[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 3 (Thursday, January 29, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S221-S225]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RENAMING WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT ``RONALD REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT''

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I wanted to update my colleagues on this 
issue of the cost of the renaming of Washington National Airport. C-
SPAN viewership is up today because our phones have been ringing quite 
a bit, both in my office and Senator Coverdell's office and others. 
This is a fax that I received just an hour or so ago. It says:

       Dear Senator, I'm watching today's coverage of the Senate 
     on C-SPAN. I note an objection to renaming Washington 
     National Airport the Ronald Reagan National Airport was the 
     $60,000 cost of new signs. In the way that I honor President 
     Reagan and you, I humbly offer the $60,000 cost of these 
     signs.

  I will repeat that, Mr. President.

       I honor President Reagan. . . . I humbly offer the $60,000 
     cost of these signs. Having lived in Alexandria for 5 years, 
     I know that the Washington airport has always been considered 
     the Washington, DC, National Airport, and any argument 
     otherwise is simply partisan and specious. I support you and 
     Senator Coverdell in your effort to honor President Reagan on 
     his birthday, which sadly could be his last.

  Mr. President, I am not, obviously, going to give the name of the 
individual because of privacy considerations. But we are receiving call 
after call.

  Let's not, as we go through these arguments one by one concerning the 
airport, let's be sure that the cost of renaming the signs--I find it 
interesting. They just went through a $1-point-some billion remodeling 
without a single additional flight going in or out of the airport, yet 
the question is raised about a $60,000 renaming.
  Second, I want to point out again, it in no way affects the founder 
of our country, the father of our country, George Washington. I know 
Senator Coverdell and I--Senator Coverdell obviously speaks for 
himself, but I know of no objection if it was Ronald Reagan Washington 
National Airport. I'm sure we could work out that difficulty.
  I yield to the Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. COVERDELL. In the original legislation it's the Ronald Reagan 
Washington National Airport. The House removed the ``Washington''--
Ronald Reagan National Airport. My amendment was simply in conjunction 
with that. Yes, just to make it absolutely clear, the original concept 
of the sponsor was that it was the Ronald Reagan Washington National 
Airport. If that needed any further clarification, I wanted to add it.
  Mr. McCAIN. Let me just finally say I am sorry this controversy has 
erupted. I hope we can work it out. I hope we can work it out within 
the next 24 hours amongst all of our colleagues in the Senate. I would 
like to move forward with it. As I said earlier, I regret we are 
starting out this year, the first real day of our session, in this kind 
of a difference of view.
  Let me just make one additional point. I cannot speak for the Members 
on this side of the aisle, but I understand the reverence that many 
Americans--not just Democrats but also Republicans--have for Robert 
Kennedy and Jack Kennedy and the entire Kennedy family. If there is 
some proposal to name the Justice Department building after Robert 
Kennedy, I would strongly support such an effort. And I would support 
such a thing in any way. Obviously, he was a former Attorney General of 
the United States.
  But let's not set up these straw men to kind of, certainly not poison 
the atmosphere here, but it's not a good way for us to begin. I know 
everyone knows how those of us who knew Ronald Reagan, and the vast 
majority of Americans, feel about him. So I hope we can get this thing 
resolved. Again, I thank Senator Coverdell, who served under President 
Reagan and knew him as well as anyone and whose idea this was for this 
very appropriate action. I just hope Senator Coverdell will be able to 
make a phone call out to California very soon, at the time of President 
Reagan's birthday, and inform both President Reagan and Mrs. Reagan 
that we are honoring him in this very small way. There really is no way 
we can ever fully honor him for what he has done for the Nation and the 
world.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Arizona for 
returning to the floor, for reading this very emotional letter. You 
know, in a sense the remarks that we have heard here this afternoon all 
have this common thread of admiration running through them, such as is 
expressed in this letter, almost as if there is--just during that 
period of time there was a connection between this man and his call for 
optimism, his belief in the country. And it evokes these kinds of 
emotions that were just expressed to us by Senator McCain.
  I appreciate the Senator's, in a sense, admonition that if there is 
some common ground here, that would be useful to pursue. At this point, 
in my view, a statement like this about a figure such as President 
Reagan stands on its own. That takes nothing away from anyone else or 
other heroes and heroines. But, if the other side has a goal or 
something of this nature, I am sure they would find many Republicans 
who would join with them in honoring that person. We have.
  I mention my good friend and colleague from my own State for whom we 
have named a very prominent new courthouse. I mentioned the Roosevelt 
Memorial and others. This has not been, as Senator McCain indicated, a 
very good way to begin this session of the Congress.
  He has mentioned cost. He has mentioned this article that we are 
renaming an airport that was named for George Washington. That is not 
the case. These are roadblocks, and they

