treasure. It is called Lake Tahoe. There is only one other lake like it in the whole world, and that is in Russia, Lake Baikal. I acknowledge that Lake Tahoe is smaller than Lake Baikal, but so is every other lake in the world. But it is an alpine glacial lake that is a wonder of beauty. Ronald Reagan identified that something needed to be done about this beautiful lake.
I spoke yesterday to Paul Laxalt. Paul Laxalt and I have been political adversaries all of my adult life and a lot of his life. But I do not have a better friend than Paul Laxalt. We are friends. We call each other all the time. We have done that for many years. Even though we have been political adversaries, we are friends.
Anyway, I called Paul Laxalt yesterday and said: Talk to me about your relationship with Ronald Reagan. Everyone in Nevada knows and most everyone knows in Washington--my distinguished friend from New Mexico is in the Chamber who served with Senator Laxalt in the Senate--Ronald Reagan's No. 1 guy in the Senate was Paul Laxalt, period. I do not say that saying, oh, somebody may question that. That is a fact of life. Ronald Reagan said it. That is the way it was.
Paul Laxalt said Ronald Reagan should be remembered for two things by Nevadans. No. 1 is the bi-State compact to which the two Republican Governors, Laxalt and Reagan, agreed. They sent it to the California and Nevada State legislatures, and it was ratified eventually by both legislatures. They recognized that something had to be done to preserve Lake Tahoe.
No. 2 is what he did to stop the MX missile from coming to the State of Nevada. The MX missile--most people don't know what that means--but it was a missile, the MX, with 10 warheads on each missile. It was to cover hundreds and hundreds of square miles through Nevada and parts of Utah. That would have been a blight to the environment there, but it was also deemed to be wasteful moneywise. So Ronald Reagan personally intervened, and that never came to be.
That is what Paul Laxalt wanted the people of Nevada to remember about his best friend, Ronald Reagan--what he did for the State of Nevada. Of course, there were many other things.
Paul told a story that they were campaigning together. Paul Laxalt gave every one of his nominating speeches, the time he did not win and the two times he won. Paul Laxalt gave his nominating speeches. He said Ronald Reagan was such a forgiving man that he never held a grudge. They were campaigning in some northeastern State, and somebody had given a speech--somebody Ronald Reagan had helped a lot--and he gave a speech blasting Ronald Reagan's economic program. He was a Republican, and everybody around Reagan was mad at him. So he was getting ready to give this speech, and he says to Paul: I can't remember, why am I mad at this guy? It was because he did not hold grudges. It was not in his nature.
So it is wonderful we had someone like Paul Laxalt who had such close contact with the President of the United States. But not only did he have contact with Paul Laxalt, President Reagan did many other things for the people in Nevada.
Sig Rogich was a special assistant to the President. Because of Ronald Reagan, Sig Rogich developed a great personal friendship with the first President Bush. They are friends. People wonder why President Bush always comes back to Nevada. It is to see his friend Sig Rogich. He, of course, made Sig Rogich an Ambassador to Iceland, where Sig Rogich was born.
Sig Rogich is an extremely successful businessman. But people should also understand Sig Rogich was head of the Tuesday Team that developed that great campaign slogan for President Reagan: ``It's morning in America.''
Rogich wrote and directed most of those pieces. He was heavily involved in the life of President Reagan. He came and moved back here. But, as a result, not only do we have Rogich back here, but Frank Fahrenkopf became chairman of the National Republican Committee. I talked to Frank Fahrenkopf today. He said Reagan did this in typical fashion. He had been offered the job in 1980. He had a great law practice in Nevada and did not want to come to Washington.
Jim Baker called him and said: The President wants you to give a report about what happened in the 1982 elections--where the Democrats did very well; the Republicans did very poorly. He was asked to come back and give a report.
Frank said: Well, I have to fly all night because I'm going with 10 State chairs. We are going to China.
And Baker said: I think it would be a good idea if you came. The President wants you to come back here.
