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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

America Mourns Ronald Reagan; World Commemorates 60th Anniversary Of D-Day

Aired June 06, 2004 - 22:00   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.


AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again, everyone. Back when Joe DiMaggio died, I wrote the obituary for my then employer and found myself struggling with how to be both respectful and accurate. Mr. DiMaggio was not always the nicest of men, but you don't want to quite say it that way.
So I settled on this. "He was, truth be told, prickly sometimes." Close enough and fair enough.

I mention this because we are faced with a similar, though far larger challenge where President Reagan is concerned. As the head of state we all mourn his passing and we celebrate his life. All of us can do that and should. That isn't about politics, it's about country.

But as a political leader, which the American president also is, there were successes and failures. There was controversy and achievement. And our coverage should reflect all of that, the good days and the bad. Iran-Contra is a chapter, as are the tax cuts. Beirut is as much a part of the story as Berlin.

It is a line we will walk carefully and respectfully over the next week.

The whip begins tonight on the coast of Georgia, where President Bush arrives tomorrow, home from Europe. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is already there. So Suzanne, start us off with a headline?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Bush is here at Sea Island, Georgia. That is where, of course, he's participating in the G-8 Summit. And this is really about high stakes diplomacy, winning a resolution for Iraq's sovereignty, pushing forward on Middle East reforms, at the same time trying not to alienate the international community.

BROWN: Suzanne, thank you.

Next to Southern California and the Reagan Library. CNN's Frank Buckley with the duty there tonight. So Frank, the headline?

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, five days of official remembrance set to begin here at the library tomorrow. It is a period during which Americans will have a chance to pay their respects in person and say good-bye to the 40th president of the United States -- Aaron?

BROWN: Frank, thank you.

On to President Reagan's impact on a generation of Republicans. CNN's Candy Crowley has been looking at that. Give us a quick headline?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, it is said that Ronald Reagan changed the world and changed his country, but as you said, he also changed politics on both sides of the aisle.

BROWN: Yes, it did. And Candy, you've been looking at that, as has Jeff Greenfield. And Jeff joins us tonight, too. So Jeff, give us a hand -- headline of what you'll be reporting on?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN ANALYST: Aaron, you trace Ronald Reagan's political path from the time he first became a national figure 40 years ago. And what you see is nothing less than the transformation of the American political landscape, Aaron.

BROWN: Thank you. We'll get back to all of you shortly.

Also on the program tonight, we'll hear what words were said today to honor the heroes of Normandy, a moment perhaps a bit lost in the passing of President Reagan.

Later, has Ariel Sharon finally driven a deal to pull Israel out of Gaza? And the rooster, a big bedraggled, I must confess, from being dragged in on the weekend, will arrive nevertheless with your morning papers.

All that and more in the hour ahead. An hour dedicated in one form or another to remembering. We'll remember a president and we'll remember millions of men and women of his generation.

Two threads that came together today on the cliffs above the beaches of Normandy. So we begin tonight with our senior White House correspondent John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Normandy to salute the heroes who stormed the beaches 60 years ago and a role model who walked this hallowed ground 20 years before him.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He was a courageous man himself and a gallant leader in the cause of freedom. And today, we honor the memory of Ronald Reagan.

KING: Mr. Bush will hear "Taps" again before the week is out, heading home as arrangements are made for President Reagan's state funeral on Friday.

Flags at the White House and all federal buildings are at half staff for 30 days on Mr. Bush's order, part of the tribute to a man with whom the current president has both a personal and political affinity. MICHAEL DEAVER, FMR. REAGAN DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: They're Westerners. They are probably both of them would have rather been on the ranch than any place else. They were both governors, western governors. They're both sort of hands on. They are both people with strong convictions, who stick by them.

KING: This president is the son of a president. But politically, is much more an heir of Reagan.

BILL MCINTURFF, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: What they share in common is the modern Republican party that this President Bush inherited from Ronald Reagan, which is the Republican party that's united by tax cuts, and that's animated by strong American defense.

KING: Not all of the comparisons are favorable.

MCINTURFF: When we used to do research about Ronald Reagan in the early '80s, women would say he's stubborn, he doesn't listen. And you know, and you can see some of the same response by some swing voters about this President Bush.

KING: Several of the world leaders at the D-Day commemoration are joining Mr. Bush for the annual G-8 summit this week at Sea Island, Georgia. And many will then head to Washington for Friday's state funeral for Mr. Reagan at the National Cathedral.

(on camera): Among the European leaders planning to attend the funeral are several from nations President Reagan referred to as "liberated countries lost" in his vintage D-Day speech 20 years ago, a reference to Soviet occupation.

Now the Soviet Union is no more. Eastern Europe is free and democratic. And history gives Mr. Reagan a good piece of the credit.

John King, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: As John mentioned, the funeral will take place on Friday. State funerals such as this one are exceedingly rare in the country, reserved for presidents and those sitting president designates worthy of such honor.

Even Richard Nixon, who left office in disgrace, received a state funeral. His body did not, however, lie in state in the capitol. President Johnson was the last president, accorded that honor, more than 30 years ago.

The ceremonies this time will be closely modeled around those surrounding LBJ. Tomorrow morning, Pacific time, President Reagan's body will leave Santa Monica for a private ceremony at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. We'll get to there in just a few moments. Then they'll be a public viewing into the evening and throughout Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, the journey begins. It starts at the naval air station at point McGough, ends at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington. From there, a funeral procession with a casket riding the last few miles on a horse drawn cason (ph), up Constitution Avenue to the Rotunda of the Capitol.

A viewing will be held at 7:00 Eastern time that night for national and world leaders, after which the body will lie in state for the public to come through the night and all day on Thursday.

Then on Friday, and Friday morning, the state funeral will be held at the National Cathedral in Washington, which is not, as the name would suggest, affiliated with the federal government.

John Danforth former senator from Missouri and the newly appointed ambassador to the U.N. will officiate at that. He's an Episcopal minister.

Mr. Reagan's body will then be flown back to California to Simi Valley for burial at sunset on Friday.

This already was a full week for President Bush, who as John mentioned, John King, mentioned a few moments ago as hosting the summit in Georgia for the leaders of the so-called G-8 nations. That gets underway tomorrow. So we head back there and CNN Suzanne Malveaux for a preview -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Well, Aaron, it's going to be a very busy week for the president. The official opening, of course, is going to be on Tuesday. The president, we are told, is going to meet with each one of the G-8 leaders individually.

The main focus here, of course, in the short term that is, is to push forward a U.N. Security Council resolution to endorse Iraqi sovereignty. There are very good signs at both ends from National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice, as well as from German's Gerhard Schroeder, saying that they think they are very close to a resolution that will work for all sides. There are letters that have been exchanged between the Iraqi leadership, as well as Secretary Powell.

The differences are very small at this time over security matters. They are even perhaps, hopeful that this will be something that'll be on the table and perhaps approved before the formal beginning of the G-8 Summit on Tuesday.

Also, of course, as you know, the greater Middle East initiative is the focus of Bush administration. And that may be a bit tougher to actually achieve. There are many Arab leaders who will be gathering here. The U.S., of course, is pushing for democratic reforms, but there are some leaders, some nations, that of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and others who will not be attending. They feel that perhaps this is a big more of an imposition that the United States is putting on some of those countries. They say those reforms will come from within.

And finally, Aaron, there is a focus on Africa, on combating AIDS, as well as the developing the economies in some of those countries. But of course at the same time, holding them accountable to Democratic change -- Aaron?

BROWN: To what degree do you expect that Iraqi will dominate, not just the American coverage of this, because Iraq is enormous issue, obviously here, but the world coverage of this?

MALVEAUX: Well, Aaron, it certainly is going to be enormous. I mean, when you talk about -- you're talking about the Middle East initiative, which of course is linked to this whole U.N. Security Council resolution.

But the bottom line is even those who did not support the Iraq War, the French, the Germans, and many of the others who will be here, recognize that there is something that they have to do to move forward here.

And a lot of leaders have already said they've made gestures, saying in they're willing to cooperate, the whole point of this, of course, is just who is going to have the most control when it comes to how Iraq is shaped, how the security happens, the economic deals that will play out in the years to come. All of those things, of course, are up for debate. Things that these leaders will be talking about, but the bottom line is yes, they all have a stake in the future of Iraq.

BROWN: And just briefly, and then many of them all move up the coast to Washington for the State funeral on Friday.

