[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 36 (Monday, March 7, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S1299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING NANCY REAGAN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, Nancy Reagan was one of the most 
powerful First Ladies in recent memory. For instance, sometimes she 
spoke out on issues like substance abuse, but more often Nancy wielded 
her power with calm confidence and quiet steel. It was an attitude that 
helped guide Nancy through so many challenges in her own life: getting 
an acting career off the ground, leaving it to raise a family, riding 
the ups and downs of a life in politics, watching her husband brave the 
bullet of a would-be assassin or face the threat of cancer, and then 
confront the same reality herself.
  Nancy Reagan may have been a star in Hollywood and a force in the 
rough-and-tumble of Washington, but it was the challenges to come that 
would reveal her true strength.
  In 1994, former President Reagan addressed a letter to his fellow 
Americans. He said: ``I now begin the journey that will lead me into 
the sunset of my life.''
  Nancy shared her very personal experience with that cold and cruel 
disease, telling Americans of the ``terrible pain and loneliness'' that 
accompanied Alzheimer's ``very long goodbye,'' but she never gave in or 
gave up. Nancy was strong for her husband, she was a rock for her 
family, and she was an example for a nation that looked to her for 
inspiration.
  One day, after many long and difficult years, Ronald Reagan opened 
his eyes and looked at Nancy. ``He hadn't done that in well over a 
month,'' she recalled. ``But he looked at me and closed his eyes. And 
went. And that was a wonderful gift.''
  We felt Nancy's immense pain when she leaned over his casket, kissed 
it, and mouthed her tearful farewell.
  From ``Morning in America'' to a sunset in Simi Valley, the Reagan 
love story was classic Hollywood, but it was also unmistakably human. 
Nancy said her life had only really begun after she met Ronald Reagan. 
Now she joins her best friend to dance together once more.
  We in the Senate join our Nation in mourning the loss of Nancy 
Reagan. We offer every condolence to the family members left behind.
  Let us remember the rest of what President Reagan wrote to the Nation 
in 1994. ``I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of 
my life,'' is what he wrote then, but--but--``I know that for America 
there will always be a bright dawn ahead.''

                          ____________________