So he got back here. And Senator Laxalt said to Frank Fahrenkopf: Would you reconsider being the national chairman of the Republican Party?
And Frank said: Well, Paul, I have the same problem. I have this law practice.
He said: Well, think about it. He said he knew he was in trouble when he went to breakfast at the White House and they seated him right across from the President, and the President said: Dick Richards is retiring as chairman of the National Republican Party. He said: We have here Frank Fahrenkopf who has said he is going to think about it.
So he knew right then he was going to be the national chairman because the President asked him to do it. So Frank Fahrenkopf became the national chairman of the Republican Party.
But my favorite Ronald Reagan memento--I have always been opposed to term limits. I have opposed term limits for the House and Senate. I have always spoken forcefully against that. I think it is wrong. It is wrong that we have the 22nd amendment to limit the Presidents to two terms.
Ronald Reagan agreed with me. He did not like term limits. He thought the 22nd amendment was bad. I offered a resolution to do away with the 22nd amendment. I spoke out against term limits. President Reagan, after he had retired as President of the United States, wrote me a handwritten note. Here is what he said: ``Dear Harry, I'm glad . .
.''--it is in Ronald Reagan's handwriting, and I have that in my scrapbook. I love my scrapbook and have this in it. I had announced that I supported repeal of the 22nd amendment. Here is what he wrote:
I'm glad you are moving on repeal of the 22nd Amendment. I've made a number of speeches to national business groups. .
. . In every speech I've announced my support for repeal and have received an ovation from every audience. I charge that the 22nd is a violation of the people's right to vote for whomever they want.
Signed: ``Ronald Reagan.''
Here is the guy. He believed in States rights. He believed in people being able to make their determination, not some arbitrary law that we passed saying: You can't serve in the Senate because you have been there two terms. He believed the people have the right to choose their representatives.
I have a number of pictures with Ronald Reagan. I liked him as a person. I did not agree with everything he did politically, as we all know, but I liked him as a person.
So I stand here today honored that I had a chance to work with President Ronald Reagan, someone with whom I knew and felt comfortable. He surrounded himself with good people. They were not mean-spirited. They were good people. They were pragmatists. I liked the people with whom he surrounded himself.
He is going to be remembered in history, of course, as one of our great Presidents. This is a time to mourn his death, but it is more important to appreciate his life.
I can remember a person with whom I practiced law when Ronald Reagan was President. He said: He has no chance of winning. He is an actor. Look how old he is.
Well, people liked him for who he was, not how old he was or what he had done before he was elected Governor of the State of California. His amazing journey was the American dream come true. He helped bring the dream a little closer to all of us.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I was privileged to become chairman of the Senate Budget Committee at the same time Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President. I never thought I was going to have that job, but with his victory, we took over the Senate. I recall Senator Howard Baker called me at home, and his greeting was ``Mr. Chairman.'' I kind of wondered what he was talking about, and then he told me. That was quite startling because I knew I was going to be chairman when Ronald Reagan would be asking that we carry out his program.
From January of 1981 until President Reagan left office in January of 1989, it was my privilege to work closely with him and his senior advisers, as with any President before or since. I suspect I saw President Reagan exhibit all his legendary traits: the man of principle, the man of strength, the man of strong convictions, the man of humor, and, in one famous case, a man with an Irish temper on occasion.
Even before he was sworn in, Mr. Reagan asked Cap Weinberger to head up his transition team for the Reagan budget and fiscal policy. I worked closely with Cap and then Dave Stockman, whom I knew when he was a Member of the House. He was announced to be the incoming OMB Director.
I was impressed by the three principles that Ronald Reagan insisted on in my budget that I would prepare: Restraint of domestic spending, long overdue increases in defense spending, and tax cuts to stimulate the economy. The economy was a dormant economy. Those three principles guided every decision that I had with the President and his senior staff. He was not going to compromise on these three principles.
I saw his strength on many occasions, most notably, of course, after the assassination attempt. But I also saw his strength when he insisted that the air traffic controllers either go to work or lose their jobs. That signal, clear and strong, persuaded me this man was, in fact, a man who would risk political standing in order to stand for the good of the public.