MALVEAUX: Well, that's right. The way the schedule is set, it's still undetermined whether or not President Bush is going to leave the G-8 Summit, to participate in some of those memorial ceremonies that are going to take place on Wednesday and perhaps coming back on Thursday, that has not yet been determined.

But certainly on Friday, the president is going to participate in the funeral processions. And other leaders are expected to join him as well. It really works well with the schedule, considering that the formal end of the G-8 Summit is going to be on Thursday evening.

BROWN: Suzanne, thank you. Suzanne Malveaux will be covering that for us. At the risk of saying this the wrong way, the passing or Ronald Reagan is different. At least it feels different for most.

Obviously, he wasn't cut down in the prime of his life, like JFK or RFK or Dr. Martin Luther King. He wasn't a bitterly divisive figure, like Richard Nixon. He was 93. And his illness gave people plenty of time to prepare to say goodbye. Except to close friends and family, in that regard, he will not leave a void.

But by the same token, he did fill a space, a large one in history and memories. And that seemed to be what people were talking most about today.

So from Simi Valley tonight, here's CNN's Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Americans across the nation remembered Ronald Wilson Reagan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remembering your servant Ronald Reagan give to the departed eternal rest.

BUCKLEY: From the National Cathedral in Washington to a makeshift memorial outside a mortuary in Santa Monica, California, they remembered the 40th president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everybody, you know, whether they liked him or not, is kind of taken in by this moment.

BUCKLEY: In Dixon, Illinois, Reagan's childhood hometown, they remembered him as one of their own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm glad he didn't have to suffer any more. I realize that it's a hard thing to lose a president. And it's even worse to lose a friend.

BUCKLEY: And even those who didn't know the president personally, most of us, say they felt as if they did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was kind of everybody's grandfather, too. You know, had a good sense of humor and was a good president.

BUCKLEY: His sense of cordiality present, even in the trenches of political battle, according to some who stood on the other side of an argument with President Reagan.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He always disagreed with a smile, without partisanship. He always put America first.

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Even when we had our differences about domestic policy, the one thing I liked about him was that he was not mean-spirited. He was always optimistic about our country.

BUCKLEY: His political rival in the 1980 presidential election, President Jimmy Carter, says Reagan's formidable skills as a communicator were key to his success.

JIMMY CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: But he was able to clarify and possibly to simplify even some very complex issues.

BUCKLEY: Flowers and notes and jelly beans were left in tribute to the former president at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California and in his childhood hometown. He was remembered at the airport that bears his name in Washington, D.C.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fantastic president. Probably the last president I actually voted for.

BUCKLEY: As Americans remembered Ronald Reagan, most set aside political differences they may have had, and remembered a man who insisted that Americans had reason to be proud of America.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: America was very badly divided and not sure of itself in 1980, when he came to the presidency. And he restored our confidence and our faith in the greatness and the future of this nation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: The largely positive comments we heard today, Aaron, might be attributed to what you alluded to, that the manner in which the former president died.

But it's also no surprise, given the incredible job approval ratings that this president enjoyed as he was leaving office. 68 percent in one poll. That was a record for an outgoing president.

Tomorrow, Americans will have a chance to begin this process of saying goodbye and paying respects in person, when the president lies in repose here at the library. That begins at noon, local time -- Aaron?

BROWN: Frank, thank you very much. Frank Buckley at Simi Valley, where the library is, the Reagan Library.

When something becomes familiar enough, it's often hard to remember what came before it. If tax cuts and school prayer and equating big government with evil have become part and parcel of the Republican party's fabric, it wasn't always so, not exactly.

In many ways, Ronald Reagan was unlike any Republican who had become before. His arrival changed much that followed.

That piece of the story from CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ronald Reagan did not shape a generation of Republicans. He created a generation of Republicans.

REP. TOM DELAY (R), MAJORITY WHIP: Well, it was Ronald Reagan that got me involved in politics back in 1976. I became a precinct chairman for the Republican party in Fortling (ph) County, Texas, where they shot Republicans, didn't elect them.

CROWLEY: He was a conservative before conservatives got cool and before they got elected.

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: And I don't think you'd have had a contract with America without President Reagan. And I don't think you'd have the modern Republican majority in the House and Senate without Ronald Reagan.

CROWLEY: It has been more than a decade since we heard him speak.

RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT: I have only one thing to say to the tax increases, go ahead, make my day.

CROWLEY: But his words echo in the political lexicon.

MCCAIN: When dared to veto a pork laden bill, I will take up the veto pen and invoke the words of Ronald Reagan, "make my day."

CROWLEY: When they tried to walk his walk, they'd call his name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's the candidate with a tax cut called Reaganesque and worthy of a new president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seeking the best solutions, doing what's right.

CROWLEY: And they argue over who gets to wear his mantle.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: I know Ronald Reagan. I helped elect him. I went to 36 states for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may know Ronald Reagan, but I worked for him for eight years.

HATCH: So did I.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I was at the cabinet table with...

HATCH: I worked with him 23 years.

CROWLEY: Ronald Reagan made the "L" word, liberal, a four letter word in politics, giving rise to a new kind of Democrat.

WALTER MONDALE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: I think he did challenge the Democrats, unlike any modern Republican presidential candidate on the question -- the basic direction of American government.

CROWLEY: Stand along the political landscape and listen.

REAGAN: Our government is too big and it spends too much.

CROWLEY: That echo is not just through the years, but across the partisan divide.

CLINTON: The era of big government is over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Ronald Reagan did not just dominate the political landscape, he moved the political landscape, taking his country and both major parties to the right -- Aaron?

BROWN: Candy, thank you. Candy Crowley in Washington tonight.

Republican political strategist Ed Rollins served in the administration of three Republican presidents: Nixon, Ford and Ronald Reagan as the national director of President Reagan's '84 re-election campaign, he helped with a little help from the candidate, delivered the largest electoral landslide in American history. The Reagan-Bush ticket earned 49 states. After the campaign, Mr. Rollins served as a top adviser in the second administration. And we are always pleased to see him.

ED ROLLINS: Thank you. The truth of the matter is he won 49. I lost Minnesota.

BROWN: I've heard tell that. It's nice to see you. I want to talk -- I don't want to talk politics, at least, in the conventional sense. I want to talk about him a bit. Do you feel like you really knew him?

ROLLINS: I think I got to observe him for a long period of time, even before he was president, when he was governor and I worked in the legislature in California.

No one got to be intimate with Ronald Reagan. You could watch him. You could appreciate his talents. You could sit and have a wonderful conversation and a wonderful lunch with him, but no one had that intimacy, except for Nancy Reagan.

BROWN: That was for -- the next question. Did anyone break through other than she? And obviously the answer is no.

ROLLINS: I don't believe so. You know, Mike Deaver was close, Paul Laxalt were close, other people in the White House. But at the end of the day, you know, she was the one that I think he really trusted most and shared his life and his thoughts with.

BROWN: He had -- it's one of those delicate areas -- it was really a complicated family relationship with the kids and all of that. Did that ever come up? Did he ever talk about how he felt about how complicated it seemed to get?

ROLLINS: He never talked about that with me. I talked to -- on many occasions, because I dealt a lot with the kids, and particularly Maureen, who was very politically active and very effective. And I was close to Michael.

But it was always, you know, it was just -- it was a private matter. And Reagan didn't share his private thoughts. Reagan shared his public thoughts. And certainly you knew what his quarrel was and his conviction, but I think he was a man who had always been a public man. And he wasn't about to let anybody get that closeness, that intimacy.

That was his -- he was very comfortable with himself. He could go off and chop wood and be up on the ranch for three weeks and never need to check on what was occurring, had his daily briefings and what have you, but was very content to be up there by himself. He liked his own company.

BROWN: Yes, you worked for dozens, certainly of politicians.

ROLLINS: Sure.

BROWN: Maybe hundreds. Ever run into one who seemed to have less ego?

ROLLINS: No, I've never had one with less ego. This man truly was without ego. I remember an occasion I came to New York with him. And I was one -- the rare occasions when I got to drive in the limousine with him. He was with Baker or Deaver or someone. And it was -- came up to see Midtown South from Kojak. And there literally were a million people on either 43rd or 47th Street. And I just said to him, I turned to him, I said, "Aren't you overwhelmed by all this?" And he just had a funny line. He just said wait some will have some signs with some obscenity on it pretty soon and that always kind of brings you back to reality.

It became very clear to me that this was a man who's entire life had adulation. And he had learned to sort of realize that the adulation was either for the movie star or for the sports announcer or now for the president, but his own personal thoughts and feelings, you know, he wasn't affected by that.

