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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Last Goodbye to Ronald Reagan
Aired June 11, 2004 - 19:00 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm Anderson Cooper.
Family mourns. The nation says a last goodbye to an American president, 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): At the National Cathedral, presidents, prime ministers and princes said farewell to Ronald Reagan. Tonight, we look at two special relationships he shared, one powerful, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, one personal with this daughter Patti. Tonight, Ronald Reagan returns home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: A special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: Good evening. Thanks for joining us tonight.
I went to Ronald Reagan's funeral today in Washington, not as a journalist or as a partisan. I went with my mom, a friend of Nancy Reagan's. When my brother died some 16 year ago, Mrs. Reagan came to his funeral. We rode in her car to the burial site.
I remember the look on my mom's face that day, the stunned far off gaze, the silent sadness she wore like a cloak. I saw that face again today. This time it was Mrs. Reagan's. As she visited with her husband one more time, I think we all saw it on TV.
You might have heard some people call today a day of closure. If you've ever lost a loved one, you know there is no such thing. Some have said the media has over covered this story. A lot of your e- mails tell us just that and perhaps you're right.
Tonight, the wall-to-wall coverage will come to a close. For Nancy Reagan and the family, of course, the grief does not end so quickly or so easily. In a few moments Ronald Reagan will land in California today. He left Washington for the final time.
Judy Woodruff was covering it for CNN. She joins me now. Judy, your particular moments today that stand out to you.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there were several. I mean again, Anderson, just the pomp and circumstance of it all, of the beauty, the simple elegance, the flag-draped casket, that moment that you just mentioned of Mrs. Reagan bending over the casket to touch it once again, the flag.
But I think during the service itself, I was struck by the first President Bush, George H.W. Bush, combining humor with his remembering Ronald Reagan, the little story about, you know, remembering meeting with Bishop Tutu and how was the meeting and he said President Reagan said "so-so." I mean there were those touches and I think that was the humanity that we wanted to hear and we did get some of that today.
COOPER: It was also striking to see all those dignitaries and sort of the elite of Washington who had come out and yet, at the same time, I couldn't help but feel as I was sitting there in the cathedral about all the other people who had come all week long in California, in Simi Valley, but also in Washington standing on lines, sometimes in 90 degree heat to see this man who they saw not only as their president but in many cases as their friend.
WOODRUFF: And, Anderson, when I look back on this week of remembering Ronald Reagan, it's those people that you mention I'm going to remember. I'm going to remember the crowds that we saw standing in line. When you and I were out there last Monday at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley and I'm going to remember the crowds here in Washington.
That's the spontaneous outpouring of connection with this man. Today was an invited only group and yes it was important and it was formal and so forth and a lot of important people were there, but what really matters, it seems to me, in the last analysis is how many ordinary Americans came out.
COOPER: And I think that will be my memory as well. Judy Woodruff, thanks very much, great coverage today. Thank you.
WOODRUFF: Thanks.
COOPER: Let's take a look at this day. It was a difficult day, of course, for the Reagan family, a day that started early for Nancy Reagan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Early this morning, Nancy Reagan visited her husband as he lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, yet another very private moment of grief in very public view.
With care, with precision, Ronald Reagan's body was transported to the National Cathedral where Washington's elite waited one last time to hail the chief.
President and Mrs. Bush were there. So were the four living ex- presidents, foreign dignitaries, old friends like Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain and Mikhail Gorbachev, last leader of the nation Reagan once branded the evil empire.
Front and center as she had been in his life, Nancy Reagan sat surrounded by family. Some speakers recalled moments of humor. BRIAN MULRONEY, FMR. CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Out stepped Nancy and Mila looking like a million bucks and, as they headed towards us, President Reagan beamed and he threw his arm around my shoulder and he said with a grin, "You know, Brian, for two Irishmen we sure married up."
COOPER: Some were at times nearly overcome with emotion.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As his vice president for eight years, I learned more from Ronald Reagan than from anyone I encountered in all my years of public life.
COOPER: Perhaps most memorable of all a taped address by an ailing Margaret Thatcher, her body weak, her words still stunningly strong.
MARGARET THATCHER, FMR. BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We have lost a great president, a great American and a great man and I have lost a dear friend.
