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American Morning
Ronald Wilson Reagan Remembered
Aired June 06, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: On this Sunday morning, good morning and welcome to a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Today we are remembering the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. And you're looking at, this morning, some live pictures. If we can take those, of the White House, the flags there at half staff this morning in honor of the former president.
Certainly, many in Washington, D.C., who knew and worked with Ronald Reagan, waking up with very heavy hearts this morning, as are American, truly across the country today. This is Reagan's Presidential Library this morning where the flags are also lowered.
HEMMER: President Bush, in Europe, has ordered that all flags at federal facilities remain at half staff for the next 30 days. And Ronald Reagan, dying yesterday, at the age of 93 after a 10-bout with Alzheimer's.
O'BRIEN: And in fact, the former president, he died officially of pneumonia, but really many say the much larger cause of his death was the Alzheimer's disease, which had truly taken over his life in the last decade.
HEMMER: There is much to cover this morning and we shall, remembering the former President Ronald Reagan, the man known as The Great Communicator. Ronald Reagan remade the Republican Party in the early 1980s was instrumental in pushing the Soviet Union into extinction.
Sometime in the next day or so, we're not sure of what the exact time will be, Mr. Reagan's body will be taken to his presidential library in Simi Valley, California. Later in the week the body will be flown to Washington, probably Tuesday night, based on what we're hearing at this point.
O'BRIEN: House Speaker Dennis Hastert tells CNN that the plan right now is for the former president's body to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday and Thursday. And Hastert also says that he believes that funeral services for Mr. Reagan will be held on Friday at the National Cathedral. Then the former president will be laid to rest in Simi Valley, at the library.
Anderson Cooper is joining us, as well, this morning. He is at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, where the president's body is expected to be taken. Anderson, good morning.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, Bill.
A somber day, of course, here at the Reagan Library. Dawn has not come yet, here. It is just a sparse crowd of reporters at this point. There is a make-shift memorial, a shrine, outside. People have left flowers. They have left American flags. That will, no doubt, grow larger throughout the day.
The library is officially closed today. But we do anticipate President Reagan to be returning here, to lie in repose for some 24 hours or so. The details of it will be announced later today, in several hours. He is likely to lie here for some 24 hours or so, as I said, before making the journey one final time to Washington, D.C., as you have mentioned, where there will be the funeral there at the National Cathedral, where he will also lie in state.
He will then return here, one last time, where he will be buried here, ultimately, with his wife Nancy at the Reagan Library.
We'll have another report in a few moments.
Soledad, Bill.
O'BRIEN: Anderson, thanks. We're going to obviously keep in touch with you, talk about this all morning.
HEMMER: You mentioned the public reaction from across the country. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), this morning. Jack Cafferty is here to help us along with that.
Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
What a sense of the dramatic this man had, from his very first day as president of the United States, which brought an end to a 444- day long national nightmare, to his last day on this Earth, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day, which is arguably the greatest military operation of all time.
In 1981, I was doing local news here at Channel 4, in New York City. And I had gone to Washington to cover the inauguration. I mentioned the hostage crisis, 52 Americans held for more than a year. And the frustration and despair in this country was palpable at the fact that nothing seemed to have been possible to get these people released.
However, the president-elect, after winning the election in 1980, had sort of intimated that if those hostages weren't released by the time he took over, there might be all kinds of hell to pay. And sure enough, the morning of his inauguration I was walking along Pennsylvania Avenue, inside the police barricades, waiting for the motorcade that goes from the White House to Capitol Hill. And there were thousands of people lining the street to see the new president of the United States on inauguration day.
We all wear these things. These are little communications earpieces, and mine that day was hooked to a production truck. And in the middle of walking the streets I had one of the producers come on, in my ear, and say the hostages have boarded airplanes, the airplanes have left Tehran, and the hostages are on their way home.
Well, nobody along the sidewalks knew any of this news. And so, kind of like the town crier, I just took it upon myself to walk along and tell people, the hostages are on their way home. They have been released. Well, people began to cheer and cry and smile and it was an emotional moment that I'll -- in 40 years in this business, I'll never forget.
It was the beginning of probably the most dramatic eight years of any president in modern time, perhaps with the exception of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who saw this country through World War II.
So, that kind of the backdrop that I have for the news that came yesterday afternoon. We'd like to know what you remember about this man. What is your favorite memory of President Reagan. Our e-mail address is am@cnn.com . And we will share some of these with you as we move through the next three hours.
HEMMER: Kind of defines morning in America, does it not? That story. Thank you, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Thanks.
Well, President Bush was in Paris when he learned of Ronald Reagan's death. The president offered his condolences to Nancy Reagan and the Reagan family and said a great American life has just come to an end.