I saw his humor time and time again. Once when I showed up late for a meeting with him, there were other Senators present. It was very embarrassing. He was amused. And when my good friend, Senator Howard Baker, became Chief of Staff to the President, he told me one of his jobs was to try to come up with a good joke to tell the President, that Reagan's humor came from the same sense of perspective that produced his strength and commitment to the American people.
I learned firsthand that the Irish in President Reagan also included a bit of an Irish temper. In 1993, I had the delicate task of telling the President that I would not put off my budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and that I would not be able to supply him with the entire increase in defense spending for the upcoming fiscal year. Cap Weinberger had made that request on behalf of the President. I would not put in my budget in the upcoming year that entire defense request. Cap Weinberger and I discussed this for weeks, and we put off this action over the Easter holiday and for weeks to give them a chance to work on their defense budget.
The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Senator John Tower, and I discussed it, and Senator Tower knew we couldn't get the entire request. Finally, just as the markup of the budget was to occur, at about 10 minutes until 10 in the morning, the President called me on the telephone in the back room of the Budget Committee's hearing.
``Hello,'' I said to the President.
``Hello, Pete,'' he said pleasantly. ``You know, I really need you to put off the markup of the budget until we can get an agreement on the defense spending.''
``Mr. President, I really appreciate and am honored by your call, but I have delayed this for too long and just cannot get the full number that you have requested for defense.''
``Well, will you postpone the markup?'' he asked with little amiability in his voice.
``No, sir; I cannot do that,'' I replied.
At that point, the President said goodbye. At least I think that is what he said. I was told later by someone who was present in his office during the call that the President turned a little red in his face and threw the phone on the floor. Yet he was absolutely wonderful to me after that. He campaigned for me. He turned his budget over to me for implementation. And I had a great relationship not only with him but with those who served him, in particular Dave Stockman.
Let me note something about the first budget exercise. The President and his staff had some thoughts about the proper legislative approach. I disagreed and argued for something we now know and have learned to use, and we understand it well. But it was truly historic, the use of a process called reconciliation. That was the first time we ever did it. Nobody understood it. The President, with the guidance of Leader Howard Baker, went along with our recommendation. Senator Fritz Hollings joined me in this historic reconciliation effort. We had all the President's budget restraints in it. We had his tax cuts in that extraordinary document. And in the budget resolution for fiscal year 1992, we had room for all the President's defense spending increases to which he ended up agreeing.
Some Members of the Senate expressed dismay and even anger over the use of this process called reconciliation. Even some Republicans were perplexed by its complications and wondered how it would really work. I know the President and his staff relied on us in the Senate and on the committee to carry out what we promised.
It is to President Reagan's credit that he supported us every step of the way. Perhaps that was one of the things I admired most of this man. He made a decision, entrusted it to those on whom he relied, and used all of his power to make a plan succeed.
I cannot tell you how complimented I felt when Howard Baker came to me and said: The President says if you and I think we can do this, then he will back us all the way. And he did.
What a great President. What a great American. What a great man. It was truly my privilege to work with him. I think history will record that our work was of historic importance as the President moved toward making this economy stronger than ever, this Nation more secure than ever, and the world safer than ever.
In closing, let me say I honestly wish I had had occasion to know him even better. I didn't have the opportunity to get to know him on a personal basis. Most of what I learned of him is expressed and explained in the remarks I have made. But the wonderful stories I have heard about him are clearly believable, because what I saw of him was remarkable. What I saw of him in the numerous meetings was truly incredible.
Some spoke ill of him during those days. It is wonderful to note that most of those have forgotten those days and are now part of this great chorus in our country that is praising him as one of our greatest.
I knew most about the economic situation because of the Budget Committee, but it is easy for me to see how he succeeded in foreign affairs. It is clear no one could have accomplished with the Soviet Union what he did, because most Presidents would not be believed, and most Presidents would not be permitted to propose and make the kind of agreements with the Soviet Union that he did.