BROWN: A number of people have said over the last day or two that he -- that Iran-Contra, in a very personal way, left him depressed, that he felt like he had lost the magic touch.

ROLLINS: Well, it was totally inconsistent with anything he'd ever done. I mean, I can step back and understand why the people who were in the White House fought the decision to him, because obviously, we fought very hard for the Contras. And the Congress got off the aid.

Equally as important, the hostages had been held for a period of time. And Reagan was very committed to all of that. But at the end of the day, Reagan had always been very consistent in his foreign policy. And this was totally inconsistent to that.

So I think he felt very betrayed by his staff. And as a staff person, working for him, we all tried to perform at a very high level, because we didn't want to disappoint him. It wasn't that he yelled at you or screamed, which he never did. It wasn't that he gave you clear direction. It was just that you knew the level that he was at, and you wanted to be at that level.

BROWN: Let me ask you one more question. Do you think in the end, the last couple of years, the last term, that American public began to see him less as the political head of state and more, and quite lovingly clearly, as the ceremonial head of state?

ROLLINS: I think there was no question. In the second term, particularly, where he was doing so much in the international arena, he became a grandfatherly figure. You know, I mean he was like my father to me in the sense of age, but he was almost like America's grandfather. And people loved him very dearly.

BROWN: Will you, just a final question, was there a sense of relief yesterday? Sorrow, of course, when you learned that he had passed?

ROLLINS: I was, you know, certainly I didn't want her to have to suffer anymore, the family. And it's been a long ordeal for her. And she's a wonderful woman. And I think, to a certain extent, it's time for him to go to his reward.

BROWN: Yes, it's nice to see you. Thanks for coming in.

ROLLINS: Thank you. My pleasure.

BROWN: Thank you.

Ahead on the program tonight, from virtually the moment Ronald Reagan stepped on the political stage, he changed the way politics worked in the country. Jeff Greenfield weighs in on that.

And we'll take a look at the relationship between Ronald Reagan and the press, an interesting one, that. From around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It's always a sign you've made an impact, good or bad, when your name becomes a modifier, or better yet a noun. By that measure, Ronald Reagan passes the test easily. Reagan Democrats threw their support behind Reaganomics and broke ranks with their party.

The man who gave a new lease to conservatives within his party did so against the odds. His party was out of favor when he stepped into the game.

Our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, on how Ronald Reagan turned that around.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: I have spent most of life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN ANALYST: Ronald Reagan's entry onto the political stage was a starter. A speech back in the June 1964 campaign of Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater lost in a landslide that marked the high tide of post-war Democratic liberalism.

But for Reagan, it marked the start of a journey that transformed the political landscape. Two years later, he won the governorship of California by a million votes, aided in large measure by voter outrage at race riots and anti-Vietnam campus violence.

RICHARD NIXON, FMR. PRESIDENT: I have never been a quitter.

GREENFIELD: He left the governorship just four months after Nixon was forced from the White House by Watergate at a time when just one in five Americans called themselves Republicans.

But Reagan rallied conservatives within the party by mounting a primary challenge in 1976 to President Gerald Ford. And a late surge, spurred by his attack on the Ford-Kissinger foreign policy, brought him within a hair's breath of taking the nomination from a sitting president. But that defeat may have been a blessing. Four years later, a mix of inflation, industrial recession, American hostages in Iran, and an aggressive Soviet Union made the country far more receptive to Reagan's message. What that 1980 election demonstrated and accelerated was a major political shift.

The south, which had been moving away from Democrats on the Civil Rights issue, became a solid Republican base. White working class voters, prodded by issues from school bussing, to patriotism, to inflation moved to the GOP.

REAGAN: Beginning today...

GREENFIELD: And Reagan's fundamental message, heard in his inaugural speech, was a frontal challenge to the dominant liberal creed.

REAGAN: Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.

GREENFIELD: Reagan's track record was hardly a uniform triumph of conservative principles. The deficit doubled. Government spending accelerated on his watch. No programs were trimmed or dismantled. And on the social issues like abortion, Reagan never did much more than offer rhetoric.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GREENFIELD: But by the time he left office, Reagan had changed the terms of the political debate. As Candy Crowley reminded us, it was the most successful Democratic politician Bill Clinton, who proclaimed the era of big government is over. And the Republican party, it had been turned into a tax cutting, internationalist party with solemnly conservative cultural views, a party who's most revered figure today with the possible exception of Abe Lincoln, Aaron, was Ronald Reagan.

BROWN: Let's go back -- what I remember about '76 is while ultimately, obviously, the party chose Gerald Ford, even then, it's heart belonged to Ronald Reagan?

GREENFIELD: Absolutely. He came closer than anyone else to knocking off an incumbent president. And you may remember after Ford's acceptance speech, he beckoned Reagan down from his seat. Reagan than addressed the convention with probably what would have been his acceptance speech. And there were lots of tears from conservatives because they felt, well, it was his one shot. He's clearly going to be too old in 1980, as a lot of other people said.

And you're quite right, the heart and soul of the Republican party had been conquered by Reagan years before he actually won the nomination.

BROWN: What was it that -- just one other question, take a stab at. You know, we often think of Barry Goldwater as being the father of the Republican conservative movement. Why not Goldwater? Why Reagan? Is it just delectability? Is that the difference?

GREENFIELD: Well, the first reason is that Goldwater lost. And this is not a country that reveres losers nearly as much as winners.

BROWN: Yes.

GREENFIELD: But I also think the 16 years between Goldwater's defeat and Reagan's victory really made a big difference because it showed enough cracks in the foundation of liberalism, that it permitted the -- a conservative creed that was soundly rejected in 1964 to win by a landslide.

I think sometimes time is really the right answer.

BROWN: Jeff, thank you much. Jeff Greenfield, who is in Atlanta tonight. Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, Ronald Reagan and the press that covered him. Was there ever such a love-hate relationship? Oh, there's always one.

And later, we'll continue our relationship with morning papers. Why not? It's NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Back in 1984, President Reagan hired a man named Howard Riney (ph) to produce television spots for his re-election campaign. Mr. Riney (ph), his agency, came out with some of the best. They showcased folksy people at homey scenes and dappled sunlight. The message was warm and simple. It's morning in America.

Looking back on it today, the imagery seems to mesh perfectly with the public's memory of the man those images helped re-elect. The reality is a lot more complicated then and now.

Here's CNN's Howard Kurtz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Television has been saturated with the highlights of Ronald Reagan's career. The movie star, the president with a knack for the great one liner.

RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: There you go again.

KURTZ: The man who took on what he called "the evil empire."

REAGAN: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

KURTZ: But President Reagan was covered very differently from 1981 through 1989. He had, to say the least, a contentious relationship with the press.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is anyone else going to be let go, sir?

REAGAN: No one was let go. They chose to go. KURTZ: The media portrayed Reagan as a detached leader, uninterested in details. Once failing to recognize his own Housing Secretary Sam Pierce.

He was described as a president who favored the rich. His budget director, David Stockman, suggested that ketchup could count as a vegetable in school lunches.

His administration was described by some as corrupt. White House aid Michael Deaver, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Fair (ph), and Environmental Protection official Rita Lavelle (ph) were among those convicted.

And Pentagon chief Casper Weinberger was indicted, but later pardoned by the elder George Bush. The scandal, known as Iran-Contra, dominated coverage of Reagan's second term.

CHRIS WALLACE, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Aren't you saying to terrorists either you or your state sponsor, which in this case was Iran, can gain from the holding of hostages?

SAM DONALDSON, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Sir, if I may, the polls show that a lot of American people just simply don't believe you, that the one thing that you've had going for you, more than anything else in your presidency, your credibility has been severely damaged. Can you repair it? What does it mean for the rest of your presidency?

REAGAN: Well, I imagine I'm the only one around who wants to repair it. And I didn't do -- have anything to do with damaging it.

KURTZ: Why was the coverage so contentious? Some critics blame liberal journalists, but it was more than that. The news business covers the controversies of the day -- when unemployment hit 10 percent in 1982 after Reagan cut taxes. The huge flap over Reagan's 1985 decision to visit a Nazi cemetery, not to mention the flap over Nancy Reagan's advice, based on astrology.

(on camera): When we look back on a public man, particularly one who had been ill and out of the arena for a decade, what we remember are the big moments. "Tear down this wall." And the moments of inspiration.

But the press, which focuses on day to day combat, doesn't have that luxury. That's why it remains at best a first rough draft of history.