Today, Mr. Bush is marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day, in Normandy. It was there 20 years ago that then-President Reagan paid tribute to the heroes of that day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Wolf Blitzer is at today's D-Day ceremonies. He is live for us in Normandy, France, this morning.
Wolf, good morning.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.
A very, very emotional day here in Normandy at the American military cemetery in Colville. The president of the United States was here at this U.S. military ceremony together with the French President Jacques Chirac. They came to pay tribute to those heroes of 60 years ago. Those heroes who liberated France, went on to liberate the rest of Europe and defeat Nazi Germany.
They laid a wreath here in memory of those U.S. and Allied forces. And the president spoke of their great contribution to the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And those young men did it. You did it.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: That difficult summit was reached, then passed, and 60 years of living. Now it has come a time of reflection with thoughts of another horizon and the hope of at reunion with the boys you knew.
I want each of you to understand you will be honored ever and always by the country you served and by the nations you freed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Most of the president's speech dealt with those heroes from World War II, the young men who fought, so many of them, unfortunately, who died here on the beaches of Normandy. But the president did open up with a special tribute the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Twenty summers ago another American president came here to Normandy to pay tribute to the men of D-Day. He was a courageous man himself. And a gallant leader in the cause of freedom. And today we honor the memory of Ronald Reagan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Clearly, President Bush moved, so very, very emotionally moved, by Ronald Reagan, by the death of Ronald Reagan. Someone who clearly played such an instrumental, such an important life, in influencing this current president's politics.
What an emotional day for everyone here in Normandy.
Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Wolf Blitzer, for us.
Wolf, thanks.
Anderson Cooper is with us also this morning. Again, he is at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, where the former president's body is expected to be taken. Anderson?
COOPER: Soledad, President Reagan, right now is at a mortuary in Santa Monica, California. There is going to be a press conference in several hours, where we will hear the details of what's going to happen over the next 24 hours or so. As you mentioned, we do anticipate President Reagan to be returned here to the Reagan Library and Museum. We're about 20 or 30 miles outside of Los Angeles.
He will lie in repose here for some 24 hours before making the journey one final time to Washington, D.C. After which he will be brought back here and laid to rest one final time, here at the library. That is what he and Mrs. Reagan wanted all along.
There is, as we mentioned before, there is a makeshift outside. The library is closed. They are not asking visitors to come, but people are still coming by. They can't gain access to the actual library itself, but they're leaving flowers, they're leaving American flags, they're leaving notes.
The library itself suggests that if people would like to send condolences, who would like to send their remembrances of President Reagan -- and I think all of us have memories of President Reagan that -- I know we've been hearing people are sharing all day for the last 24 hours, or so.
The Reagan Library would like people to contact their Web site, which is www.reaganlibrary.com. There is a page there where you can leave condolences, where you can leave your own memories of President Reagan.
I also just want to leave one, one thing. President Reagan, the last communication anybody in public had from him was in 1994, in November, where he wrote this very courageous note about Alzheimer's. I just want to read the last paragraph to you, seems appropriate today.
He said, "In closing, let me thank the American people for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead."
As we said, President Reagan is anticipated to come back here in several hours. Ted Rowlands is standing by at the mortuary in Santa Monica, California. Let's go to him.
Ted?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, like the scene there in Simi Valley, there is a memorial here outside the mortuary where President Reagan's body remains and is expected to remain for the rest of the weekend, as it is prepared here. It was brought here Saturday, late afternoon. And when the president's body arrived here there were hundreds of people waiting for him to arrive. People came from this general area in Los Angeles to pay their respects to former President Reagan as he was brought here.
Hundreds of people were here not only when the president arrived but had been trickling in throughout the evening and the overnight hours as well. They have been leaving flowers and other mementos here outside the mortuary. It all started with one single cowboy hat on the front lawn of the mortuary. And since then people have brought flags, flowers and good well wishes. One note says "God Bless the Gipper", out here.
It is expected that the Reagan family will have a statement released. It will be read at a noon press conference, which has been scheduled here in Santa Monica. We should also learn, as you mentioned earlier, the details in terms of the short-term planning and the schedule of events that will take up the next week.
Anderson?
COOPER: Thanks very much, Ted.
And as Ted pointed out, it is up to the family to decide the exact details, the timing, of this next several days, this next 24 hours, these next 72 hours, or so. We'll continue to report live from the presidential library. Let's go back to New York and Bill Hemmer and Soledad.
Bill?
HEMMER: Anderson, thanks for that.
During the 1980s our next guest served the Reagan administration as a U.S. arms control director, Ken Adelman accompanied Mr. Reagan on a super power summit with the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, now he is a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. Ken Adelman, our guest today, from Washington.
Good morning to you, on this Sunday morning, here.
KEN ADELMAN, FMR U.S. AMBASSADOR, ARMS CONTROL, DIRECTOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: When a president takes office and he has a list of "To Dos", however long that list runs, where did the issue of nuclear arms rank on that list for Ronald Reagan?