To sum it up, he made a stronger America. Our economy grew somewhere between 18 million and 20 million jobs. Think of that. We are now talking about 2.2 million jobs. He took an economy that was in terrible shape. Does anybody remember 21-percent interest? We have grown so accustomed to low inflation and low interest rates in the last few years that most of us don't understand inflation was so rampant and interest rates so high that, in our grocery stores, those who filled the shelves would also bring along a stamp and they would change the price as they walked down the aisles, because the foodstuff had to go up day by day, week by week. Can you imagine what Americans would think about that today? But we had to take it back then and we had to wait for something else to work. That something else was Ronald Reagan's policy, his approach to lower taxes, which stimulated this economy.
So it is with deep regret that I join with many others and many in the Senate who will have words to say about him. Again, my best to his wife Nancy and his family. I understand their great grief. But they had him for a very long time, and I am sure with the passage of time they will begin to understand that. I hope they can and I hope they will.
Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition to comment about the passing of President Ronald Reagan, and to comment about the great legacy he has left and the occasions when I had an opportunity to meet and deal personally with President Reagan.
While I had met him prior to the 1980 election cycle, I had an opportunity to work with him during that Presidential election year when he was elected President of the United States and I was first elected to the Senate. I recollect his presence in Philadelphia on one August day, when the timing for his presentation was to coincide with the beginning of the 6 o'clock news cycle, so he would be carried live over the broadcast stations. I recollect standing behind the curtains at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, where he was later to be the guest of honor at a fundraiser on my behalf.
What a sense of expectation there was by then-Governor Reagan and Mrs. Nancy Reagan, with Mrs. Reagan expressing the question: Do you really think it is possible we will be successful in this Presidential bid? I commented that I thought the chances were excellent. Precisely at 6 o'clock, the curtain was pulled back, and the President-to-be stepped forward and made an eloquent speech.
He traveled to Pittsburgh where again he was the guest of honor at a fundraiser. I recollect attending that event, and at one appropriate moment he demonstrated his insight into the drama and to the field by grabbing my hand by the wrist and lifting it high in a traditional victory celebration. Watching him as a campaigner was a very instructive opportunity.
The day after the election, when he was victorious, I, along with the other 15 Republican Senators who were elected on that same day, 16 of us were elected, and Republicans took control of the Senate in the 1980 election with a 53 Senate majority, was called by President Reagan to congratulate us and to hear words of congratulations. President Reagan's sense of cheer and sense of optimism was with him at all times. I was to learn as I got to know him better that he really liked to make congratulatory phone calls when there was good news in the offing. As President, he had the practice of calling every nominee to the Federal bench to personally tell the nominee that he, the President, had nominated the individual to be a Federal judge, and, of course, that is great news, but that was the sort of moment that President Reagan relished.
When we were sworn in, in January of 1981, Senator Howard Baker, the majority leader, designated me as spokesman for the group. He did that because I was last in seniority. Seniority at that time among Republican Senators was decided on the basis of alphabetical listing, after the preference was given to former Members of the House and former Governors.
As the spokesman for the class, I had the honor of sitting next to the President during our frequent luncheon meetings. At one of the meetings, Senator Mack Mattingly was seated across the table. This was after the President had been reelected in 1984. Senator Mattingly said to the President: Why is it, Mr. President, that you don't age at all?
President Reagan was fast with one of his famous stories. He said: Well, Mack, it is like the two psychiatrists who came to work the same time every day. Both were immaculately dressed. When they left in the afternoon at the same time, one psychiatrist was totally disheveled, and the other continued to be immaculately dressed. After day after day, week after week, month after month of this happening, finally one day when they left, the disheveled psychiatrist said: How is it that we come to the office the same time every day to see our patients, and day after day, week after week, month after month, you leave immaculately dressed and I am disheveled? The immaculately dressed psychiatrist looked at his colleague and said: Who listens? This was President Reagan's way of saying he can take all of the tough spots of the Presidency and still retain his composure and still retain his vigor and his freshness.