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can only be viewed as an attempt to either throttle the legislation or 
to extract something from it, which I think diminishes what we are 
trying to do here.
  The suggestion that we are naming a building downtown and that 
somehow that is all that needs to be done to honor this man--if you go 
to Eastern Europe and ask the people if that is enough, they would tell 
you in a hurry, no.
  It is surprising to me that, given all that historical period, fewer 
than a dozen landmarks in our country are dedicated to Ronald Reagan. 
Fewer than a dozen. Because of President Reagan's enduring legacy and 
the American people's continuing respect and affection for him, it is 
fitting that the national airport bear his name for all those who come 
here, all those from our own country and all those who visit our 
country. This is a fitting acknowledgment of a massive role in American 
history.
  Many airports are named after famous people. From San Diego's 
Lindbergh to New York's LaGuardia, Chicago's O'Hare, Washington's 
Dulles. I might point out that often we refer to it as Washington 
Dulles Airport. If you look at the little marker for arrivals and 
destinations, it doesn't just say ``D,'' it alludes to the city, Dulles 
Washington. It is not because of George Washington, but because of the 
Capital City.
  The airport is named after former Secretary of State Dulles.
  Orange County's John Wayne; and currently there is an effort underway 
to rename the Los Angeles airport after actor and World War II aviator 
Jimmy Stewart. President John F. Kennedy was honored by having the 
Nation's largest international airport named after him in 1964. 
Sponsors contend that no American statesman of this century deserve 
this honor more than former President Reagan, our Nation's 40th 
President. The Reagan era, fondly remembered by tens of millions of 
Americans, marked the turning point in America's declining fortunes 
after our defeat in Vietnam and the oil crisis of the seventies.
  Buoyed by the contagious optimism of what they call ``the Great 
Communicator''--I never really bought into that term. I accept it, but 
I always thought some of the people who communicated it were taken 
aback by his ability to overpower them through his communications, and 
they would write it off that he is just a great communicator. As 
history bore out, he was a great leader who had the skill of 
communicating--Americans were reawakened to their image of themselves 
and to a great people with a great future. The far-reaching Reagan tax 
cuts ignited what remains the longest post-World War II economic 
recovery, a sharp reversal from stagflation of the high tax, high 
inflation seventies. How quickly we forget the millions and millions 
and millions of people who secured economic independence because of the 
economic boom that he unleashed by the argument that if we lower the 
tax burden on the American people, they will respond with 
entrepreneurship and hard work, and it will make America strong again. 
And that is exactly what they did.
  His restoration of America's neglected defenses--of course, the 
Persian Gulf war was led by President George Bush, but I am sure that 
former President Bush, my good friend, would acknowledge that he had 
the tools to use that were prepared for by his predecessor for whom he 
served as Vice President, President Ronald Reagan, the buildup that 
occurred that allowed us to so successfully vanquish Saddam Hussein.
  His restoration of America's neglected defenses, combined with his 
forceful and eloquent advocacy of American values against the failed 
ideology of communism, epitomized by his demand in Berlin, ``Mr. 
Gorbachev, tear down this wall,'' set the stage for the collapse of the 
evil empire.
  How many of us remember the ridicule when he came up with SDI and how 
fearful it made the Soviet Union, probably one of the single greatest 
strokes to bring down what he characterized as the evil empire?
  According to Russian sources, the technological challenge of the 
Strategic Defense Initiative, as I just referred to, SDI, envisioned by 
President Reagan to defend the American people from nuclear attack 
forced the Soviet regime to adopt policies, like glasnost and 
perestroika, in a vain attempt to keep up, and instead unleashed the 
social forces that brought down the system built by Lenin and Stalin.