This is Howard Kurtz of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Perhaps it was inevitable that two former Hollywood actors would bring a certain glamour to the White House, and that Ronald and Nancy Reagan most certainly did that.

The mark they left on the White House and all of Washington had fans. It had critics, too. Sally Quinn covered the Reagan White House for "The Washington Post." And we're grateful that she joins us tonight.

Particularly when you compare it to the rather austere Carter years, when the Reagans came to town, they threw a party?

SALLY QUINN, "WASHINGTON POST" REPORTER: They did. They had a party at the F Street Club, which was kind of the headquarters for the Washington establishment here.

And it was interesting. They didn't have it at the White House. It was as though they were coming to Washington and to the establishment. And it was a very, very smart thing to do, because so many presidents get in trouble with the establishment. They come in. and it's almost as though they are sort of occupying army.

And they sort of push away the establishment. And then when the going gets rough, the establishment turns on them. And it gets ugly. And this was reaching out to the Washington crowd in a very clever way because in the end, when things did start going rough with -- for Reagan, he had people he could reach out to. Nancy also made friends with Katherine Graham, the publisher of "The Washington Post" and Meg Greenfield, who was the editor of the editorial page. And they stuck by her when things started getting rough.

BROWN: At the risk of sounding like the bumpkin I often am, when you talk about the Washington establishment, who are you talking about? Lobbyists and people like that?

QUINN: I'm talking about people who have lived here for many years. They're the press, the military, the diplomats, people in Congress, the Senate, and the lawyers, the lobbyists, cave dwellers, the people who have been in other administrations and have stayed on in various capacities here. It just -- it creates a whole group of people who know each other, who like each other from both parties, Democrats and Republicans.

And who basically sit here and watch the passing parade. Presidents come and presidents go. And the Washington establishment is always here.

BROWN: Did it take particularly Mrs. Reagan some time to find the right pitch? It always seemed to me early on there were controversies. There was the controversy over the china. And there were controversies over her dresses, and controversies generally around money. Did she have trouble finding the right tone?

QUINN: Well, I think that's true. And she did come from Hollywood. And there was a certain Hollywood glamour that came with her. And I think people were sort of expecting her to be sort of a clothes horse and a spendthrift.

But they came after the Carters, which it was just such a dramatic change from what had been. But I think that the Reagans were a lot more sophisticated socially. And therefore I think that -- and they brought more sophisticated people into town.

So I think they got along a little bit better with the establishment, than some other presidents had done.

But Nancy Reagan also reached out to a lot of the women in Washington. And she was so influential on him. I remember once I was on a talk show. And they said, OK, we're going to go around the group and in one word describe Ronald Reagan. And they came to me. And I said, just off the top of my head, "superficial." And the next time I went to interview Nancy Reagan, she came up to me and put her hands, both hands, on my shoulders and just said very gently, "Ronald Reagan is not superficial."

And I was so startled and taken aback and a little put off at first, until I realized that she was -- she was doing the same thing I would have done, which is that she was a ferocious defender of -- and supporter of her husband. And later, I came to realize that I was wrong about him. He was not superficial.

The Washington journalists, I think had underestimated him. I think we had thought he was, when in fact, I think his message was simple and clear. He was intelligent, but not an intellectual.

BROWN: All our spouses should be as protective of us. Thank you. It's nice to see you. Thank you.

QUINN: Thanks.

BROWN: Sally Quinn in Washington tonight.

Still to come on the program, more bombs and more death, unfortunately to report. This time from Iraq, but a gleam of hope for the resolution out of the United Nations. And world leaders honor the dead on the beaches of Normandy in their own words tonight. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Twenty four days, power will change hands in Iraq. The U.N. Security Council today, as we mentioned earlier, diplomats worked to finalize the resolution, outlining details of the handover. The document has been through multiple drafts. France and Russia, which hold veto power in the Security Council, had requested more specifics on the role of U.S. troops after the handover.

U.S. official says the final document is very close. And Tuesday vote is still hoped for, but there could be more revisions to draw out the process. This is the U.N. after all.

With the deadline drawing near, the casualties continue to mount in Iraq as well. Today, a mortar attack at a coalition base near Baghdad killed one American soldier and injured another. This as two car bombs killed eight Iraqis and injured 48 other people north of Baghdad.

A group that claims the Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as his leader has taken responsibility for the bombings. The group also claimed responsibility for an attack yesterday that killed nine Iraqis, five of them police officers. Israel's prime minister Ariel Sharon won a much needed compromise today from his own cabinet, which approved in principle and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. The withdrawal still faces significant opposition in Israel. And the plan that finally won support was a watered down version of Mr. Sharon's initial proposal.

Still, the victory may help him avoid a collapse of his coalition government, not to mention the split within his own party, the Likud Party.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, we'll go back to today's ceremonies in France for the thousands of soldiers who died 60 years ago on the beaches of Normandy. In morning papers, we'll wrap it all up and maybe Sunday, but this is still NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: OK, time to check some morning papers from around the country and around the world. You can imagine two stories, excuse me, dominate.

The front page of "The International Tribune" is just full of really cool stories. It leads with "D-Day: 60th Anniversary of D- Day." Remember, this is seen around the world and across much of Europe, leaders stress friendship. But I love this as a story idea. For the Germans, the war, this time they're not talking about Iraq. They're talking about World War II. "The War's Ambiguities Linger." And because this would -- I don't believe there's a weekend edition of "The International Herald Tribune." So they put Mr. Reagan's obituary in the front page.

"Ronald Reagan dead at 93," written by Marilyn Berger. What a task that is. I once wrote the obituary for Jackie Onassis. And I'm telling you, it's not easy.

"Christian Science Monitor," "The Meaning of Mr. Reagan: How He Transformed the GOP." And just one of the two or three pictures that photo editors had pretty much settled on to sum up Mr. Reagan in photo.

"The Moscow Times", the English language paper in Moscow, in Russia," "Reagan Mourned in the former Evil Empire." Not a bad headline that when you think about it.

"Cincinnati Inquirer" actually leads local. A terrible traffic accident there or bad one at least. Bus plows into building, 17 injured. But they also put President Reagan. "A Week to Honor Reagan from State Funeral to a Sunset Burial." And old soldiers fade away, but D-Day's importance remains all on the front page of "The Cincinnati Inquirer."

How are we doing on time? Got it, thank you. "A Nation Mourns" is the headline in "The Miami Herald," which also puts the Israeli decision to leave Gaza on the front page, a large Jewish community in South Florida. So that's an important story down there for them. Anyway, and the nation is -- I mean, we're struggling with this a bit. I mean, we're certainly mourning. They'll be a national day of mourning, but I think there is a sense of relief for the family that this long passing, this difficult passing is over.

"The Detroit News," "Bush, Chirac Honor Supreme Sacrifice." A good headline there. A couple of others I want to get -- I love this line from the president's speech. And it's in "The Atlanta Journal Constitution," our hometown paper here at CNN. "America Would Do it Again for our Friends."

And finally, "The Chicago Sun-Times" "D-Day Vets Day in the Sun." But hey, let's not forget J. Lo, OK? J. Lo ties knot for third time. Front page stuff in "The Chicago Sun-Times." Weather tomorrow in Chicago, thank you, summerlike. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In part because of time zones, and in part because of timing, the events early this morning in Normandy received less attention than they otherwise deserve. So here are some of the speeches that were said today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUES CHIRAC, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): France will never forget. She will never forget that 6th of June, 1944, the day hope was reborn and rekindled. She will never forget those men who made the ultimate sacrifice to liberate our soil, our native land, our continent from the yoke of Nazi barbarity and its murderous folly. Nor will it ever forget it's debt to America, its everlasting friend.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is a strange turn of history that called on young men from the prairie towns and city streets of America to cross an ocean and throw back the marching mechanized evils of fascism. And those young men did it. You did it.

(APPLAUSE)

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.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II, U.K.: What for you is a haunting memory of danger and sacrifice one summer long ago is for your country and for generations of your countrymen to come one of the proudest moments in our long national history.

GERHARD SCHROEDER, CHANCELLOR GERMANY (through translator): The Germans because that war, we know our responsibility before history. And we take it seriously.