I was very much impressed with President Reagan when he was near the end of his first term and he was asked a question about whether he was going to run for reelection. His answer was: The people will tell me whether I should run for reelection. I have been asked the same question from time to time. I have used President Reagan's answer because I believe it is a really terrific answer.
The first legislation which I proposed after being elected to the Senate involved the armed career criminal bill. I sought a meeting with the President. That was a bill, which has been enacted into law, that provides for mandatory sentences of 15 years to life for career criminals who have three or more major felonies on their record.
When I described it and discussed it with President Reagan, he referred to a James Cagney movie in which there was a three-time loser, immediately relating that to his own experience, and became a supporter and ultimately signed that bill into law.
President Reagan traveled frequently to Pennsylvania and on those occasions would invite Senator Heinz and I to join him. One such occasion was extraordinarily memorable. It was on the 200th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. It was a real experience to ride with the President in Air Force One and in a limousine and to have a chance to talk with him and discuss with him some of the major issues.
He had made a comment that when we develop the strategic defense initiative, we would share it with other nations. I asked him about those plans and how he could carry that forward since the strategic defense initiative was not likely to be accomplished for many years and it would require an act of Congress to share one of our national assets. The President's reply was that this was a matter of leadership, and that in moving toward the strategic defense initiative, we wanted to assure other countries we would not use it only for ourselves but would make it available to others.
At that time, the mutual assured destruction doctrine was operative with the stalemate between the United States and the Soviet Union, each knowing that if there were to be an aggressive act, it would be responded to. So the mutual assured destruction doctrine was in effect, and to move to a strategic defense initiative required assurances that this kind of defense would be shared.
President Reagan leaves a phenomenal legacy. Perhaps his greatest achievement was presiding over the end of the Cold War, in which the United States defeated the Soviet Union. When the United States was rearmed, the Soviet Union could not keep up and ultimately was bankrupt.
President Reagan led the arms control talks with Soviet President Gorbachev. With his famous words at the Berlin Wall to tear the wall down, and ultimately with the demise of the Soviet Union, all of Eastern Europe was free, and liberty and democracy has come to so much of Eastern Europe and to so many people in the world because of President Reagan's leadership.
His optimism and sense of buoyancy were just what the United States needed when he came to office in 1981. His emphasis on less Government, his determination to lower taxes, and his spirit of determination to defeat communism were trademarks and legacies which will last forever.
One final note. When President Reagan came to Independence Hall on the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1987, we arrived at the Hall and there was an enormous wheel with George Washington and then sequenced, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the wheel came all the way around and Ronald Reagan was situated right next to President George Washington. I asked President Reagan how it felt to be on that wheel right next to President Washington. He said: Arlen, it is a humbling experience.
I think the humility of President Reagan in the context of his great achievements is another addition to a really great legacy.
Mr. President, in the absence of any other Senators seeking recognition, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Craig). Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, we have heard many remembrances of President Reagan these last 3 days. One of my own favorite stories about President Reagan appeared in the Boston Globe on St. Patrick's Day, 1983. It begins:
In his corner office, House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. has proudly hung a photograph of President Reagan. It shows the two men, their faces agitated in the heat of a argument over jobs and the economy, each jabbing a finger at each other.
Underneath, a puckish inscription from `Ron Reagan' to
`Tip' reads, `From one Irishman to another--Top o' the morning to you.' That photograph conveys the flavor of perhaps the most important political relationship in Washington, for it juxtaposes the sharp partisan confrontations between the two men with the personal cordiality that suits the current mood of bipartisanship.
The headline on that article read: ``Reagan and O'Neill: Each One Needs the Other.''
Ronald Reagan was many things in life: An actor, a Governor, the President.
For countless millions throughout the world, he was the voice and the image of American confidence and optimism.
Even those who disagreed strongly with many of his policies admired his sunny disposition, his easy grace and charm, his quick wit, and his unshakable conviction, as he said so often, that America's best days are just ahead of us.