ADELMAN: Well, Reagan's list, Bill, wasn't very long. I mean, Reagan knew when he took office exactly what he wanted to do and he'd been talking about it then for 20 years. He wanted to lower taxes, he wanted to get the government off the back of Americans, and he wanted to spread freedom around the world.
And that took the form, in those days, of opposing Communism, and to lower nuclear weapons as a way to make the world safer. But the bigger way to make the world safer was to eliminate the totalitarian government of Communists. HEMMER: You were quoted in "The LA Times" as saying Ronald Reagan was a closet anti-nuclear guy and none of us understood it. Help us understand that, Ken.
ADELMAN: It was interesting, during the transition before he took office, we all assumed that Ronald Reagan was for big defense, which he was; for opposing Communism, which he was; but none of us really understood that he had a tremendous anti-nuclear strain and streak in him and a real desire to go an to eliminate an entire class of weapon systems -- if not, all weapons systems, all nuclear weapons systems.
So it was quite surprising to see over the seven years I worked with him that that was something that he really kept on. And it manifested itself when he was in his super power summits, especially at Reykjavik in 1986.
HEMMER: In Iceland, at that meeting that you mention, in Reykjavik, what was his relationship like with Mikhail Gorbachev? Were they friendly toward one another? How would you describe it for us?
ADELMAN: It was incredible. I saw Reagan both in Geneva, the year before, in November of '85, and then in October of '86. And it was an incredible sight to see the two of them in the room. Gorbachev was almost a generation younger. Gorbachev was, obviously, more well versed in the details of the arms control negotiations. Gorbachev was a man who was just coming into office. And Ronald Reagan just took him to the cleaners every time they got together.
Not only that but every time the summit ended, Gorbachev knew that Ronald Reagan took him to the cleaners. And he did that through charm, but he also did it through determination. That he wanted to really make a difference.
And, Bill, when you think about leaders in the world, there are some who take office in order to be something. But there are others who take office in order to do something. And Ronald Reagan was a -- believed in the politics of ideas and the politics of conviction.
HEMMER: Help me understand, from your perspective -- I don't know how you come down on the following theory -- that the Star Wars initiative, SDI, the Space Defense Initiative, was designed, essentially, to scare the Soviet Union, to make them think that the United States had this ability, and had this technology and could develop it. And you compare and contrast that with those who believe that Reagan's initiatives, when it came to nuclear arms and build up, essentially drove the Soviet Union out of business. Is that a fair statement to make? Or looking back 20 years now, how does that theory size up for you?
ADELMAN: You don't have to take my word for it. We had a foreign minister of the Soviet Union, Bessmertnik, who had a look back at Princeton University some years ago. And when asked, what ended the Cold War? He said lots of things ended the Cold War, but the last crowning blow was the Strategic Defense Initiative. We didn't think, as the Soviet Union, that they could compete with it. And it was a genius of Reagan. But it wasn't a last-minute genius of Reagan. Reagan had been thinking about it since 1979, when he went and he saw all the equipment of the NORAD, the North American Defense, in Wyoming -- or outside of Colorado, the mountain there.
And he looked at all this equipment that could warn us of incoming ballistic missiles. And he asked the commander, what do you do if there is an incoming ballistic missile. Well, he would call the president; he would call the other commanders around the world. Everybody would call everybody. But Reagan kept asking him, but what do you do about it? And there was nothing any president could do.
And from that idea, that moment, Reagan thought, well there should be something a president can do besides launch a retaliatory strike against the Soviets, which didn't seem to make sense to kill millions of innocent Russian people, and Soviet people. So he started thinking about that. He worked on it and in 1983 he launched it. And, you know, by 1990 the Soviet Union was no longer.
HEMMER: Thanks for sharing, Ken.
ADELMAN: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Ken Adelman, live from Washington. Good to see you again.
O'BRIEN: We want to take a look now at how some of the nation's most influential newspapers are dealing with the death of former President Reagan. Take a look now at "The Washington Post", you can see the headline there, "Ronald Reagan Dies". In "The New York Times" the headline here is "Ronald Reagan Dies At 93, Fostered Cold War Might and Curbs On Government", what you were just taking about with Ken Adelman, just a moment ago.
Also, the local papers as well, the local "New York Post" saying "Ronald Reagan" with a really remarkable picture of him on the cover. "TIME" magazine, also with another wonderful picture of the former president, "Newsweek" as well, almost identical pictures truly of the former president.
Some really incredible pictures, as you said, through these newspapers and magazines.
HEMMER: On our own Web site we labeled it, "Remembering Reagan" and that is what we'll be doing throughout the morning here and many days to come, too.