COOPER: President Bush paid homage to a fellow westerner.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When the sun sets tonight off the coast of California and we lay to rest our 40th president, a great American story will close.
COOPER: Ronald Reagan left Washington one final time, one final trip, back to California with his beloved Nancy. The 40th president of the United States is nearly home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: One of the most famous quotes about Ronald Reagan's economic proposals was made in 1980 by then candidate George Herbert Walker Bush. He called them voodoo economics. It says something about Ronald Reagan that despite that he still chose Bush as his running mate and a quarter century later Bush's son, the current president, embraces many of those policies. As you've seen both Bush's pay tribute today to Reagan, the past and the president coming together to honor a political mentor and a friend.
CNN's Senior White House Correspondent, John King reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): George Herbert Walker Bush entered the cathedral first, followed soon after by George W. Bush, the 41st and 43rd presidents of the United States called on to eulogize another president who shaped them both.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ronald Reagan belongs to the ages now but we preferred it when he belonged to us.
KING: That two men named Bush are in the exclusive club of presidents is as much a part of the Reagan legacy as tax cuts and fighting communism. Eight years as vice president propelled this Bush to the White House and from that the son inherited not only a household name but invaluable contacts and experience.
GEORGE W. BUSH: As he showed what a president should be, he also showed us what a man should be.
KING: A loyal vice president through fierce debates over taxes and Star Wars and more recalling the gift of being partisan absent the petty and the personal.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH: And he fought hard for his beliefs but he led with conviction but never made an adversary into an enemy. He was never mean spirited.
KING: And, in death as in life, Mr. Reagan's jokes were designed to break the tension.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH: When asked how did your visit go with Bishop Tutu, he replied "so-so." It was typical. It was wonderful.
KING: The current president shares Mr. Reagan's belief that faith has a place in politics and optimism too, though it was tempered on this day.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We know, as he always said, that America's best days are ahead of us, but with Ronald Reagan's passing some very fine days are behind us and that is worth our tears.
KING: John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: After a series of strokes, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was told by her doctors to curtail public speaking engagements but she had made a promise to Ronald Reagan, a promise to speak at his memorial. Eighteen months ago, she taped a eulogy and today Thatcher reminded us and America why they called her the "Iron Lady."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THATCHER: He was the leader of American patriotism. He lifted up the world and so today the world in Prague, in Budapest, in Warsaw and Sofia and Bucharest and Kiev and in Moscow itself, the world mourns the passing of the great liberator and echoes his prayer, God bless America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Lady Thatcher was not only an ideological soul mate of the 40th president she was a close personal friend as well. Earlier this week, I spoke to the respected British journalist and author Harold Evans about Ronald Reagan's friendship with Lady Thatcher and his often complicated relationships with America's European allies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HAROLD EVANS, AUTHOR, JOURNALIST: They came together, Margaret Thatcher, the "Iron Lady," and Ronald Reagan before he was president and before she was prime minister. They had had a few minutes' meeting, it was supposed to be in London, but the meeting went on and on and on for probably about two hours, because they did find this common bond that you mentioned between economic freedom and political freedom but also they liked each other.
Now she was very direct and very icy, not as warm as Ronald Reagan but the bond was immense. And afterwards, Reagan was saying to another Englishman, to an Englishman, "you know, she could be prime minister" and the Englishman said, "are you kidding, she's a woman?" And Reagan said, "and don't forget Queen Victoria, young man." Of course the Englishman said you're absolutely right.
And then later on, of course, their bond developed politically. We were always very grateful in England for Reagan's support during the Falklands war. That was a really important time.
COOPER: Let's talk about his, the way he was perceived throughout Europe, because there were some, especially early on in his presidency who sort of made fun of him as a cowboy, as someone who wasn't really in charge of all the subjects of the day, really on top of things, but that opinion seemed to change over time. What changed it?
EVANS: You're absolutely right. At the very beginning when he became president, one of my better writers, Godfrey (UNINTELLIGIBLE) wrote a profile of him as governor saying he was a success, and nobody believed it. They thought we'd been taken for a ride.
But actually gradually what impressed them, first of all of course his personal warmth was very important, but we gradually came to appreciate that his stand against the evil empire was right.
Now many, many people didn't believe that at first, and there was an uproar, and when he tried to bring in Pershing missiles to get the Soviets to...