BUSH: Now has come a time of reflection with thoughts of another horizon and the hope of reunion with the boys you knew.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We'll wrap it up for the night in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: That's our report for tonight. Good to have you with us on a Sunday night. We're here tomorrow. We'll be in Washington pretty sure by Tuesday night, but we'll all be back here 10:00 Eastern time. For NEWSNIGHT, good night.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired June 6, 2004 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again, everyone. Back when Joe DiMaggio died, I wrote the obituary for my then employer and found myself struggling with how to be both respectful and accurate. Mr. DiMaggio was not always the nicest of men, but you don't want to quite say it that way.
So I settled on this. "He was, truth be told, prickly sometimes." Close enough and fair enough.

I mention this because we are faced with a similar, though far larger challenge where President Reagan is concerned. As the head of state we all mourn his passing and we celebrate his life. All of us can do that and should. That isn't about politics, it's about country.

But as a political leader, which the American president also is, there were successes and failures. There was controversy and achievement. And our coverage should reflect all of that, the good days and the bad. Iran-Contra is a chapter, as are the tax cuts. Beirut is as much a part of the story as Berlin.

It is a line we will walk carefully and respectfully over the next week.

The whip begins tonight on the coast of Georgia, where President Bush arrives tomorrow, home from Europe. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is already there. So Suzanne, start us off with a headline?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Bush is here at Sea Island, Georgia. That is where, of course, he's participating in the G-8 Summit. And this is really about high stakes diplomacy, winning a resolution for Iraq's sovereignty, pushing forward on Middle East reforms, at the same time trying not to alienate the international community.

BROWN: Suzanne, thank you.

Next to Southern California and the Reagan Library. CNN's Frank Buckley with the duty there tonight. So Frank, the headline?

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, five days of official remembrance set to begin here at the library tomorrow. It is a period during which Americans will have a chance to pay their respects in person and say good-bye to the 40th president of the United States -- Aaron?

BROWN: Frank, thank you.

On to President Reagan's impact on a generation of Republicans. CNN's Candy Crowley has been looking at that. Give us a quick headline?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, it is said that Ronald Reagan changed the world and changed his country, but as you said, he also changed politics on both sides of the aisle.

BROWN: Yes, it did. And Candy, you've been looking at that, as has Jeff Greenfield. And Jeff joins us tonight, too. So Jeff, give us a hand -- headline of what you'll be reporting on?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN ANALYST: Aaron, you trace Ronald Reagan's political path from the time he first became a national figure 40 years ago. And what you see is nothing less than the transformation of the American political landscape, Aaron.

BROWN: Thank you. We'll get back to all of you shortly.

Also on the program tonight, we'll hear what words were said today to honor the heroes of Normandy, a moment perhaps a bit lost in the passing of President Reagan.

Later, has Ariel Sharon finally driven a deal to pull Israel out of Gaza? And the rooster, a big bedraggled, I must confess, from being dragged in on the weekend, will arrive nevertheless with your morning papers.

All that and more in the hour ahead. An hour dedicated in one form or another to remembering. We'll remember a president and we'll remember millions of men and women of his generation.

Two threads that came together today on the cliffs above the beaches of Normandy. So we begin tonight with our senior White House correspondent John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Normandy to salute the heroes who stormed the beaches 60 years ago and a role model who walked this hallowed ground 20 years before him.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He was a courageous man himself and a gallant leader in the cause of freedom. And today, we honor the memory of Ronald Reagan.

KING: Mr. Bush will hear "Taps" again before the week is out, heading home as arrangements are made for President Reagan's state funeral on Friday.

Flags at the White House and all federal buildings are at half staff for 30 days on Mr. Bush's order, part of the tribute to a man with whom the current president has both a personal and political affinity. MICHAEL DEAVER, FMR. REAGAN DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: They're Westerners. They are probably both of them would have rather been on the ranch than any place else. They were both governors, western governors. They're both sort of hands on. They are both people with strong convictions, who stick by them.

KING: This president is the son of a president. But politically, is much more an heir of Reagan.

BILL MCINTURFF, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: What they share in common is the modern Republican party that this President Bush inherited from Ronald Reagan, which is the Republican party that's united by tax cuts, and that's animated by strong American defense.

KING: Not all of the comparisons are favorable.

MCINTURFF: When we used to do research about Ronald Reagan in the early '80s, women would say he's stubborn, he doesn't listen. And you know, and you can see some of the same response by some swing voters about this President Bush.

KING: Several of the world leaders at the D-Day commemoration are joining Mr. Bush for the annual G-8 summit this week at Sea Island, Georgia. And many will then head to Washington for Friday's state funeral for Mr. Reagan at the National Cathedral.

(on camera): Among the European leaders planning to attend the funeral are several from nations President Reagan referred to as "liberated countries lost" in his vintage D-Day speech 20 years ago, a reference to Soviet occupation.

Now the Soviet Union is no more. Eastern Europe is free and democratic. And history gives Mr. Reagan a good piece of the credit.

John King, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: As John mentioned, the funeral will take place on Friday. State funerals such as this one are exceedingly rare in the country, reserved for presidents and those sitting president designates worthy of such honor.

Even Richard Nixon, who left office in disgrace, received a state funeral. His body did not, however, lie in state in the capitol. President Johnson was the last president, accorded that honor, more than 30 years ago.

The ceremonies this time will be closely modeled around those surrounding LBJ. Tomorrow morning, Pacific time, President Reagan's body will leave Santa Monica for a private ceremony at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. We'll get to there in just a few moments. Then they'll be a public viewing into the evening and throughout Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, the journey begins. It starts at the naval air station at point McGough, ends at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington. From there, a funeral procession with a casket riding the last few miles on a horse drawn cason (ph), up Constitution Avenue to the Rotunda of the Capitol.

A viewing will be held at 7:00 Eastern time that night for national and world leaders, after which the body will lie in state for the public to come through the night and all day on Thursday.

Then on Friday, and Friday morning, the state funeral will be held at the National Cathedral in Washington, which is not, as the name would suggest, affiliated with the federal government.

John Danforth former senator from Missouri and the newly appointed ambassador to the U.N. will officiate at that. He's an Episcopal minister.

Mr. Reagan's body will then be flown back to California to Simi Valley for burial at sunset on Friday.

This already was a full week for President Bush, who as John mentioned, John King, mentioned a few moments ago as hosting the summit in Georgia for the leaders of the so-called G-8 nations. That gets underway tomorrow. So we head back there and CNN Suzanne Malveaux for a preview -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Well, Aaron, it's going to be a very busy week for the president. The official opening, of course, is going to be on Tuesday. The president, we are told, is going to meet with each one of the G-8 leaders individually.

The main focus here, of course, in the short term that is, is to push forward a U.N. Security Council resolution to endorse Iraqi sovereignty. There are very good signs at both ends from National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice, as well as from German's Gerhard Schroeder, saying that they think they are very close to a resolution that will work for all sides. There are letters that have been exchanged between the Iraqi leadership, as well as Secretary Powell.

The differences are very small at this time over security matters. They are even perhaps, hopeful that this will be something that'll be on the table and perhaps approved before the formal beginning of the G-8 Summit on Tuesday.

Also, of course, as you know, the greater Middle East initiative is the focus of Bush administration. And that may be a bit tougher to actually achieve. There are many Arab leaders who will be gathering here. The U.S., of course, is pushing for democratic reforms, but there are some leaders, some nations, that of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and others who will not be attending. They feel that perhaps this is a big more of an imposition that the United States is putting on some of those countries. They say those reforms will come from within.

And finally, Aaron, there is a focus on Africa, on combating AIDS, as well as the developing the economies in some of those countries. But of course at the same time, holding them accountable to Democratic change -- Aaron?

BROWN: To what degree do you expect that Iraqi will dominate, not just the American coverage of this, because Iraq is enormous issue, obviously here, but the world coverage of this?

MALVEAUX: Well, Aaron, it certainly is going to be enormous. I mean, when you talk about -- you're talking about the Middle East initiative, which of course is linked to this whole U.N. Security Council resolution.

But the bottom line is even those who did not support the Iraq War, the French, the Germans, and many of the others who will be here, recognize that there is something that they have to do to move forward here.

And a lot of leaders have already said they've made gestures, saying in they're willing to cooperate, the whole point of this, of course, is just who is going to have the most control when it comes to how Iraq is shaped, how the security happens, the economic deals that will play out in the years to come. All of those things, of course, are up for debate. Things that these leaders will be talking about, but the bottom line is yes, they all have a stake in the future of Iraq.

BROWN: And just briefly, and then many of them all move up the coast to Washington for the State funeral on Friday.

MALVEAUX: Well, that's right. The way the schedule is set, it's still undetermined whether or not President Bush is going to leave the G-8 Summit, to participate in some of those memorial ceremonies that are going to take place on Wednesday and perhaps coming back on Thursday, that has not yet been determined.