It's going to be a long week for the Reagan family, for Nancy and others, coming from California, going to Washington at mid-week and then back to California for what is expected to be the funeral at the end of this week. So, we will remember his life and legacy throughout the morning here.
O'BRIEN: And still to come this morning, he made his name in Hollywood and left a legacy in Washington, D.C., but really got his start in Illinois. A look back at the boyhood days of Ronald Reagan, just ahead.
HEMMER: Also, in a moment, many would say Reagan is the father of modern conservatism. We'll talk to his biographer and find why he ranks Reagan as one of the greatest presidents, ever. A lot to come this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE H. BUSH, FRMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People ask me, what was so special about President Reagan? And on a personal basis, it was his kindness, his decency, his sense of humor -- unbelievable. And he had a wonderful way where you could disagree with him. He'd had leaders in Congress or foreign leaders that he'd disagree with. And yet he was never disagreeable about it himself. He was never mean spirited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The memories of former President George Herbert Walker Bush, right there.
Joining us this morning with his reflections about Ronald Reagan is CNN analyst and former Reagan political adviser, Dinesh D'Souza. He is also the author of the book, "Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became and Extraordinary Leader". And he joins us this morning from Dallas.
Dinesh, nice to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
You just heard the words there, from former President Bush mentioning kindness and sensitivity and sense of humor. You, yourself, in your biography you have said that you think President Reagan was one of the greatest presidents in American history. Why is that?
DINESH D'SOUZA, REAGAN BIOGRAPHER, POLITICAL ADVISER: Well, if we look at the 20th century, the great issue of the 20 century was collectivism. The Soviet Empire was on the march abroad. In fact, between 1974 and 1980, 10 countries had fallen into the Soviet orbit, beginning with the collapse of Vietnam in '74 and ending with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in '79.
Domestically, we saw throughout the 20th century the expansion of the welfare state; a trend that began with the New Deal with Franklin Roosevelt and continued with Lyndon Johnson. Reagan was great enemy of collectivism. He set about with two big goals. One was to try to roll back or bring about an end to the Soviet Empire. And the second was to stop the growth of the welfare state.
So not only had we seen the collapse of the Soviet Union, but I think domestically, within America we've seen a real shift away from the public servant or the bureaucrat and more toward the entrepreneur. Today it is the entrepreneur that is admired as the embodiment of American idealism and this cultural shift was one that Reagan, I think, helped to bring about. O'BRIEN: Reagan was credited -- has been credited with redefining, I think it is fair to say, conservatism and also reenergizing the Republican Party. Do you think that is an accurate statement? And if you do, how did he do it?
D'SOUZA: Reagan was a different kind of Republican. One may say that Republicans traditionally were the party of small business. Republicans traditionally were a negativist party, a party that was used to being out of power, a party that was used to being cynical and sniping at the government.
I think Reagan changed that. He shifted the Republican Party from a negative to a positive party and he made it ready in a sense to govern. He made it a party that was not only willing to criticize but a party that had a vision for what America should be like. And it was a vision in which individuals would take responsibility for their own actions.
Reagan's argument for tax cuts wasn't just an argument about economic efficiency, he ultimately felt that free citizens should be able to shape their own lives and that a large federal government was an intrusion, not only on you pocketbook but ultimately on your basic liberty.
O'BRIEN: Quick final question for you. He was a man who certainly seemed his whole life to be aligned, to be well connected to the common man. Was that partly and act, all an act, or was that was that the true Ronald Reagan?
D'SOUZA: I think it was the true Ronald Reagan. One of the ironies about Reagan is that one may say that the presidency was, in a sense, a role in which he played his truest self. In his acting roles he was often a very average and sometimes below performance. But the presidency was a role he had been preparing for all his life.
He was a political man, through and through. And surprisingly for someone with his background as an actor, he was a man of ideas. He cared deeply about ideas and he believed that ideas can change the world. And so he came with an ideological vision about America. And to a remarkable degree we're living in a world in which Reagan's ideological vision defines not only the Republican Party but the country at large.
O'BRIEN: Dinesh D'Souza, joining us this morning with some of his thoughts and memories. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.
For more about the life and legacy of former President Ronald Reagan, you can go to our Web site, CNN.com and there you can find an extensive obituary of Ronald Reagan, as well as some special features and interactive activities.
HEMMER: We're going to get a break here in a moment. From Illinois to the White House, a look back at the life and legacy. We'll talk to one of his close friends, the former Defense Secretary William Cohen. He will share his own memories and the correspondence these two men had several years ago. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Seven-thirty on a Sunday morning here in New York City. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
We're remembering the life of the former President Ronald Reagan today, throughout the morning here. Special interviews for you on this special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks for being with us today.
O'BRIEN: In fact, we're remembering his life, looking back at his life, and talking to many who knew him, in fact, in just a few minutes we'll talk to the former Defense secretary under President Clinton and Maine Senator William Cohen.