COOPER: But it was a stance against communism that, it wasn't just politics, it was very personal. He had a real hatred of the notion of communism, the whole concept.
EVANS: Yes, but we like, the British you know, Churchill and Roosevelt had a relationship, and I think the relationship between Thatcher and President Reagan was closer even than Churchill and Roosevelt, and it was this stand against communism very much worried people at first, but over the course of his eight years that perception changed fantastically.
COOPER: Mr. Harold Evans, thanks very much for being on the program, good to talk to you.
EVANS: You too, good night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Ronald Reagan is returning home. We anticipate him touching down in California shortly. We, of course, will bring that to you live. Our coverage is extensive tonight.
Coming up next on 360, the final days and hours of Ronald Reagan's life, revealed by his daughter Patti in her own words.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And you were looking at a live picture from Point Mugu, California, some of the young Californians waiting for the return of Ronald Reagan to the state, the state that made him both professionally and politically and the state that he loved so much and the state he will be buried in, in just a few hours.
During his White House years, Ronald Reagan liked to escape as often as he could to his ranch in Santa Barbara, California. When he did, he would first fly into where you just saw, Point Mugu, the nearby naval base in Ventura County.
Tonight, the plane carrying the former president's body will land. We anticipate it within the half hour, scheduled touchdown about the, about an hour from the start of Ronald Reagan's final internment service.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is standing by live at Point Mugu -- Thelma.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're right, Anderson.
The presidential aircraft is scheduled to land in about a half hour. On its way to Point Mugu, though, it will fly at low altitude over the library at Simi Valley, which will be the president's final resting place.
Now you can see a shot of a huge amount of people. There are thousands of people who have come here. They are military people, local dignitaries and eight sailors from the USS Reagan who will greet the procession.
Also behind me on the flight line you can see a blue vehicle. Now this has a loading device on it, which will move the casket from the aircraft to the hearse down below. The military pallbearers will pass between two lines of color guards and then the Marine band will play "God Bless America" as the president receives a 21-gun salute and then the motorcade will begin its journey to the Reagan Library -- Anderson.
COOPER: Thelma Gutierrez, thanks very much, standing by live in Point Mugu.
And, as Thelma said, it should be within the half hour. Of course we will bring that to you live as we will all developments tonight.
The Reagan children, of course, didn't always have a close relationship with their parents but the family has come together during the former president's long battle with Alzheimer's. This morning Patti Davis was close by her mother's side, as she has been all week. In this week's "People" magazine, Patti Davis writes about her father, his final days and his long journey into darkness, and I quote:
"His hand is as pale as the blanket covering it" she writes, "and sometimes his breath just stops as seconds pass by and I wonder and hold my own breath. My father is dying and it feels like I've never thought about it before, even though I've been living with the thought for a decade." That is just one of the excerpts from Patti Davis that is going to be in "People" magazine this week.
"People" magazine's senior editor Patrick Rodgers joins me now, Patrick thanks for being with us tonight.
PATRICK RODGERS, SR. EDITOR, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: Thanks.
COOPER: It is an extraordinarily moving piece of writing, an extraordinarily personal work as well. This death was anticipated for a long time and yet the grief is very real and very strong and I think for Patti Davis, perhaps, a little unexpected.
RODGERS: I think that the family anticipated that there would be relief after these ten years of watching President Reagan fade away into this disease, but when the moment arrived absolutely they were heartbroken. The scene that Patti describes of her mother crying and it was devastating.
COOPER: It's obviously been just an extraordinarily tough journey for them all and she has not had a close relationship over the years with Nancy Reagan by all published accounts but they really do seem to have come together lately.
And let me show you one other thing that she wrote. She says: "My mother is" -- she calls this by the way a snapshot in waiting. "My mother is tiny. Her weight against me light, the back of her head is cupped in my hand. But her grief is huge and so heavy it pulls on the joints of my body. It will be OK, I tell her but I have no idea if it will be."
Why do you think she wanted to write this?
RODGERS: Patti's always written about her family. If you recall, she wrote like a thinly-veiled novel about the family and she told me, because I asked her this, like at this moment, you know, you have time to write and she says, "I write. That's what I do. That's how I move through the world." So, I think it's just part of what she's done all along.