  In short, President Reagan's commitment to restoring the fundamental 
ideals of the Founding Fathers and the traditional beliefs of the 
American people to the helm of American national policy at home and 
abroad marks him as one of America's greatest leaders and a central 
figure of the 20th century.
  Mr. President, throughout the day, as this debate has progressed, 
beginning with Majority Leader Lott, who quoted former Prime Minister 
Margaret Thatcher and her genuine deep-felt respect for President 
Reagan, I want to read--there was recently a book published where they 
had world figures comment on President Reagan's Presidency. It would, 
of course, been incomplete without a statement from Margaret Thatcher. 
She says:

       I . . . met Governor Reagan shortly after my becoming 
     Conservative leader in 1975.

  This is long before she was Prime Minister and long before Governor 
Reagan had been elected President, 5 years.

       Even before then, I knew something about him because 
     Denis--

  Her husband--

     had returned home one evening in the late 1960s full of 
     praise for a remarkable speech Ronald Reagan had just 
     delivered to the Institute of Directors. I read the text 
     myself and quickly saw what Denis meant. When we met in 
     person, I was immediately won over by his charm, sense of 
     humour--

  We have heard references all day long to that disarming sense of 
humor and the ability to communicate by that disarming smile.

       . . . I was immediately won over by his charm, sense of 
     humour and directness.

  Firmness.

       In the succeeding years I read his speeches, advocating tax 
     cuts as the root to wealth creation and stronger defenses as 
     an alternative to detente.

  You see, SDI, which we have just heard from Russian authorities broke 
their back, was not detente. That is not saying we both can obliterate 
each other. We are saying we are going to protect ourselves from you 
and we consider yours to be an evil force and we won't accept it. Look 
how different the world is.
  Remember when they met in a summit and the Russians were endeavoring 
to do SDI in, and it had been built up. He was under enormous pressure 
to come to an agreement. But when he realized he could not have the 
agreement, President Reagan, without undoing this new tool to defend 
the country, said, ``I'm leaving.'' Because despite the embarrassment 
that might have been to have left without anything productive, the 
principle outweighed his own fortunes, and he was ready to get on a 
plane and fly home, having failed but having kept his commitment. That 
is what she is alluding to here.

       In the succeeding years I read his speeches, advocating tax 
     cuts as the root of wealth . . . I also read many of his . . 
     . [radio] broadcasts. . .which his Press Secretary sent over 
     regularly for me. I agreed with them all. In November 1978 we 
     met again in my room in the House of Commons.
       In the early years Ronald Reagan had been dismissed by much 
     of the American political elite--

  Which, I might add, is probably the reason I read a moment ago that 
there are fewer than a dozen landmarks to this great American figure--
fewer than a dozen. I think we are still dealing with America's 
political elite.

       . . . though [Ronald Reagan was] not [dismissed] by the 
     American electorate, [the political elite saw him] as a 
     right-wing maverick who could not be taken seriously. Now he 
     was seen by many thoughtful Republicans as their best ticket 
     back to the White House. Whatever Ronald Reagan had gained in 
     experience, he had not done so at the expense of his 
     beliefs--

  Taking you back to the meeting he had with the Russians over SDI. His 
beliefs were more important to him than his political fortunes, 
returning without an agreement. Of course, at the end, as you know, he 
got the agreement.