But certainly on Friday, the president is going to participate in the funeral processions. And other leaders are expected to join him as well. It really works well with the schedule, considering that the formal end of the G-8 Summit is going to be on Thursday evening.

BROWN: Suzanne, thank you. Suzanne Malveaux will be covering that for us. At the risk of saying this the wrong way, the passing or Ronald Reagan is different. At least it feels different for most.

Obviously, he wasn't cut down in the prime of his life, like JFK or RFK or Dr. Martin Luther King. He wasn't a bitterly divisive figure, like Richard Nixon. He was 93. And his illness gave people plenty of time to prepare to say goodbye. Except to close friends and family, in that regard, he will not leave a void.

But by the same token, he did fill a space, a large one in history and memories. And that seemed to be what people were talking most about today.

So from Simi Valley tonight, here's CNN's Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Americans across the nation remembered Ronald Wilson Reagan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remembering your servant Ronald Reagan give to the departed eternal rest.

BUCKLEY: From the National Cathedral in Washington to a makeshift memorial outside a mortuary in Santa Monica, California, they remembered the 40th president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everybody, you know, whether they liked him or not, is kind of taken in by this moment.

BUCKLEY: In Dixon, Illinois, Reagan's childhood hometown, they remembered him as one of their own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm glad he didn't have to suffer any more. I realize that it's a hard thing to lose a president. And it's even worse to lose a friend.

BUCKLEY: And even those who didn't know the president personally, most of us, say they felt as if they did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was kind of everybody's grandfather, too. You know, had a good sense of humor and was a good president.

BUCKLEY: His sense of cordiality present, even in the trenches of political battle, according to some who stood on the other side of an argument with President Reagan.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He always disagreed with a smile, without partisanship. He always put America first.

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Even when we had our differences about domestic policy, the one thing I liked about him was that he was not mean-spirited. He was always optimistic about our country.

BUCKLEY: His political rival in the 1980 presidential election, President Jimmy Carter, says Reagan's formidable skills as a communicator were key to his success.

JIMMY CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: But he was able to clarify and possibly to simplify even some very complex issues.

BUCKLEY: Flowers and notes and jelly beans were left in tribute to the former president at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California and in his childhood hometown. He was remembered at the airport that bears his name in Washington, D.C.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fantastic president. Probably the last president I actually voted for.

BUCKLEY: As Americans remembered Ronald Reagan, most set aside political differences they may have had, and remembered a man who insisted that Americans had reason to be proud of America.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: America was very badly divided and not sure of itself in 1980, when he came to the presidency. And he restored our confidence and our faith in the greatness and the future of this nation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: The largely positive comments we heard today, Aaron, might be attributed to what you alluded to, that the manner in which the former president died.

But it's also no surprise, given the incredible job approval ratings that this president enjoyed as he was leaving office. 68 percent in one poll. That was a record for an outgoing president.

Tomorrow, Americans will have a chance to begin this process of saying goodbye and paying respects in person, when the president lies in repose here at the library. That begins at noon, local time -- Aaron?

BROWN: Frank, thank you very much. Frank Buckley at Simi Valley, where the library is, the Reagan Library.

When something becomes familiar enough, it's often hard to remember what came before it. If tax cuts and school prayer and equating big government with evil have become part and parcel of the Republican party's fabric, it wasn't always so, not exactly.

In many ways, Ronald Reagan was unlike any Republican who had become before. His arrival changed much that followed.

That piece of the story from CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ronald Reagan did not shape a generation of Republicans. He created a generation of Republicans.

REP. TOM DELAY (R), MAJORITY WHIP: Well, it was Ronald Reagan that got me involved in politics back in 1976. I became a precinct chairman for the Republican party in Fortling (ph) County, Texas, where they shot Republicans, didn't elect them.

CROWLEY: He was a conservative before conservatives got cool and before they got elected.

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: And I don't think you'd have had a contract with America without President Reagan. And I don't think you'd have the modern Republican majority in the House and Senate without Ronald Reagan.

CROWLEY: It has been more than a decade since we heard him speak.

RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT: I have only one thing to say to the tax increases, go ahead, make my day.

CROWLEY: But his words echo in the political lexicon.

MCCAIN: When dared to veto a pork laden bill, I will take up the veto pen and invoke the words of Ronald Reagan, "make my day."

CROWLEY: When they tried to walk his walk, they'd call his name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's the candidate with a tax cut called Reaganesque and worthy of a new president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seeking the best solutions, doing what's right.

CROWLEY: And they argue over who gets to wear his mantle.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: I know Ronald Reagan. I helped elect him. I went to 36 states for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may know Ronald Reagan, but I worked for him for eight years.

HATCH: So did I.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I was at the cabinet table with...

HATCH: I worked with him 23 years.

CROWLEY: Ronald Reagan made the "L" word, liberal, a four letter word in politics, giving rise to a new kind of Democrat.

WALTER MONDALE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: I think he did challenge the Democrats, unlike any modern Republican presidential candidate on the question -- the basic direction of American government.

CROWLEY: Stand along the political landscape and listen.

REAGAN: Our government is too big and it spends too much.

CROWLEY: That echo is not just through the years, but across the partisan divide.

CLINTON: The era of big government is over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Ronald Reagan did not just dominate the political landscape, he moved the political landscape, taking his country and both major parties to the right -- Aaron?

BROWN: Candy, thank you. Candy Crowley in Washington tonight.

Republican political strategist Ed Rollins served in the administration of three Republican presidents: Nixon, Ford and Ronald Reagan as the national director of President Reagan's '84 re-election campaign, he helped with a little help from the candidate, delivered the largest electoral landslide in American history. The Reagan-Bush ticket earned 49 states. After the campaign, Mr. Rollins served as a top adviser in the second administration. And we are always pleased to see him.

ED ROLLINS: Thank you. The truth of the matter is he won 49. I lost Minnesota.

BROWN: I've heard tell that. It's nice to see you. I want to talk -- I don't want to talk politics, at least, in the conventional sense. I want to talk about him a bit. Do you feel like you really knew him?

ROLLINS: I think I got to observe him for a long period of time, even before he was president, when he was governor and I worked in the legislature in California.

No one got to be intimate with Ronald Reagan. You could watch him. You could appreciate his talents. You could sit and have a wonderful conversation and a wonderful lunch with him, but no one had that intimacy, except for Nancy Reagan.

BROWN: That was for -- the next question. Did anyone break through other than she? And obviously the answer is no.

ROLLINS: I don't believe so. You know, Mike Deaver was close, Paul Laxalt were close, other people in the White House. But at the end of the day, you know, she was the one that I think he really trusted most and shared his life and his thoughts with.

BROWN: He had -- it's one of those delicate areas -- it was really a complicated family relationship with the kids and all of that. Did that ever come up? Did he ever talk about how he felt about how complicated it seemed to get?

ROLLINS: He never talked about that with me. I talked to -- on many occasions, because I dealt a lot with the kids, and particularly Maureen, who was very politically active and very effective. And I was close to Michael.

But it was always, you know, it was just -- it was a private matter. And Reagan didn't share his private thoughts. Reagan shared his public thoughts. And certainly you knew what his quarrel was and his conviction, but I think he was a man who had always been a public man. And he wasn't about to let anybody get that closeness, that intimacy.

That was his -- he was very comfortable with himself. He could go off and chop wood and be up on the ranch for three weeks and never need to check on what was occurring, had his daily briefings and what have you, but was very content to be up there by himself. He liked his own company.

BROWN: Yes, you worked for dozens, certainly of politicians.

ROLLINS: Sure.

BROWN: Maybe hundreds. Ever run into one who seemed to have less ego?

ROLLINS: No, I've never had one with less ego. This man truly was without ego. I remember an occasion I came to New York with him. And I was one -- the rare occasions when I got to drive in the limousine with him. He was with Baker or Deaver or someone. And it was -- came up to see Midtown South from Kojak. And there literally were a million people on either 43rd or 47th Street. And I just said to him, I turned to him, I said, "Aren't you overwhelmed by all this?" And he just had a funny line. He just said wait some will have some signs with some obscenity on it pretty soon and that always kind of brings you back to reality.

It became very clear to me that this was a man who's entire life had adulation. And he had learned to sort of realize that the adulation was either for the movie star or for the sports announcer or now for the president, but his own personal thoughts and feelings, you know, he wasn't affected by that.