COOPER: The article is written before he died but also there are some addendums part to it after he died.
RODGERS: That's right.
COOPER: I want to read one other segment that she wrote about the last moments she shared really with her father. "When his breathing told us this was it, he opened his eyes and looked straight at my mother. Eyes that hadn't opened for days, did, and they weren't chalky or vague. They were clear and blue and full of love and they closed with his last breath. If a death can be lovely, his was," remarkable moment.
RODGERS: Absolutely. Patti told me that she had even asked one of his nurses in advance do you think, you know, a lot of people when they die they do have a last moment of lucidity, do you think I might have that? The nurse on duty that day, her father had just died, and she said well I had that for mine, and -- but in your case you're dealing with Alzheimer's. It's probably not going to happen, so this was completely unexpected.
COOPER: You talked to her last on Tuesday.
RODGERS: That's right.
COOPER: How is she doing?
RODGERS: She seemed sad but completely composed.
COOPER: And surprised also by the sort of outpouring of emotions.
RODGERS: Absolutely, and taking a great deal of comfort from that. You might think, you know, if your father is the president you're used to having, you know, a nation of people who admire him, but certainly at this moment that meant a lot, meant a lot to that family. She mentioned specifically there was a moment of silence at Yankee Stadium that her mother was touched by that.
COOPER: It's a beautiful piece of work. Patrick Rodgers from "People," thanks for being with us.
RODGERS: Thank you.
COOPER: Well, 360 next, we're going to go live to the Reagan Library in California where they are preparing right now, as you see, for the burial of President Reagan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We're looking at a live picture at the Reagan Presidential Library, where friends and family, mourners, have begun to gather to await the arrival of President Ronald Reagan, one final journey home.
The spot where he will be buried was chosen by Mr. Reagan and Mrs. Reagan before the presidential library opened in 1991. It's a hilltop site with panoramic views westward, the perfect spot they say to catch the fading light of day.
The plane carrying the president's casket should be arriving in California in a matter of moments. Then a motorcade will carry it to that final resting place atop the hill for burial at sunset.
CNN's national correspondent Frank Buckley is there waiting at the Reagan Library -- Frank.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, and before the aircraft bearing the body of President Reagan lands at Point Mugu, we are told just within the next few moments, we're expecting a low altitude flyover of the aircraft known as Air Force One when there's a sitting president aboard, known as Special Air Mission 28,000. Today it is expected to pass by at any moment and within sight of the library.
Once the aircraft lands and everyone travels here by motorcade, there will be a very choreographed ceremony for the final burial services that will include remembrances from the Reagan children. There will be military honors, including a 21-gun salute and a flyover of FA-18s from the U.S. Navy. Today their call signs are Gipper 1, 2, 3, and 4, and there will be music, including a lone bagpiper who will play "Amazing Grace" as the casket is taken to its final burial spot -- Anderson.
COOPER: It should be a very moving moment, of course. Frank Buckley, thank you very much for that.
Tonight, we leave you with President Reagan's own last public words from a handwritten letter to the American people. It was written in 1994 after he learned he had Alzheimer's.
"My Fellow Americans" he wrote, "I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. Upon learning this news, Nancy and I have to decide whether as private citizens we would keep this a private matter or whether we would make this news known in a public way.
In the past, Nancy suffered from breast cancer and I had my cancer surgeries. We found through our open disclosures we were able to raise public awareness. We were happy that as a result many more people underwent testing. They were treated in early stages and able to return to normal, healthy lives.
So now we feel it is important to share it with you. In opening our hearts, we hope this might promote greater awareness of this condition. Perhaps it will encourage a clearer understanding of the individuals and families who are affected by it.
At the moment, I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done. I will continue to share life's journey with my beloved Nancy and my family. I plan to enjoy the great outdoors and stay in touch with my friends and supporters.
Unfortunately, as Alzheimer's disease progresses, the family often bears a heavy burden. I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience. When the time comes, I'm confident that with your help she will face it with faith and courage.
In closing, let me thank you, 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 day 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. Thank you my friends. May God always bless you, sincerely, Ronald Reagan."
You see the plane carrying the casket of Ronald Reagan to California.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Up next, our special coverage of Ronald Reagan's funeral continues with Wolf Blitzer and Paula Zahn.