       I found [his beliefs] stronger than ever. When he left my 
     study, I reflected on how different things might look if such 
     a man [Ronald Reagan] were President of the United States. 
     But, in November 1978, such a prospect seemed a long way off.
       The so-called Reagan Doctrine, which Ronald Reagan 
     developed in a speech to both

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     Houses of Parliament in 1982, demonstrated just how potent a 
     weapon in international politics human rights could be. His 
     view was that we should fight the battle of ideas for freedom 
     against communism throughout the world, and refuse to accept 
     the permanent exclusion of the captive nations from the 
     benefits of freedom.

  Ronald Reagan understood that America's glory was founded in freedom. 
And he wanted all the world to be able to enjoy these same benefits.

       This unashamedly philosophical approach and the armed 
     strength supporting it transformed the political world. 
     President Reagan undermined the Soviet Union at home by 
     giving hope to its citizens, directly assisted rebellions 
     against illegitimate Communist regimes in Afghanistan and 
     Nicaragua, and facilitated the peaceful transition to 
     democracy in Latin American countries and the Philippines. Of 
     course, previous American Governments had extolled human 
     rights, and President Carter had even declared that they were 
     the ``soul'' of U.S. foreign policy. Where President Reagan 
     went beyond [he went beyond] these, however, was in making 
     the Soviets the principal target of his human rights 
     campaign, and in moving from rhetorical to material support 
     for anti-Communist guerrillas in countries where Communist 
     regimes had not securely established themselves. The result 
     [the result] was a decisive advance for freedom in the world 
     . . .. In this instance, human rights and wider American 
     purposes were in complete harmony.

  And yet here we are at 4:15 in January 1998, in the twilight of his 
years, and we are in an argument over whether we ought to name the 
Nation's Capital airport for him.
  How nice it would be if all these new people from Nicaragua to 
Poland, from East Germany to Afghanistan could have a presence here 
this afternoon. And we could ask them, ``Do you think we ought to name 
this National Airport for this man of freedom?'' I think the resounding 
ovation would be so loud as to have been heard around the world.
  Mr. President, 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. GRAMS. 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. GRAMS. Thank you very much.
  Mr. President, I just wanted to come to the floor here for a few 
minutes this afternoon to somewhat join in the debate, but also to add 
my support to Senate bill S. 1297, that is, renaming the Washington 
National Airport to the Ronald Reagan National Airport.
  I have been kind of saddened by the debate that I have been hearing 
today on S. 1297 and, again, to rename Washington National Airport as 
the Ronald Reagan National Airport. I simply cannot believe some of the 
things I have heard on the floor, that somehow this effort would 
require a quid pro quo.
  Mr. President, in diluting this effort, I think it is insulting that 
this legislation is being demagoged in this way. This should be a 
noncontroversial bill. It is a very fitting tribute to a very wonderful 
American hero. He was a President not just for Republicans, but he was 
a President for all people. And it should be passed.
  This bill should be passed before President Reagan's birthday, which 
occurs just a week from tomorrow, that is, February the 6th. What a 
great tribute it would be. You know, I am very proud that this Senate 
has taken the time to propose that such a fitting tribute be paid to 
Ronald Reagan. Again, I do not think that it should be turned in any 
way into a petty or partisan tirade.
  I have heard and had a chance to listen to a few of my other 
colleagues who have been to the floor. And they have delivered some 
real eloquent statements on what Ronald Reagan has done, what it has 
meant to them, what they feel that he has done for America.
  President Reagan inspired or maybe we could say reinspired a whole 
generation of Americans, millions of Americans, much in the same way 
that John F. Kennedy inspired Americans 20 years earlier in 1960. I 
believe that President Reagan is a man who wanted to leave a legacy, 
but not a legacy to himself. President Reagan was a man who wanted to 
leave a legacy to his children and grandchildren and to all Americans 
that America can be a better place if we only believe in ourselves and 
what we can do and strive to do better.
  I remember listening to him way back in 1976 when he first appeared 
on the national scene. And I listened to him--and this was at a time 
when I was not actively involved in politics --but the things he was 
saying in 1976 were things that I brought to my campaign as late as 
1992 and again in 1994. And that was for a better America, a more 
responsible America, one that was going to deevolutionize Washington, 
DC, and put more of the control and power back into the hands of State 
and local governments, but most importantly back into the hands of 
individuals.