BROWN: A number of people have said over the last day or two that he -- that Iran-Contra, in a very personal way, left him depressed, that he felt like he had lost the magic touch.

ROLLINS: Well, it was totally inconsistent with anything he'd ever done. I mean, I can step back and understand why the people who were in the White House fought the decision to him, because obviously, we fought very hard for the Contras. And the Congress got off the aid.

Equally as important, the hostages had been held for a period of time. And Reagan was very committed to all of that. But at the end of the day, Reagan had always been very consistent in his foreign policy. And this was totally inconsistent to that.

So I think he felt very betrayed by his staff. And as a staff person, working for him, we all tried to perform at a very high level, because we didn't want to disappoint him. It wasn't that he yelled at you or screamed, which he never did. It wasn't that he gave you clear direction. It was just that you knew the level that he was at, and you wanted to be at that level.

BROWN: Let me ask you one more question. Do you think in the end, the last couple of years, the last term, that American public began to see him less as the political head of state and more, and quite lovingly clearly, as the ceremonial head of state?

ROLLINS: I think there was no question. In the second term, particularly, where he was doing so much in the international arena, he became a grandfatherly figure. You know, I mean he was like my father to me in the sense of age, but he was almost like America's grandfather. And people loved him very dearly.

BROWN: Will you, just a final question, was there a sense of relief yesterday? Sorrow, of course, when you learned that he had passed?

ROLLINS: I was, you know, certainly I didn't want her to have to suffer anymore, the family. And it's been a long ordeal for her. And she's a wonderful woman. And I think, to a certain extent, it's time for him to go to his reward.

BROWN: Yes, it's nice to see you. Thanks for coming in.

ROLLINS: Thank you. My pleasure.

BROWN: Thank you.

Ahead on the program tonight, from virtually the moment Ronald Reagan stepped on the political stage, he changed the way politics worked in the country. Jeff Greenfield weighs in on that.

And we'll take a look at the relationship between Ronald Reagan and the press, an interesting one, that. From around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It's always a sign you've made an impact, good or bad, when your name becomes a modifier, or better yet a noun. By that measure, Ronald Reagan passes the test easily. Reagan Democrats threw their support behind Reaganomics and broke ranks with their party.

The man who gave a new lease to conservatives within his party did so against the odds. His party was out of favor when he stepped into the game.

Our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, on how Ronald Reagan turned that around.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: I have spent most of life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN ANALYST: Ronald Reagan's entry onto the political stage was a starter. A speech back in the June 1964 campaign of Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater lost in a landslide that marked the high tide of post-war Democratic liberalism.

But for Reagan, it marked the start of a journey that transformed the political landscape. Two years later, he won the governorship of California by a million votes, aided in large measure by voter outrage at race riots and anti-Vietnam campus violence.

RICHARD NIXON, FMR. PRESIDENT: I have never been a quitter.

GREENFIELD: He left the governorship just four months after Nixon was forced from the White House by Watergate at a time when just one in five Americans called themselves Republicans.

But Reagan rallied conservatives within the party by mounting a primary challenge in 1976 to President Gerald Ford. And a late surge, spurred by his attack on the Ford-Kissinger foreign policy, brought him within a hair's breath of taking the nomination from a sitting president. But that defeat may have been a blessing. Four years later, a mix of inflation, industrial recession, American hostages in Iran, and an aggressive Soviet Union made the country far more receptive to Reagan's message. What that 1980 election demonstrated and accelerated was a major political shift.

The south, which had been moving away from Democrats on the Civil Rights issue, became a solid Republican base. White working class voters, prodded by issues from school bussing, to patriotism, to inflation moved to the GOP.

REAGAN: Beginning today...

GREENFIELD: And Reagan's fundamental message, heard in his inaugural speech, was a frontal challenge to the dominant liberal creed.

REAGAN: Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.

GREENFIELD: Reagan's track record was hardly a uniform triumph of conservative principles. The deficit doubled. Government spending accelerated on his watch. No programs were trimmed or dismantled. And on the social issues like abortion, Reagan never did much more than offer rhetoric.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GREENFIELD: But by the time he left office, Reagan had changed the terms of the political debate. As Candy Crowley reminded us, it was the most successful Democratic politician Bill Clinton, who proclaimed the era of big government is over. And the Republican party, it had been turned into a tax cutting, internationalist party with solemnly conservative cultural views, a party who's most revered figure today with the possible exception of Abe Lincoln, Aaron, was Ronald Reagan.

BROWN: Let's go back -- what I remember about '76 is while ultimately, obviously, the party chose Gerald Ford, even then, it's heart belonged to Ronald Reagan?

GREENFIELD: Absolutely. He came closer than anyone else to knocking off an incumbent president. And you may remember after Ford's acceptance speech, he beckoned Reagan down from his seat. Reagan than addressed the convention with probably what would have been his acceptance speech. And there were lots of tears from conservatives because they felt, well, it was his one shot. He's clearly going to be too old in 1980, as a lot of other people said.

And you're quite right, the heart and soul of the Republican party had been conquered by Reagan years before he actually won the nomination.

BROWN: What was it that -- just one other question, take a stab at. You know, we often think of Barry Goldwater as being the father of the Republican conservative movement. Why not Goldwater? Why Reagan? Is it just delectability? Is that the difference?

GREENFIELD: Well, the first reason is that Goldwater lost. And this is not a country that reveres losers nearly as much as winners.

BROWN: Yes.

GREENFIELD: But I also think the 16 years between Goldwater's defeat and Reagan's victory really made a big difference because it showed enough cracks in the foundation of liberalism, that it permitted the -- a conservative creed that was soundly rejected in 1964 to win by a landslide.

I think sometimes time is really the right answer.

BROWN: Jeff, thank you much. Jeff Greenfield, who is in Atlanta tonight. Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, Ronald Reagan and the press that covered him. Was there ever such a love-hate relationship? Oh, there's always one.

And later, we'll continue our relationship with morning papers. Why not? It's NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Back in 1984, President Reagan hired a man named Howard Riney (ph) to produce television spots for his re-election campaign. Mr. Riney (ph), his agency, came out with some of the best. They showcased folksy people at homey scenes and dappled sunlight. The message was warm and simple. It's morning in America.

Looking back on it today, the imagery seems to mesh perfectly with the public's memory of the man those images helped re-elect. The reality is a lot more complicated then and now.

Here's CNN's Howard Kurtz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Television has been saturated with the highlights of Ronald Reagan's career. The movie star, the president with a knack for the great one liner.

RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: There you go again.

KURTZ: The man who took on what he called "the evil empire."

REAGAN: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

KURTZ: But President Reagan was covered very differently from 1981 through 1989. He had, to say the least, a contentious relationship with the press.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is anyone else going to be let go, sir?

REAGAN: No one was let go. They chose to go. KURTZ: The media portrayed Reagan as a detached leader, uninterested in details. Once failing to recognize his own Housing Secretary Sam Pierce.

He was described as a president who favored the rich. His budget director, David Stockman, suggested that ketchup could count as a vegetable in school lunches.

His administration was described by some as corrupt. White House aid Michael Deaver, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Fair (ph), and Environmental Protection official Rita Lavelle (ph) were among those convicted.

And Pentagon chief Casper Weinberger was indicted, but later pardoned by the elder George Bush. The scandal, known as Iran-Contra, dominated coverage of Reagan's second term.

CHRIS WALLACE, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Aren't you saying to terrorists either you or your state sponsor, which in this case was Iran, can gain from the holding of hostages?

SAM DONALDSON, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Sir, if I may, the polls show that a lot of American people just simply don't believe you, that the one thing that you've had going for you, more than anything else in your presidency, your credibility has been severely damaged. Can you repair it? What does it mean for the rest of your presidency?

REAGAN: Well, I imagine I'm the only one around who wants to repair it. And I didn't do -- have anything to do with damaging it.

KURTZ: Why was the coverage so contentious? Some critics blame liberal journalists, but it was more than that. The news business covers the controversies of the day -- when unemployment hit 10 percent in 1982 after Reagan cut taxes. The huge flap over Reagan's 1985 decision to visit a Nazi cemetery, not to mention the flap over Nancy Reagan's advice, based on astrology.

(on camera): When we look back on a public man, particularly one who had been ill and out of the arena for a decade, what we remember are the big moments. "Tear down this wall." And the moments of inspiration.

But the press, which focuses on day to day combat, doesn't have that luxury. That's why it remains at best a first rough draft of history.