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Aired June 11, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm Anderson Cooper.
Family mourns. The nation says a last goodbye to an American president, 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): At the National Cathedral, presidents, prime ministers and princes said farewell to Ronald Reagan. Tonight, we look at two special relationships he shared, one powerful, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, one personal with this daughter Patti. Tonight, Ronald Reagan returns home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: A special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: Good evening. Thanks for joining us tonight.
I went to Ronald Reagan's funeral today in Washington, not as a journalist or as a partisan. I went with my mom, a friend of Nancy Reagan's. When my brother died some 16 year ago, Mrs. Reagan came to his funeral. We rode in her car to the burial site.
I remember the look on my mom's face that day, the stunned far off gaze, the silent sadness she wore like a cloak. I saw that face again today. This time it was Mrs. Reagan's. As she visited with her husband one more time, I think we all saw it on TV.
You might have heard some people call today a day of closure. If you've ever lost a loved one, you know there is no such thing. Some have said the media has over covered this story. A lot of your e- mails tell us just that and perhaps you're right.
Tonight, the wall-to-wall coverage will come to a close. For Nancy Reagan and the family, of course, the grief does not end so quickly or so easily. In a few moments Ronald Reagan will land in California today. He left Washington for the final time.
Judy Woodruff was covering it for CNN. She joins me now. Judy, your particular moments today that stand out to you.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there were several. I mean again, Anderson, just the pomp and circumstance of it all, of the beauty, the simple elegance, the flag-draped casket, that moment that you just mentioned of Mrs. Reagan bending over the casket to touch it once again, the flag.
But I think during the service itself, I was struck by the first President Bush, George H.W. Bush, combining humor with his remembering Ronald Reagan, the little story about, you know, remembering meeting with Bishop Tutu and how was the meeting and he said President Reagan said "so-so." I mean there were those touches and I think that was the humanity that we wanted to hear and we did get some of that today.
COOPER: It was also striking to see all those dignitaries and sort of the elite of Washington who had come out and yet, at the same time, I couldn't help but feel as I was sitting there in the cathedral about all the other people who had come all week long in California, in Simi Valley, but also in Washington standing on lines, sometimes in 90 degree heat to see this man who they saw not only as their president but in many cases as their friend.
WOODRUFF: And, Anderson, when I look back on this week of remembering Ronald Reagan, it's those people that you mention I'm going to remember. I'm going to remember the crowds that we saw standing in line. When you and I were out there last Monday at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley and I'm going to remember the crowds here in Washington.
That's the spontaneous outpouring of connection with this man. Today was an invited only group and yes it was important and it was formal and so forth and a lot of important people were there, but what really matters, it seems to me, in the last analysis is how many ordinary Americans came out.
COOPER: And I think that will be my memory as well. Judy Woodruff, thanks very much, great coverage today. Thank you.
WOODRUFF: Thanks.
COOPER: Let's take a look at this day. It was a difficult day, of course, for the Reagan family, a day that started early for Nancy Reagan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Early this morning, Nancy Reagan visited her husband as he lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, yet another very private moment of grief in very public view.
With care, with precision, Ronald Reagan's body was transported to the National Cathedral where Washington's elite waited one last time to hail the chief.
President and Mrs. Bush were there. So were the four living ex- presidents, foreign dignitaries, old friends like Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain and Mikhail Gorbachev, last leader of the nation Reagan once branded the evil empire.
Front and center as she had been in his life, Nancy Reagan sat surrounded by family. Some speakers recalled moments of humor. BRIAN MULRONEY, FMR. CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Out stepped Nancy and Mila looking like a million bucks and, as they headed towards us, President Reagan beamed and he threw his arm around my shoulder and he said with a grin, "You know, Brian, for two Irishmen we sure married up."
COOPER: Some were at times nearly overcome with emotion.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As his vice president for eight years, I learned more from Ronald Reagan than from anyone I encountered in all my years of public life.
COOPER: Perhaps most memorable of all a taped address by an ailing Margaret Thatcher, her body weak, her words still stunningly strong.
MARGARET THATCHER, FMR. BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We have lost a great president, a great American and a great man and I have lost a dear friend.