  He talked then about a tax cut, balancing the budget, which is all 
kind of the legacy that we now have the great opportunity to be talking 
about here as we begin the second half of the 105th Congress in 1998. I 
think he filled a void in many of us with those words and that 
inspiration.
  I am very proud that this Senate is proposing this fitting tribute. 
Again, we are not renaming an airport that was originally named in 
honor of another individual. This is Washington National Airport. It is 
named after the City of Washington. Renaming the airport does not 
somehow politicize it. It would not convey some sort of partisan 
advantage, but it would simply provide, again, a tribute to a great 
American who has been honored by so many on both sides of the aisle.
  This isn't a time to count how many Republicans and how many 
Democrats have buildings or public facilities that are named after 
them. This legislation has been around for some time. It simply is not 
appropriate to make demands at the last minute to hold up this 
legislation.
  Mr. President, the City of Washington has a new airport terminal. It 
is a magnificent structure that speaks volumes about the pride that 
Washingtonians feel for this city. It is a fitting reflection of the 
pride that Americans feel as well for their National Capital.
  So again, I cannot think of a more appropriate time than now to give 
our airport a new name, especially when it is the name of a man who 
represents such hope and inspiration. Ronald Reagan embodies America, 
and by giving his name to that of our Capital City airport I think is 
an honor that he has earned and one that he deserves.
  So I am very proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation. And I 
strongly urge my colleagues to end this debate, to come to the floor 
and support this legislation and let us pass it.
  So I compliment Senator Coverdell on his efforts on this. And again, 
I hope we can move this legislation forward and make sure that it is 
passed by the Senate and the House and signed by the President by next 
week so we can honor Ronald Reagan on his birthday on February the 6th.
  Thank you very much, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. COVERDELL addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the distinguished Senator 
from Georgia.
  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senator from New Mexico, Senator Domenici, be added as a cosponsor of 
this legislation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from 
Minnesota for his very fitting and gracious remarks.
  I think Senator McCain of Arizona has properly framed a certain 
sadness about this afternoon. This is a surprising way to start this 
new session of Congress with the other side constructing roadblocks in 
front of this type of legislation or trying to exact a quid pro quo, 
``Well, you can name this if we name that,'' as we approach, as he 
calls it, the sunset of his life. He has a birthday next month.
  While you might not have always agreed with him, it is clear that 
former President Reagan was a giant in our time, a giant on the world 
stage. If you are going to fight him even at this moment, don't do it 
by minimalist activity, don't do it by some nuance argument over 
whether or not the name ``Washington'' is for the city or for former 
President George Washington. Don't fight an epic world figure by 
disputing whether or not it will take $60,000 to repaint the signs. 
What a

