[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 11900-11901]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO FORMER PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I am honored to have the opportunity to 
rise today to join my colleagues and, indeed, my country men and women 
in paying tribute to our departed and, I would say, sincerely beloved 
former President Ronald Reagan. We mourn his loss and we give our 
condolences, of course, to Mrs. Reagan and their family.
  I cannot claim, as some can in this Chamber, to have known President 
Reagan personally and well. In fact, we met a few times while he was 
serving in the White House. I was attorney general of Connecticut and 
visited with attorneys general. We did have one remarkable rendezvous.
  Our paths crossed, figuratively speaking, as President Reagan was 
departing Washington, having completed his second term as President. I 
was arriving as a freshman Senator from Connecticut. It was January 14, 
1989, and the outgoing President was set to give his final weekly radio 
address Saturday morning.
  As always, he gave a masterful and moving performance, engaging the 
Nation with his wisdom and his wit. Senate Majority Leader George 
Mitchell, the new Senate majority leader, asked me to give the 
Democratic response to President Reagan that Saturday morning in 
January. It was a high honor, of course, for me as a freshman Senator 
to be asked to give the weekly radio address but it was, needless to 
say, a tough act to follow.
  I looked back to my remarks and in them I see I praised President 
Reagan for his love of country, his fervent devotion to freedom, and 
his commitment to the values of faith, flag, and family. I said I was 
``inspired and encouraged by his sense of patriotism,'' and I urged all 
Americans to work together on our unfinished business with ``the spirit 
of purpose and confidence that is the legacy of the Reagan years.''
  Today, 15 years later, I am very proud I was able to speak those 
words, and proud of their truthfulness. My admiration and respect for 
President Reagan has only grown with time. The optimism, the idealism, 
the patriotism, and confidence he radiated infected us all and are 
exactly what we need today.
  President Reagan won the trust of the American people and used that 
trust to lead. I believe he won the trust of the American people 
because he reflected their values and they knew he was the real thing, 
that he stuck to what he believed was right, whether it was popular or 
not. His leadership was classic democratic leadership, with a small 
``d.'' His moral conviction, combined with his pragmatism, enabled him 
to do an awful lot for our country and the world. He understood what 
America was about, which was freedom and opportunity, and extended both 
in America and throughout the world.
  After all, he led our country and the free world to victory in the 
final battle of the cold war against communism.
  Ronald Reagan's message of optimism and purpose was carried by one of 
the most effective messengers ever to occupy the Oval Office. His 
rhetoric, after all, made us swell with pride, sometimes harden with 
indignation, often resonate with emotion. He also made us laugh.
  I loved President Reagan's jokes and borrowed them often, sometimes 
with attribution, sometimes not. One of my favorites was the one that 
said a lot about him and about what he believed, what he was for, and 
what he was against. It was about the commissar who visited the 
Communist collective farm in Russia. He greeted the farmer, who was the 
head of the farm, on an inspection tour and asked the farmer how the 
potato crop had been that year.
  The farmer said: Oh, commissar, the potato crop has been excellent. 
As a matter of fact, if we took all the potatoes we grew on this farm 
this year and put them one on top of the other, they would reach all 
the way up to the feet of God.
  Troubled, the commissar from Moscow said, comrade farmer, I am glad 
to hear you did so well raising potatoes, but what do you mean about 
reaching up to the feet of God? This is a Soviet Communist collective 
farm. There is no God.
  The comrade said, that is okay, because there are no potatoes, 
either. So it was.
  I heard someone in the last few days since President Reagan's death 
repeat a one-liner of his where the press was getting on him because 
they said he was not working hard enough as President. At some public 
gathering, President Reagan said he was aware of these criticisms and 
he was also aware of the old line that hard work never killed anybody, 
but, President Reagan said, I figure why should I run the risk? And so 
it was.
  His sense of humor and exuberance served him and the country well. 
Yes, he was a cold warrior, our leader in the final battle of the cold 
war, but he was also a happy warrior. In this and in so many other 
ways, Ronald Reagan reflected the personality and values of the 
American people. You could disagree with his policies, but you could 
never find his personality or his sincerity disagreeable.
  He treated Democrats and Republicans alike, which is to say with 
respect. That attitude was contagious and even infected both Chambers 
of Congress. President Reagan once urged an audience of young people to 
live lives ``that were a statement, not an apology.''
  This week we remember a true American giant, whose life was a 
statement, not an apology--a statement of America's values and its 
transcendent spirit of our faith in God and our love of country, of our 
national purpose, which is to uphold and extend the reality of freedom 
and opportunity in the world.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. REID. 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.

[[Page 11901]]


  Mr. REID. 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. REID. Mr. President, I ask the record to reflect my appreciation 
for the courtesy of Senator Frist. He has a very busy schedule. He has 
people waiting in his office and it would have been very easy for him 
to go out without giving Senator Lieberman the opportunity to speak. So 
we appreciate very much his courtesy.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of my colleague.
  Indeed, it has been a different week, a very solemn week, and a week 
that has required all of us to work together from an organizational 
standpoint and to pull together what has been almost a celebration of 
this legacy of Ronald Reagan.
  This evening members will gather in the Senate Chamber and right 
around that period of time a number of people will be proceeding to the 
arrival ceremony. It will indeed be a historic moment for the Senate, 
for this body, but indeed for the American people. Over 150,000 well-
wishers are expected to line the streets as President Reagan's flag-
draped caisson is drawn up to this building, the Capitol, by a single 
riderless horse.
  In the past 5 days, we have witnessed a remarkable unity in the 
country, a fraternity of spirit in many ways. Partisanship has fallen 
away, and old political foes have set aside disagreements. Americans 
have come together to celebrate the remarkable achievements of a truly 
remarkable man. Lifeguard--the pictures are imprinted in everybody's 
mind--radio announcer, actor, Governor, father, husband, and finally 
President of the United States. Ronald Wilson Reagan achieved 
extraordinary heights.
  But he would tell you, I suspect--and it was reflected in so many of 
the comments among his friends and colleagues over the last several 
days--that he was simply being an American, fulfilling the American 
dream. He described the American dream once as ``a song of hope that 
rings through the night air; vivid, tender music that warms our heart 
when the least among us aspires to the greatest things.''
  Ronald Reagan brought that song back to our hearts. He believed we 
could achieve great things, that America could achieve great things, 
and because of his unshakeable belief in freedom and liberty and 
democracy and his ironclad faith in progress, his love and respect for 
his fellow citizen, we did. We triumphed over the Soviet empire. We 
created one of the longest economic expansions in American history. We 
regained our strength and our optimism. We remembered the special 
privilege it is to be an American.
  But we also remembered that freedom is not for us alone. It is the 
right of every man and woman across the globe, in every age, in every 
civilization.
  In 1964, two decades before he would be reelected in a landslide 
victory carrying 49 of the 50 United States, Ronald Reagan told the 
Nation:

       You and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to 
     make our own decisions and determine our own destiny.

  As we would learn later, it was our destiny to choose Ronald Reagan 
to be our leader, our standard bearer, and our hero. The history books 
will record Ronald Reagan as one of our greatest Presidents. Of this I 
have no doubt. And the American people will remember him with love and 
with affection for generations to come.

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