COOPER: President Bush paid homage to a fellow westerner.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When the sun sets tonight off the coast of California and we lay to rest our 40th president, a great American story will close.
COOPER: Ronald Reagan left Washington one final time, one final trip, back to California with his beloved Nancy. The 40th president of the United States is nearly home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: One of the most famous quotes about Ronald Reagan's economic proposals was made in 1980 by then candidate George Herbert Walker Bush. He called them voodoo economics. It says something about Ronald Reagan that despite that he still chose Bush as his running mate and a quarter century later Bush's son, the current president, embraces many of those policies. As you've seen both Bush's pay tribute today to Reagan, the past and the president coming together to honor a political mentor and a friend.
CNN's Senior White House Correspondent, John King reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): George Herbert Walker Bush entered the cathedral first, followed soon after by George W. Bush, the 41st and 43rd presidents of the United States called on to eulogize another president who shaped them both.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ronald Reagan belongs to the ages now but we preferred it when he belonged to us.
KING: That two men named Bush are in the exclusive club of presidents is as much a part of the Reagan legacy as tax cuts and fighting communism. Eight years as vice president propelled this Bush to the White House and from that the son inherited not only a household name but invaluable contacts and experience.
GEORGE W. BUSH: As he showed what a president should be, he also showed us what a man should be.
KING: A loyal vice president through fierce debates over taxes and Star Wars and more recalling the gift of being partisan absent the petty and the personal.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH: And he fought hard for his beliefs but he led with conviction but never made an adversary into an enemy. He was never mean spirited.
KING: And, in death as in life, Mr. Reagan's jokes were designed to break the tension.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH: When asked how did your visit go with Bishop Tutu, he replied "so-so." It was typical. It was wonderful.
KING: The current president shares Mr. Reagan's belief that faith has a place in politics and optimism too, though it was tempered on this day.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We know, as he always said, that America's best days are ahead of us, but with Ronald Reagan's passing some very fine days are behind us and that is worth our tears.
KING: John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: After a series of strokes, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was told by her doctors to curtail public speaking engagements but she had made a promise to Ronald Reagan, a promise to speak at his memorial. Eighteen months ago, she taped a eulogy and today Thatcher reminded us and America why they called her the "Iron Lady."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THATCHER: He was the leader of American patriotism. He lifted up the world and so today the world in Prague, in Budapest, in Warsaw and Sofia and Bucharest and Kiev and in Moscow itself, the world mourns the passing of the great liberator and echoes his prayer, God bless America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Lady Thatcher was not only an ideological soul mate of the 40th president she was a close personal friend as well. Earlier this week, I spoke to the respected British journalist and author Harold Evans about Ronald Reagan's friendship with Lady Thatcher and his often complicated relationships with America's European allies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HAROLD EVANS, AUTHOR, JOURNALIST: They came together, Margaret Thatcher, the "Iron Lady," and Ronald Reagan before he was president and before she was prime minister. They had had a few minutes' meeting, it was supposed to be in London, but the meeting went on and on and on for probably about two hours, because they did find this common bond that you mentioned between economic freedom and political freedom but also they liked each other.
Now she was very direct and very icy, not as warm as Ronald Reagan but the bond was immense. And afterwards, Reagan was saying to another Englishman, to an Englishman, "you know, she could be prime minister" and the Englishman said, "are you kidding, she's a woman?" And Reagan said, "and don't forget Queen Victoria, young man." Of course the Englishman said you're absolutely right.
And then later on, of course, their bond developed politically. We were always very grateful in England for Reagan's support during the Falklands war. That was a really important time.
COOPER: Let's talk about his, the way he was perceived throughout Europe, because there were some, especially early on in his presidency who sort of made fun of him as a cowboy, as someone who wasn't really in charge of all the subjects of the day, really on top of things, but that opinion seemed to change over time. What changed it?
EVANS: You're absolutely right. At the very beginning when he became president, one of my better writers, Godfrey (UNINTELLIGIBLE) wrote a profile of him as governor saying he was a success, and nobody believed it. They thought we'd been taken for a ride.
But actually gradually what impressed them, first of all of course his personal warmth was very important, but we gradually came to appreciate that his stand against the evil empire was right.
Now many, many people didn't believe that at first, and there was an uproar, and when he tried to bring in Pershing missiles to get the Soviets to...