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classic disconnect. Don't do it by saying, ``There is another building 
downtown that has his name on it, isn't that enough?''
  I frankly think the former President would feel as Maggie Thatcher 
suggested, complimented, if you just said we don't want to do it; we 
just don't want to do that--rather than all these minimalist, 
ineffective, of absolutely nonequal standing diminutive assertions. It 
is OK to disagree about doing it or not, but don't do it in this way. 
Let's at least have respect.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues in 
supporting S. 1297, Senator Coverdell's bill to rename Washington 
National Airport in honor of former President Ronald Reagan. As we seek 
to pay tribute to him, it is important for us to reflect upon President 
Reagan's place in history. Few modern leaders have had such an enduring 
impact on our lives.
  President Reagan was elected at a critical time in the history of our 
nation and our world. In the early 1980s, the country was struggling 
with an economy plagued with high inflation and unemployment. In the 
wake of Watergate, the Vietnam War, and the oil crisis, society at 
large was told by President Carter we were subject to a ``national 
malaise,'' not without reason. In addition, our armed forces were 
underfunded and low in morale. The Cold War still dominated our view of 
the world.
  Into this unsettled environment, Ronald Reagan was elected president. 
His determined leadership, strength of conviction, positive attitude, 
and faith in his fellow Americans helped change the nation and the 
world profoundly during his two terms. President Reagan's commitment to 
national security and the men and women of the armed forces gave our 
military renewed respect and self-confidence. The nation then took a 
strong stand against the Soviet Union and helped peaceably to bring 
about the end of the Cold War and the demise of communism.
  President Reagan's view of the role of government still defines the 
debates we hold in this chamber on a daily basis. He firmly believed 
that Americans were far better than the government at running their own 
lives. He also was committed to the free enterprise system and the 
dynamic spirit of the entrepreneur. Today there are few legislators or 
other policymakers who cling to the idea that bigger government and 
more federal spending is good for our economy or the freedom of our 
citizens.
  Mr. President, one of the more important and lasting contributions of 
our 40th president was the way in which he was able to restore the 
confidence and optimism of the United States. President Reagan 
transformed the so-called ``malaise'' of the late 1970s into a positive 
attitude that helped give the country faith in its institutions and its 
future. That is why he justly remains an immensely popular figure in 
our history.
  The foregoing account of President Reagan's achievements is only the 
beginning of a long list of accomplishments that highlight his time as 
leader of the free world. One more effort he undertook, however, is 
worthy of note in this debate. As others have mentioned, it was the 
Reagan Administration that was able to remove the federal bureaucracy 
from direct control over National and Dulles Airports. By releasing 
these airports to local control, they were able to go to the private 
sector for funding and begin needed improvements. The idea of devolving 
federal control to the States and localities was at the very core of 
the president's political philosophy.
  For these and many other reasons, I urge my colleagues to support 
Senator Coverdell's proposal to rename Washington National Airport as 
``Ronald Reagan National Airport.'' Visitors who fly to our nation's 
capital will always be reminded of the lasting and important 
contributions made to our country and the world by President Ronald 
Reagan. I thank the leadership for trying to let us address this bill 
in time for President Reagan's 87th birthday on February 6, 1998.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to add my voice to the 
chorus calling on us to honor a great American and one of our greatest 
Presidents, Ronald Reagan; a man who in his own words ``meant to change 
a nation and instead changed the world.''
  President Reagan indeed changed the world in which we live, and much 
for the better. It is only right, in my view, that we add to the many 
honors bestowed upon him since his leaving office the important 
recognition involved in renaming Washington National Airport, in an 
important sense the nation's airport, the Ronald Reagan National 
Airport.
  It is, of course, a long-standing tradition for us to name important 
buildings and facilities after those who have rendered extraordinary 
service to our country. Indeed, the monuments just outside this Chamber 
were constructed to show our gratitude toward and to honor the memory 
of great men like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas 
Jefferson, Presidents who helped build America, and led her to safety 
in time of peril.
  These monuments testify to our recognition, as a people, of the 
greatness of certain leaders; of their contributions and of their 
character. By these standards, Mr. President, Ronald Reagan well 
deserves the undoubted honor of having his name affixed to our national 
airport.
  Born of poor parents in America's heartland, Ronald Wilson Reagan 
worked to put himself through school, to forge for himself a career in 
Hollywood, the land of American dreams, and finally to rise to the 
highest office in the land. By the time he left office in 1989, 
President Reagan had shown his dedication to our nation, her people, 
her principles and her dreams. He restored our economic health, revived 
the American spirit, and won the Cold War.
  Now in his twilight years, Ronald Reagan can look back on a life of 
great success, made all the more worthy because it was imbued with what 
the eminent statesman Edmund Burke called the moral imagination. Few 
called him an intellectual. But he was blessed with an instinctive 
sense of right and wrong and the prudence to apply this instinct for 
himself and the nation he led.
  Mr. President, many people find it difficult to fully appreciate the 
debt we owe Ronald Reagan. But why is this difficult? Because he was so 
successful at facing down the crises of his time.
  Today we find interest rates of 21 percent almost unimaginable. But 
that is what we had when Ronald Reagan took office. We think of double 
digit inflation as something only developing nations must face. But 
Ronald Reagan faced it when he became President. Communism seems a 
nightmare from the past, best forgotten. But we should not forget that, 
when Ronald Reagan came to office, it enslaved more than half the 
people of the world.
  America was in peril in 1981. Buffeted by the blows of economic 
stagflation, mired in spiritual malaise, on the defensive in a hostile 
world, our nation was in need of a leader with the moral imagination, 
the faith in himself, our people and God's will necessary to get us 
back on course. And this Ronald Reagan provided.

