[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11804]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                RONALD REAGAN DEFINED THE AMERICAN DREAM

  (Mr. SHUSTER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, we rise today with solemn hearts for the 
loss of an American hero, a man with an optimistic vision of this 
country that was infectious. I stand as an individual who felt the 
energy of the Reagan era.
  As a 19-year-old in 1980, I attended my first Republican convention 
where Ronald Reagan accepted the GOP nomination for President. My first 
vote for President was for Ronald Reagan, and I spent the beginning of 
adulthood under the spirit of a man who defined the American dream.
  Today we stand in awe of a life of passion and accomplishment. Ronald 
Reagan crumbled walls of oppression in Europe and rebuilt the American 
spirit. He was forever the gentleman statesman, a man who thought that 
politics, no matter how tough the battle with your opponent, should 
never leave scars.
  In the end he bore no ill will to anyone, and in that mold he was the 
definition of a leader, a leader who inspired confidence in those 
around him and who led by example.
  He feared not an assassin's bullet or political setback because he 
always looked to tomorrow, always believed the best days of America 
were ahead beyond the horizon, and that he would chart the course to 
take us to a better tomorrow. We stand here as a testament to that 
simple, yet powerful, truth.

                          ____________________