This is Howard Kurtz of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Perhaps it was inevitable that two former Hollywood actors would bring a certain glamour to the White House, and that Ronald and Nancy Reagan most certainly did that.

The mark they left on the White House and all of Washington had fans. It had critics, too. Sally Quinn covered the Reagan White House for "The Washington Post." And we're grateful that she joins us tonight.

Particularly when you compare it to the rather austere Carter years, when the Reagans came to town, they threw a party?

SALLY QUINN, "WASHINGTON POST" REPORTER: They did. They had a party at the F Street Club, which was kind of the headquarters for the Washington establishment here.

And it was interesting. They didn't have it at the White House. It was as though they were coming to Washington and to the establishment. And it was a very, very smart thing to do, because so many presidents get in trouble with the establishment. They come in. and it's almost as though they are sort of occupying army.

And they sort of push away the establishment. And then when the going gets rough, the establishment turns on them. And it gets ugly. And this was reaching out to the Washington crowd in a very clever way because in the end, when things did start going rough with -- for Reagan, he had people he could reach out to. Nancy also made friends with Katherine Graham, the publisher of "The Washington Post" and Meg Greenfield, who was the editor of the editorial page. And they stuck by her when things started getting rough.

BROWN: At the risk of sounding like the bumpkin I often am, when you talk about the Washington establishment, who are you talking about? Lobbyists and people like that?

QUINN: I'm talking about people who have lived here for many years. They're the press, the military, the diplomats, people in Congress, the Senate, and the lawyers, the lobbyists, cave dwellers, the people who have been in other administrations and have stayed on in various capacities here. It just -- it creates a whole group of people who know each other, who like each other from both parties, Democrats and Republicans.

And who basically sit here and watch the passing parade. Presidents come and presidents go. And the Washington establishment is always here.

BROWN: Did it take particularly Mrs. Reagan some time to find the right pitch? It always seemed to me early on there were controversies. There was the controversy over the china. And there were controversies over her dresses, and controversies generally around money. Did she have trouble finding the right tone?

QUINN: Well, I think that's true. And she did come from Hollywood. And there was a certain Hollywood glamour that came with her. And I think people were sort of expecting her to be sort of a clothes horse and a spendthrift.

But they came after the Carters, which it was just such a dramatic change from what had been. But I think that the Reagans were a lot more sophisticated socially. And therefore I think that -- and they brought more sophisticated people into town.

So I think they got along a little bit better with the establishment, than some other presidents had done.

But Nancy Reagan also reached out to a lot of the women in Washington. And she was so influential on him. I remember once I was on a talk show. And they said, OK, we're going to go around the group and in one word describe Ronald Reagan. And they came to me. And I said, just off the top of my head, "superficial." And the next time I went to interview Nancy Reagan, she came up to me and put her hands, both hands, on my shoulders and just said very gently, "Ronald Reagan is not superficial."

And I was so startled and taken aback and a little put off at first, until I realized that she was -- she was doing the same thing I would have done, which is that she was a ferocious defender of -- and supporter of her husband. And later, I came to realize that I was wrong about him. He was not superficial.

The Washington journalists, I think had underestimated him. I think we had thought he was, when in fact, I think his message was simple and clear. He was intelligent, but not an intellectual.

BROWN: All our spouses should be as protective of us. Thank you. It's nice to see you. Thank you.

QUINN: Thanks.

BROWN: Sally Quinn in Washington tonight.

Still to come on the program, more bombs and more death, unfortunately to report. This time from Iraq, but a gleam of hope for the resolution out of the United Nations. And world leaders honor the dead on the beaches of Normandy in their own words tonight. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Twenty four days, power will change hands in Iraq. The U.N. Security Council today, as we mentioned earlier, diplomats worked to finalize the resolution, outlining details of the handover. The document has been through multiple drafts. France and Russia, which hold veto power in the Security Council, had requested more specifics on the role of U.S. troops after the handover.

U.S. official says the final document is very close. And Tuesday vote is still hoped for, but there could be more revisions to draw out the process. This is the U.N. after all.

With the deadline drawing near, the casualties continue to mount in Iraq as well. Today, a mortar attack at a coalition base near Baghdad killed one American soldier and injured another. This as two car bombs killed eight Iraqis and injured 48 other people north of Baghdad.

A group that claims the Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as his leader has taken responsibility for the bombings. The group also claimed responsibility for an attack yesterday that killed nine Iraqis, five of them police officers. Israel's prime minister Ariel Sharon won a much needed compromise today from his own cabinet, which approved in principle and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. The withdrawal still faces significant opposition in Israel. And the plan that finally won support was a watered down version of Mr. Sharon's initial proposal.

Still, the victory may help him avoid a collapse of his coalition government, not to mention the split within his own party, the Likud Party.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, we'll go back to today's ceremonies in France for the thousands of soldiers who died 60 years ago on the beaches of Normandy. In morning papers, we'll wrap it all up and maybe Sunday, but this is still NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: OK, time to check some morning papers from around the country and around the world. You can imagine two stories, excuse me, dominate.

The front page of "The International Tribune" is just full of really cool stories. It leads with "D-Day: 60th Anniversary of D- Day." Remember, this is seen around the world and across much of Europe, leaders stress friendship. But I love this as a story idea. For the Germans, the war, this time they're not talking about Iraq. They're talking about World War II. "The War's Ambiguities Linger." And because this would -- I don't believe there's a weekend edition of "The International Herald Tribune." So they put Mr. Reagan's obituary in the front page.

"Ronald Reagan dead at 93," written by Marilyn Berger. What a task that is. I once wrote the obituary for Jackie Onassis. And I'm telling you, it's not easy.

"Christian Science Monitor," "The Meaning of Mr. Reagan: How He Transformed the GOP." And just one of the two or three pictures that photo editors had pretty much settled on to sum up Mr. Reagan in photo.

"The Moscow Times", the English language paper in Moscow, in Russia," "Reagan Mourned in the former Evil Empire." Not a bad headline that when you think about it.

"Cincinnati Inquirer" actually leads local. A terrible traffic accident there or bad one at least. Bus plows into building, 17 injured. But they also put President Reagan. "A Week to Honor Reagan from State Funeral to a Sunset Burial." And old soldiers fade away, but D-Day's importance remains all on the front page of "The Cincinnati Inquirer."

How are we doing on time? Got it, thank you. "A Nation Mourns" is the headline in "The Miami Herald," which also puts the Israeli decision to leave Gaza on the front page, a large Jewish community in South Florida. So that's an important story down there for them. Anyway, and the nation is -- I mean, we're struggling with this a bit. I mean, we're certainly mourning. They'll be a national day of mourning, but I think there is a sense of relief for the family that this long passing, this difficult passing is over.

"The Detroit News," "Bush, Chirac Honor Supreme Sacrifice." A good headline there. A couple of others I want to get -- I love this line from the president's speech. And it's in "The Atlanta Journal Constitution," our hometown paper here at CNN. "America Would Do it Again for our Friends."

And finally, "The Chicago Sun-Times" "D-Day Vets Day in the Sun." But hey, let's not forget J. Lo, OK? J. Lo ties knot for third time. Front page stuff in "The Chicago Sun-Times." Weather tomorrow in Chicago, thank you, summerlike. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In part because of time zones, and in part because of timing, the events early this morning in Normandy received less attention than they otherwise deserve. So here are some of the speeches that were said today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUES CHIRAC, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): France will never forget. She will never forget that 6th of June, 1944, the day hope was reborn and rekindled. She will never forget those men who made the ultimate sacrifice to liberate our soil, our native land, our continent from the yoke of Nazi barbarity and its murderous folly. Nor will it ever forget it's debt to America, its everlasting friend.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is a strange turn of history that called on young men from the prairie towns and city streets of America to cross an ocean and throw back the marching mechanized evils of fascism. And those young men did it. You did it.

(APPLAUSE)

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.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II, U.K.: What for you is a haunting memory of danger and sacrifice one summer long ago is for your country and for generations of your countrymen to come one of the proudest moments in our long national history.

GERHARD SCHROEDER, CHANCELLOR GERMANY (through translator): The Germans because that war, we know our responsibility before history. And we take it seriously.

BUSH: Now has come a time of reflection with thoughts of another horizon and the hope of reunion with the boys you knew.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We'll wrap it up for the night in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: That's our report for tonight. Good to have you with us on a Sunday night. We're here tomorrow. We'll be in Washington pretty sure by Tuesday night, but we'll all be back here 10:00 Eastern time. For NEWSNIGHT, good night.

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