He was a self-made son of small-town, middle America who loved this Nation because of the chance it gave him--and generations of Americans before and after him--to go as far in life as their talents and ambitions could take them.
Historians will still be taking the measure of Ronald Reagan and his presidency for decades to come. But even now, it is clear that President Reagan presided over, and helped bring about, enormous changes in America, and in the world.
His unflinching opposition to communism helped bring down the wall and bring about the end of the Soviet Union. For that, the world owes Ronald Reagan a great debt of gratitude.
Americans, and friends of America throughout the world, are saddened by President Reagan's death.
Our hearts go out to the Reagan family, especially Mrs. Reagan and the Reagan children and grandchildren, as well as to President and Mrs. Reagan's friends. Even when someone has been slipping away for a long time, as President Reagan did, the final goodbye is still heartbreaking. We wish them comfort in this time of great sorrow.
In his 1987 autobiography, ``Man of the House,'' Tip O'Neill recalled the time President-elect Reagan visited him in his office in early 1981. The Speaker told the man who was soon to be President that in the House, Democrats and Republicans ``are always friends after 6 o'clock and on weekends.''
For the next 6 years, until he retired, Tip O'Neill recalled, President Reagan always began their phone conversations by asking,
``Tip, is it after 6 o'clock?''
It has been nearly 10 years since President Reagan wrote his courageous letter to America telling us that he had Alzheimer's disease.
In the decade since President Reagan began his quiet withdrawal from public life, the civility and personal decency that we associate with him seems, at times, to have all but disappeared from much of our public discourse. The elbows in politics have become sharper, the words have become meaner--and the accomplishments have become scarcer.
Sadly, there is a tendency today to assume ill will and bad motives of those who belong to the other party--or even another wing of one's own party.
This decline of civility in politics and public discourse is not good for America. It does not make us safer, or stronger.
President Reagan spoke to all that was good and decent in America. We would honor him by restoring decency to our politics.
Ronald Reagan was a man who believed deeply in his core principles. He would not want any of us to compromise our own core principles in his memory. But there is such a thing as principled compromise. President Reagan understood that. He knew that accommodation was needed to make the system work.
Like many conservatives, President Reagan had some basic philosophical qualms about Social Security. But he appointed a bipartisan commission to find ways to save Social Security from imminent insolvency--and he backed the commission's plan. That was principled compromise at work.
Twenty-four years ago this week, Ronald Reagan had just clinched the delegates needed to win his party's 1980 Presidential nomination. It was a nomination he had worked for for 12 years.
A newspaper reporter asked him what he thought he needed to do next.
He replied that he wanted to dispel the notion that he was a hard-
nosed radical who would oppose compromise on principle. As he put it:
You know, there are some people so imbued with their ideology that if they can't get everything they want, they'll jump off the cliff with the flag flying. As governor, I found out that if I could get half a loaf, instead of stalking off angrily, I'd take it.
Perhaps because he himself was a Democrat early in his life, President Reagan never demonized his political opponents--even when he disagreed profoundly with them.
When Tip O'Neill turned 70, President Reagan hosted a reception for him at the White House. There they were: the opposing champions of laissez-faire economics and New Deal liberalism. President Reagan toasted Tip O'Neill by saying:
Tip, if I had a ticket to heaven and you didn't have one too, I would give mine away and go to hell with you.
President Reagan and Tip O'Neill, I am convinced, are reunited in heaven now.
As we prepare here in the Capitol to say our final goodbye to President Reagan, let us remember his capacity to see the best in everyone, including those whose political views differed starkly from his own. Let us remember that there is no dishonor in accepting a half a loaf.
In the months ahead and for as long as we are given the honor of serving in Congress, let us search and work for principled compromises that serve the interests of the vast majority of Americans. In that way, we can help to preserve President Reagan's great belief and hope that America's best days are, indeed, just ahead.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. In my capacity as a Senator from the State of Idaho, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
Without objection, it is so ordered.
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