  With his economic plan emphasizing tax cuts, sound money, 
deregulation, and free trade, he produced the longest peacetime 
expansion since World War II. He slew the dragon of inflation, reducing 
it to a steady 3 percent through his second term. He brought interest 
rates down into single digits. He put nearly 30 million Americans into 
new jobs. He increased our national income by nearly a third.
  He saved family savings from the ravages of inflation, allowed us 
once again to make real our dreams of owning our own homes, put us to 
work and renewed our confidence in our future. In the process he 
renewed America, and by so doing he literally changed the world.
  Mr. President, now that the United States enjoys the luxury of being 
the world's only superpower, it is easy to forget the world we faced 
less than two decades ago. But it was a grim prospect, as illustrated 
by the pundits of the era who encouraged us to get used to an era of 
``limits'' in which we would steadily lose power and influence to an 
ever-expanding ideology of centralized state power.
  Ronald Reagan was considered foolish, even dangerous, because he 
refused to accept the inevitable spread of communism. He called the 
Soviet Union an evil empire and predicted its demise within his 
lifetime. Sheer lunacy, said his critics. And in a sense one can 
understand this perspective. America's

[[Page S225]]

policy elites had been accustomed to a ``pragmatic'' approach in 
foreign affairs; one in which America would seek to accommodate Soviet 
demands and aspirations in the interests of stability. This approach 
characterized the 1970's--an era during which democracy and freedom 
were on the run worldwide. Marxist governments gained power in 
Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, South Yemen, Angola, 
Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Grenada. For the first time the Soviet 
nuclear arsenal surpassed America's. And even our allies seemed leery 
of identifying themselves too closely with us. Surely, if hard-nosed 
realism had produced such a disastrous decade, a moral crusade aimed at 
freeing peoples from the chains of communism would produce armageddon.
  We now know, Mr. President, that moral conviction, combined with 
determination and a prudent use of national power, need not produce 
armageddon. Under President Reagan it produced the single greatest 
outpouring of human freedom ever seen on this planet.
  We live in a freer, safer, more humane world because Ronald Reagan 
won the Cold War. His insistence, against strong resistance from a 
Democratic Congress, that we restore our military power rolled back the 
Soviet legions and bankrupted their economy. His tough bargaining and 
his willingness to call evil by its name disoriented our Soviet 
adversaries and eventually brought their downfall.
  By 1991, a broken and dispirited Soviet Union collapsed and 
disintegrated. President Reagan went to Berlin and called on Mikhail 
Gorbachev to ``tear down this wall.'' Mr. Gorbachev deserves credit for 
his role in bringing down the Soviet empire. Unfortunately, he had 
neither the courage nor the foresight to tear down that wall. But the 
people of Berlin, thanks to Ronald Reagan, had that courage, and they 
tore down that wall, freeing half a continent, and eventually nearly 
half the world.
  Without firing a shot, Ronald Reagan changed our world for the 
better. He freed us from fear of nuclear conflagration. He freed us 
from the dreary acceptance of declining standards of living and the 
loss of our way of life through slow attrition. He brought America back 
from the brink of despair, into the shining light of a new dawn of 
freedom and prosperity.
  Ronald Reagan has earned the eternal gratitude of every American, and 
of every lover of freedom the world over. He has earned his place in 
the history books as a leader of vision and a man of moral imagination. 
His name should adorn our national airport.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Faircloth). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Grams). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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