COOPER: But it was a stance against communism that, it wasn't just politics, it was very personal. He had a real hatred of the notion of communism, the whole concept.
EVANS: Yes, but we like, the British you know, Churchill and Roosevelt had a relationship, and I think the relationship between Thatcher and President Reagan was closer even than Churchill and Roosevelt, and it was this stand against communism very much worried people at first, but over the course of his eight years that perception changed fantastically.
COOPER: Mr. Harold Evans, thanks very much for being on the program, good to talk to you.
EVANS: You too, good night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Ronald Reagan is returning home. We anticipate him touching down in California shortly. We, of course, will bring that to you live. Our coverage is extensive tonight.
Coming up next on 360, the final days and hours of Ronald Reagan's life, revealed by his daughter Patti in her own words.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And you were looking at a live picture from Point Mugu, California, some of the young Californians waiting for the return of Ronald Reagan to the state, the state that made him both professionally and politically and the state that he loved so much and the state he will be buried in, in just a few hours.
During his White House years, Ronald Reagan liked to escape as often as he could to his ranch in Santa Barbara, California. When he did, he would first fly into where you just saw, Point Mugu, the nearby naval base in Ventura County.
Tonight, the plane carrying the former president's body will land. We anticipate it within the half hour, scheduled touchdown about the, about an hour from the start of Ronald Reagan's final internment service.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is standing by live at Point Mugu -- Thelma.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're right, Anderson.
The presidential aircraft is scheduled to land in about a half hour. On its way to Point Mugu, though, it will fly at low altitude over the library at Simi Valley, which will be the president's final resting place.
Now you can see a shot of a huge amount of people. There are thousands of people who have come here. They are military people, local dignitaries and eight sailors from the USS Reagan who will greet the procession.
Also behind me on the flight line you can see a blue vehicle. Now this has a loading device on it, which will move the casket from the aircraft to the hearse down below. The military pallbearers will pass between two lines of color guards and then the Marine band will play "God Bless America" as the president receives a 21-gun salute and then the motorcade will begin its journey to the Reagan Library -- Anderson.
COOPER: Thelma Gutierrez, thanks very much, standing by live in Point Mugu.
And, as Thelma said, it should be within the half hour. Of course we will bring that to you live as we will all developments tonight.
The Reagan children, of course, didn't always have a close relationship with their parents but the family has come together during the former president's long battle with Alzheimer's. This morning Patti Davis was close by her mother's side, as she has been all week. In this week's "People" magazine, Patti Davis writes about her father, his final days and his long journey into darkness, and I quote:
"His hand is as pale as the blanket covering it" she writes, "and sometimes his breath just stops as seconds pass by and I wonder and hold my own breath. My father is dying and it feels like I've never thought about it before, even though I've been living with the thought for a decade." That is just one of the excerpts from Patti Davis that is going to be in "People" magazine this week.
"People" magazine's senior editor Patrick Rodgers joins me now, Patrick thanks for being with us tonight.
PATRICK RODGERS, SR. EDITOR, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: Thanks.
COOPER: It is an extraordinarily moving piece of writing, an extraordinarily personal work as well. This death was anticipated for a long time and yet the grief is very real and very strong and I think for Patti Davis, perhaps, a little unexpected.
RODGERS: I think that the family anticipated that there would be relief after these ten years of watching President Reagan fade away into this disease, but when the moment arrived absolutely they were heartbroken. The scene that Patti describes of her mother crying and it was devastating.
COOPER: It's obviously been just an extraordinarily tough journey for them all and she has not had a close relationship over the years with Nancy Reagan by all published accounts but they really do seem to have come together lately.
And let me show you one other thing that she wrote. She says: "My mother is" -- she calls this by the way a snapshot in waiting. "My mother is tiny. Her weight against me light, the back of her head is cupped in my hand. But her grief is huge and so heavy it pulls on the joints of my body. It will be OK, I tell her but I have no idea if it will be."
Why do you think she wanted to write this?
RODGERS: Patti's always written about her family. If you recall, she wrote like a thinly-veiled novel about the family and she told me, because I asked her this, like at this moment, you know, you have time to write and she says, "I write. That's what I do. That's how I move through the world." So, I think it's just part of what she's done all along.