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Aired June 6, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: On this Sunday morning, good morning and welcome to a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Today we are remembering the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. And you're looking at, this morning, some live pictures. If we can take those, of the White House, the flags there at half staff this morning in honor of the former president.
Certainly, many in Washington, D.C., who knew and worked with Ronald Reagan, waking up with very heavy hearts this morning, as are American, truly across the country today. This is Reagan's Presidential Library this morning where the flags are also lowered.
HEMMER: President Bush, in Europe, has ordered that all flags at federal facilities remain at half staff for the next 30 days. And Ronald Reagan, dying yesterday, at the age of 93 after a 10-bout with Alzheimer's.
O'BRIEN: And in fact, the former president, he died officially of pneumonia, but really many say the much larger cause of his death was the Alzheimer's disease, which had truly taken over his life in the last decade.
HEMMER: There is much to cover this morning and we shall, remembering the former President Ronald Reagan, the man known as The Great Communicator. Ronald Reagan remade the Republican Party in the early 1980s was instrumental in pushing the Soviet Union into extinction.
Sometime in the next day or so, we're not sure of what the exact time will be, Mr. Reagan's body will be taken to his presidential library in Simi Valley, California. Later in the week the body will be flown to Washington, probably Tuesday night, based on what we're hearing at this point.
O'BRIEN: House Speaker Dennis Hastert tells CNN that the plan right now is for the former president's body to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday and Thursday. And Hastert also says that he believes that funeral services for Mr. Reagan will be held on Friday at the National Cathedral. Then the former president will be laid to rest in Simi Valley, at the library.
Anderson Cooper is joining us, as well, this morning. He is at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, where the president's body is expected to be taken. Anderson, good morning.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, Bill.
A somber day, of course, here at the Reagan Library. Dawn has not come yet, here. It is just a sparse crowd of reporters at this point. There is a make-shift memorial, a shrine, outside. People have left flowers. They have left American flags. That will, no doubt, grow larger throughout the day.
The library is officially closed today. But we do anticipate President Reagan to be returning here, to lie in repose for some 24 hours or so. The details of it will be announced later today, in several hours. He is likely to lie here for some 24 hours or so, as I said, before making the journey one final time to Washington, D.C., as you have mentioned, where there will be the funeral there at the National Cathedral, where he will also lie in state.
He will then return here, one last time, where he will be buried here, ultimately, with his wife Nancy at the Reagan Library.
We'll have another report in a few moments.
Soledad, Bill.
O'BRIEN: Anderson, thanks. We're going to obviously keep in touch with you, talk about this all morning.
HEMMER: You mentioned the public reaction from across the country. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), this morning. Jack Cafferty is here to help us along with that.
Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
What a sense of the dramatic this man had, from his very first day as president of the United States, which brought an end to a 444- day long national nightmare, to his last day on this Earth, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day, which is arguably the greatest military operation of all time.
In 1981, I was doing local news here at Channel 4, in New York City. And I had gone to Washington to cover the inauguration. I mentioned the hostage crisis, 52 Americans held for more than a year. And the frustration and despair in this country was palpable at the fact that nothing seemed to have been possible to get these people released.
However, the president-elect, after winning the election in 1980, had sort of intimated that if those hostages weren't released by the time he took over, there might be all kinds of hell to pay. And sure enough, the morning of his inauguration I was walking along Pennsylvania Avenue, inside the police barricades, waiting for the motorcade that goes from the White House to Capitol Hill. And there were thousands of people lining the street to see the new president of the United States on inauguration day.
We all wear these things. These are little communications earpieces, and mine that day was hooked to a production truck. And in the middle of walking the streets I had one of the producers come on, in my ear, and say the hostages have boarded airplanes, the airplanes have left Tehran, and the hostages are on their way home.
Well, nobody along the sidewalks knew any of this news. And so, kind of like the town crier, I just took it upon myself to walk along and tell people, the hostages are on their way home. They have been released. Well, people began to cheer and cry and smile and it was an emotional moment that I'll -- in 40 years in this business, I'll never forget.
It was the beginning of probably the most dramatic eight years of any president in modern time, perhaps with the exception of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who saw this country through World War II.
So, that kind of the backdrop that I have for the news that came yesterday afternoon. We'd like to know what you remember about this man. What is your favorite memory of President Reagan. Our e-mail address is am@cnn.com . And we will share some of these with you as we move through the next three hours.
HEMMER: Kind of defines morning in America, does it not? That story. Thank you, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Thanks.
Well, President Bush was in Paris when he learned of Ronald Reagan's death. The president offered his condolences to Nancy Reagan and the Reagan family and said a great American life has just come to an end.
Today, Mr. Bush is marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day, in Normandy. It was there 20 years ago that then-President Reagan paid tribute to the heroes of that day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Wolf Blitzer is at today's D-Day ceremonies. He is live for us in Normandy, France, this morning.
Wolf, good morning.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.
A very, very emotional day here in Normandy at the American military cemetery in Colville. The president of the United States was here at this U.S. military ceremony together with the French President Jacques Chirac. They came to pay tribute to those heroes of 60 years ago. Those heroes who liberated France, went on to liberate the rest of Europe and defeat Nazi Germany.
They laid a wreath here in memory of those U.S. and Allied forces. And the president spoke of their great contribution to the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And those young men did it. You did it.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: That difficult summit was reached, then passed, and 60 years of living. Now it has come a time of reflection with thoughts of another horizon and the hope of at reunion with the boys you knew.
I want each of you to understand you will be honored ever and always by the country you served and by the nations you freed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Most of the president's speech dealt with those heroes from World War II, the young men who fought, so many of them, unfortunately, who died here on the beaches of Normandy. But the president did open up with a special tribute the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Twenty summers ago another American president came here to Normandy to pay tribute to the men of D-Day. He was a courageous man himself. And a gallant leader in the cause of freedom. And today we honor the memory of Ronald Reagan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Clearly, President Bush moved, so very, very emotionally moved, by Ronald Reagan, by the death of Ronald Reagan. Someone who clearly played such an instrumental, such an important life, in influencing this current president's politics.
What an emotional day for everyone here in Normandy.
Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Wolf Blitzer, for us.
Wolf, thanks.
Anderson Cooper is with us also this morning. Again, he is at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, where the former president's body is expected to be taken. Anderson?
COOPER: Soledad, President Reagan, right now is at a mortuary in Santa Monica, California. There is going to be a press conference in several hours, where we will hear the details of what's going to happen over the next 24 hours or so. As you mentioned, we do anticipate President Reagan to be returned here to the Reagan Library and Museum. We're about 20 or 30 miles outside of Los Angeles.
He will lie in repose here for some 24 hours before making the journey one final time to Washington, D.C. After which he will be brought back here and laid to rest one final time, here at the library. That is what he and Mrs. Reagan wanted all along.
There is, as we mentioned before, there is a makeshift outside. The library is closed. They are not asking visitors to come, but people are still coming by. They can't gain access to the actual library itself, but they're leaving flowers, they're leaving American flags, they're leaving notes.
The library itself suggests that if people would like to send condolences, who would like to send their remembrances of President Reagan -- and I think all of us have memories of President Reagan that -- I know we've been hearing people are sharing all day for the last 24 hours, or so.
The Reagan Library would like people to contact their Web site, which is www.reaganlibrary.com. There is a page there where you can leave condolences, where you can leave your own memories of President Reagan.
I also just want to leave one, one thing. President Reagan, the last communication anybody in public had from him was in 1994, in November, where he wrote this very courageous note about Alzheimer's. I just want to read the last paragraph to you, seems appropriate today.
He said, "In closing, let me thank the American people for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead."
As we said, President Reagan is anticipated to come back here in several hours. Ted Rowlands is standing by at the mortuary in Santa Monica, California. Let's go to him.
Ted?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, like the scene there in Simi Valley, there is a memorial here outside the mortuary where President Reagan's body remains and is expected to remain for the rest of the weekend, as it is prepared here. It was brought here Saturday, late afternoon. And when the president's body arrived here there were hundreds of people waiting for him to arrive. People came from this general area in Los Angeles to pay their respects to former President Reagan as he was brought here.
Hundreds of people were here not only when the president arrived but had been trickling in throughout the evening and the overnight hours as well. They have been leaving flowers and other mementos here outside the mortuary. It all started with one single cowboy hat on the front lawn of the mortuary. And since then people have brought flags, flowers and good well wishes. One note says "God Bless the Gipper", out here.
It is expected that the Reagan family will have a statement released. It will be read at a noon press conference, which has been scheduled here in Santa Monica. We should also learn, as you mentioned earlier, the details in terms of the short-term planning and the schedule of events that will take up the next week.
Anderson?
COOPER: Thanks very much, Ted.
And as Ted pointed out, it is up to the family to decide the exact details, the timing, of this next several days, this next 24 hours, these next 72 hours, or so. We'll continue to report live from the presidential library. Let's go back to New York and Bill Hemmer and Soledad.
Bill?
HEMMER: Anderson, thanks for that.
During the 1980s our next guest served the Reagan administration as a U.S. arms control director, Ken Adelman accompanied Mr. Reagan on a super power summit with the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, now he is a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. Ken Adelman, our guest today, from Washington.
Good morning to you, on this Sunday morning, here.
KEN ADELMAN, FMR U.S. AMBASSADOR, ARMS CONTROL, DIRECTOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: When a president takes office and he has a list of "To Dos", however long that list runs, where did the issue of nuclear arms rank on that list for Ronald Reagan?