COOPER: The article is written before he died but also there are some addendums part to it after he died.
RODGERS: That's right.
COOPER: I want to read one other segment that she wrote about the last moments she shared really with her father. "When his breathing told us this was it, he opened his eyes and looked straight at my mother. Eyes that hadn't opened for days, did, and they weren't chalky or vague. They were clear and blue and full of love and they closed with his last breath. If a death can be lovely, his was," remarkable moment.
RODGERS: Absolutely. Patti told me that she had even asked one of his nurses in advance do you think, you know, a lot of people when they die they do have a last moment of lucidity, do you think I might have that? The nurse on duty that day, her father had just died, and she said well I had that for mine, and -- but in your case you're dealing with Alzheimer's. It's probably not going to happen, so this was completely unexpected.
COOPER: You talked to her last on Tuesday.
RODGERS: That's right.
COOPER: How is she doing?
RODGERS: She seemed sad but completely composed.
COOPER: And surprised also by the sort of outpouring of emotions.
RODGERS: Absolutely, and taking a great deal of comfort from that. You might think, you know, if your father is the president you're used to having, you know, a nation of people who admire him, but certainly at this moment that meant a lot, meant a lot to that family. She mentioned specifically there was a moment of silence at Yankee Stadium that her mother was touched by that.
COOPER: It's a beautiful piece of work. Patrick Rodgers from "People," thanks for being with us.
RODGERS: Thank you.
COOPER: Well, 360 next, we're going to go live to the Reagan Library in California where they are preparing right now, as you see, for the burial of President Reagan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We're looking at a live picture at the Reagan Presidential Library, where friends and family, mourners, have begun to gather to await the arrival of President Ronald Reagan, one final journey home.
The spot where he will be buried was chosen by Mr. Reagan and Mrs. Reagan before the presidential library opened in 1991. It's a hilltop site with panoramic views westward, the perfect spot they say to catch the fading light of day.
The plane carrying the president's casket should be arriving in California in a matter of moments. Then a motorcade will carry it to that final resting place atop the hill for burial at sunset.
CNN's national correspondent Frank Buckley is there waiting at the Reagan Library -- Frank.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, and before the aircraft bearing the body of President Reagan lands at Point Mugu, we are told just within the next few moments, we're expecting a low altitude flyover of the aircraft known as Air Force One when there's a sitting president aboard, known as Special Air Mission 28,000. Today it is expected to pass by at any moment and within sight of the library.
Once the aircraft lands and everyone travels here by motorcade, there will be a very choreographed ceremony for the final burial services that will include remembrances from the Reagan children. There will be military honors, including a 21-gun salute and a flyover of FA-18s from the U.S. Navy. Today their call signs are Gipper 1, 2, 3, and 4, and there will be music, including a lone bagpiper who will play "Amazing Grace" as the casket is taken to its final burial spot -- Anderson.
COOPER: It should be a very moving moment, of course. Frank Buckley, thank you very much for that.
Tonight, we leave you with President Reagan's own last public words from a handwritten letter to the American people. It was written in 1994 after he learned he had Alzheimer's.
"My Fellow Americans" he wrote, "I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. Upon learning this news, Nancy and I have to decide whether as private citizens we would keep this a private matter or whether we would make this news known in a public way.
In the past, Nancy suffered from breast cancer and I had my cancer surgeries. We found through our open disclosures we were able to raise public awareness. We were happy that as a result many more people underwent testing. They were treated in early stages and able to return to normal, healthy lives.
So now we feel it is important to share it with you. In opening our hearts, we hope this might promote greater awareness of this condition. Perhaps it will encourage a clearer understanding of the individuals and families who are affected by it.
At the moment, I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done. I will continue to share life's journey with my beloved Nancy and my family. I plan to enjoy the great outdoors and stay in touch with my friends and supporters.
Unfortunately, as Alzheimer's disease progresses, the family often bears a heavy burden. I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience. When the time comes, I'm confident that with your help she will face it with faith and courage.
In closing, let me thank you, 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 day 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. Thank you my friends. May God always bless you, sincerely, Ronald Reagan."
You see the plane carrying the casket of Ronald Reagan to California.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Up next, our special coverage of Ronald Reagan's funeral continues with Wolf Blitzer and Paula Zahn.
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