ADELMAN: Well, Reagan's list, Bill, wasn't very long. I mean, Reagan knew when he took office exactly what he wanted to do and he'd been talking about it then for 20 years. He wanted to lower taxes, he wanted to get the government off the back of Americans, and he wanted to spread freedom around the world.
And that took the form, in those days, of opposing Communism, and to lower nuclear weapons as a way to make the world safer. But the bigger way to make the world safer was to eliminate the totalitarian government of Communists. HEMMER: You were quoted in "The LA Times" as saying Ronald Reagan was a closet anti-nuclear guy and none of us understood it. Help us understand that, Ken.
ADELMAN: It was interesting, during the transition before he took office, we all assumed that Ronald Reagan was for big defense, which he was; for opposing Communism, which he was; but none of us really understood that he had a tremendous anti-nuclear strain and streak in him and a real desire to go an to eliminate an entire class of weapon systems -- if not, all weapons systems, all nuclear weapons systems.
So it was quite surprising to see over the seven years I worked with him that that was something that he really kept on. And it manifested itself when he was in his super power summits, especially at Reykjavik in 1986.
HEMMER: In Iceland, at that meeting that you mention, in Reykjavik, what was his relationship like with Mikhail Gorbachev? Were they friendly toward one another? How would you describe it for us?
ADELMAN: It was incredible. I saw Reagan both in Geneva, the year before, in November of '85, and then in October of '86. And it was an incredible sight to see the two of them in the room. Gorbachev was almost a generation younger. Gorbachev was, obviously, more well versed in the details of the arms control negotiations. Gorbachev was a man who was just coming into office. And Ronald Reagan just took him to the cleaners every time they got together.
Not only that but every time the summit ended, Gorbachev knew that Ronald Reagan took him to the cleaners. And he did that through charm, but he also did it through determination. That he wanted to really make a difference.
And, Bill, when you think about leaders in the world, there are some who take office in order to be something. But there are others who take office in order to do something. And Ronald Reagan was a -- believed in the politics of ideas and the politics of conviction.
HEMMER: Help me understand, from your perspective -- I don't know how you come down on the following theory -- that the Star Wars initiative, SDI, the Space Defense Initiative, was designed, essentially, to scare the Soviet Union, to make them think that the United States had this ability, and had this technology and could develop it. And you compare and contrast that with those who believe that Reagan's initiatives, when it came to nuclear arms and build up, essentially drove the Soviet Union out of business. Is that a fair statement to make? Or looking back 20 years now, how does that theory size up for you?
ADELMAN: You don't have to take my word for it. We had a foreign minister of the Soviet Union, Bessmertnik, who had a look back at Princeton University some years ago. And when asked, what ended the Cold War? He said lots of things ended the Cold War, but the last crowning blow was the Strategic Defense Initiative. We didn't think, as the Soviet Union, that they could compete with it. And it was a genius of Reagan. But it wasn't a last-minute genius of Reagan. Reagan had been thinking about it since 1979, when he went and he saw all the equipment of the NORAD, the North American Defense, in Wyoming -- or outside of Colorado, the mountain there.
And he looked at all this equipment that could warn us of incoming ballistic missiles. And he asked the commander, what do you do if there is an incoming ballistic missile. Well, he would call the president; he would call the other commanders around the world. Everybody would call everybody. But Reagan kept asking him, but what do you do about it? And there was nothing any president could do.
And from that idea, that moment, Reagan thought, well there should be something a president can do besides launch a retaliatory strike against the Soviets, which didn't seem to make sense to kill millions of innocent Russian people, and Soviet people. So he started thinking about that. He worked on it and in 1983 he launched it. And, you know, by 1990 the Soviet Union was no longer.
HEMMER: Thanks for sharing, Ken.
ADELMAN: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Ken Adelman, live from Washington. Good to see you again.
O'BRIEN: We want to take a look now at how some of the nation's most influential newspapers are dealing with the death of former President Reagan. Take a look now at "The Washington Post", you can see the headline there, "Ronald Reagan Dies". In "The New York Times" the headline here is "Ronald Reagan Dies At 93, Fostered Cold War Might and Curbs On Government", what you were just taking about with Ken Adelman, just a moment ago.
Also, the local papers as well, the local "New York Post" saying "Ronald Reagan" with a really remarkable picture of him on the cover. "TIME" magazine, also with another wonderful picture of the former president, "Newsweek" as well, almost identical pictures truly of the former president.
Some really incredible pictures, as you said, through these newspapers and magazines.
HEMMER: On our own Web site we labeled it, "Remembering Reagan" and that is what we'll be doing throughout the morning here and many days to come, too.
It's going to be a long week for the Reagan family, for Nancy and others, coming from California, going to Washington at mid-week and then back to California for what is expected to be the funeral at the end of this week. So, we will remember his life and legacy throughout the morning here.
O'BRIEN: And still to come this morning, he made his name in Hollywood and left a legacy in Washington, D.C., but really got his start in Illinois. A look back at the boyhood days of Ronald Reagan, just ahead.
HEMMER: Also, in a moment, many would say Reagan is the father of modern conservatism. We'll talk to his biographer and find why he ranks Reagan as one of the greatest presidents, ever. A lot to come this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
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GEORGE H. BUSH, FRMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People ask me, what was so special about President Reagan? And on a personal basis, it was his kindness, his decency, his sense of humor -- unbelievable. And he had a wonderful way where you could disagree with him. He'd had leaders in Congress or foreign leaders that he'd disagree with. And yet he was never disagreeable about it himself. He was never mean spirited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The memories of former President George Herbert Walker Bush, right there.
Joining us this morning with his reflections about Ronald Reagan is CNN analyst and former Reagan political adviser, Dinesh D'Souza. He is also the author of the book, "Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became and Extraordinary Leader". And he joins us this morning from Dallas.
Dinesh, nice to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
You just heard the words there, from former President Bush mentioning kindness and sensitivity and sense of humor. You, yourself, in your biography you have said that you think President Reagan was one of the greatest presidents in American history. Why is that?
DINESH D'SOUZA, REAGAN BIOGRAPHER, POLITICAL ADVISER: Well, if we look at the 20th century, the great issue of the 20 century was collectivism. The Soviet Empire was on the march abroad. In fact, between 1974 and 1980, 10 countries had fallen into the Soviet orbit, beginning with the collapse of Vietnam in '74 and ending with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in '79.
Domestically, we saw throughout the 20th century the expansion of the welfare state; a trend that began with the New Deal with Franklin Roosevelt and continued with Lyndon Johnson. Reagan was great enemy of collectivism. He set about with two big goals. One was to try to roll back or bring about an end to the Soviet Empire. And the second was to stop the growth of the welfare state.
So not only had we seen the collapse of the Soviet Union, but I think domestically, within America we've seen a real shift away from the public servant or the bureaucrat and more toward the entrepreneur. Today it is the entrepreneur that is admired as the embodiment of American idealism and this cultural shift was one that Reagan, I think, helped to bring about. O'BRIEN: Reagan was credited -- has been credited with redefining, I think it is fair to say, conservatism and also reenergizing the Republican Party. Do you think that is an accurate statement? And if you do, how did he do it?
D'SOUZA: Reagan was a different kind of Republican. One may say that Republicans traditionally were the party of small business. Republicans traditionally were a negativist party, a party that was used to being out of power, a party that was used to being cynical and sniping at the government.
I think Reagan changed that. He shifted the Republican Party from a negative to a positive party and he made it ready in a sense to govern. He made it a party that was not only willing to criticize but a party that had a vision for what America should be like. And it was a vision in which individuals would take responsibility for their own actions.
Reagan's argument for tax cuts wasn't just an argument about economic efficiency, he ultimately felt that free citizens should be able to shape their own lives and that a large federal government was an intrusion, not only on you pocketbook but ultimately on your basic liberty.
O'BRIEN: Quick final question for you. He was a man who certainly seemed his whole life to be aligned, to be well connected to the common man. Was that partly and act, all an act, or was that was that the true Ronald Reagan?
D'SOUZA: I think it was the true Ronald Reagan. One of the ironies about Reagan is that one may say that the presidency was, in a sense, a role in which he played his truest self. In his acting roles he was often a very average and sometimes below performance. But the presidency was a role he had been preparing for all his life.
He was a political man, through and through. And surprisingly for someone with his background as an actor, he was a man of ideas. He cared deeply about ideas and he believed that ideas can change the world. And so he came with an ideological vision about America. And to a remarkable degree we're living in a world in which Reagan's ideological vision defines not only the Republican Party but the country at large.
O'BRIEN: Dinesh D'Souza, joining us this morning with some of his thoughts and memories. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.
For more about the life and legacy of former President Ronald Reagan, you can go to our Web site, CNN.com and there you can find an extensive obituary of Ronald Reagan, as well as some special features and interactive activities.
HEMMER: We're going to get a break here in a moment. From Illinois to the White House, a look back at the life and legacy. We'll talk to one of his close friends, the former Defense Secretary William Cohen. He will share his own memories and the correspondence these two men had several years ago. Back in a moment.
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HEMMER: Seven-thirty on a Sunday morning here in New York City. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
We're remembering the life of the former President Ronald Reagan today, throughout the morning here. Special interviews for you on this special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks for being with us today.
O'BRIEN: In fact, we're remembering his life, looking back at his life, and talking to many who knew him, in fact, in just a few minutes we'll talk to the former Defense secretary under President Clinton and Maine Senator William Cohen.
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