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Flags Flying at Half-Staff in Honor of Former President Ronald Reagan

Aired June 07, 2004 - 10:30   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.


(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
(WEATHER REPORT)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at our top stories at this hour. Defense attorneys for Oklahoma bombing conspirator Terry Nichols will fight for their client's life today. The defense will present testimony in the sentencing phase of the state trial. About two weeks, jurors found him guilty of 161 murder charges. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Officials in Saudi Arabia say that Islamic militants are probably to blame for yesterday's drive-by shooting of two Western journalists. A freelance cameraman working for the BBC was killed. A BBC correspondent was wounded. The men were walking in a neighborhood in the capital of Riyadh.

An Amtrak train that was stopped and searched in Maryland over terror suspicions has arrived safely in Washington D.C. Its passengers traveled by bus to union station. The drama began when a member of the U.S. military reported two men were behaving suspiciously. The FBI questioned and later released those men.

Jury selection gets under way in the first criminal trial stemming from the collapse of Enron in 2001. Two former Enron executives and four Merrill Lynch executives are accused of conspiring in an accounting scam designed to create the illusion that earning targets had, in fact, been met.

Flags are flying at half-staff today in honor of this weekend's death of former President Ronald Reagan. On Capitol Hill, the tributes take other forms. Democrats have set aside differences in their praise. And many Republicans cite the former president as their inspiration.

Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry is on Capitol Hill. He has more reaction from there.

Ed, good morning.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Lawmakers are already -- you know, they're just coming back in town from the weekend, and they're already talking about suspending most, if not all of the legislative business for the week. The House had been expected to work on the energy bill. The Senate was working on the defense bill. But obviously, no one wants any of that kind of work to overshadow the tributes to former President Reagan. We're expecting that some of those speeches will start this afternoon, perhaps around 3:00 p.m. in the Senate, where lawmakers will come forward and start paying their respects.

But what they're basically saying is they want to start preparing for the pomp and circumstance for this historic state funeral that will be coming up.

So if any legislative business comes up this week, it would just be very minor things. For example, on Tuesday, we're expecting the possibility, that would be the likely day that they would bring up a concurrent resolution that would allow for the rotunda to be opened up for President Reagan's casket to lie in state.

We're also hearing a lot about how this will play out on Wednesday. Obviously, President Reagan's body will be flown in to Andrews Air Force Base, then taken near the White House and the Washington Monument on Constitution Avenue, and put on a horse-drawn caisson for the procession down to the Capitol on Wednesday evening. Then the Capitol, of course, will be opened up for Wednesday night, and all day Thursday, for citizens to come in and file past the casket. Capitol Police officials saying they're expecting somewhere around 100,000 people to come forward. It's going to be -- security is obviously going to be very tight, much different than what we saw in previous historic occasions, like in 1963 when then-president John F. Kennedy was lying in state. Obviously then there were tens of thousands of people coming in, but not quite as much security.

People, officials here talking about how everyone will have to go through metal detectors. There will be long lines. There will be searches of bags. Obviously all security police officials saying they'll be working overtime. And this outpouring of support that you mentioned from Democrats, what Democrats like Senator Edward Kennedy say is that while they disagreed with a lot of President Reagan's policies, they felt that they connected with him on a personal level. That personal warmth. He was known as a great communicator. He was a star in Hollywood, but then had to use those communication skills when he was elected president in order to get his agenda passed on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY (voice-over): Ronald Reagan liked playing the hero against all odds, like the dying football player George Gipp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, ACTOR: Win just one for The Gipper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: He enjoyed the same role as president, with Congress as his stage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Presidential power is not really one of those things where there are a lot of concrete weapons available to you. As much as anything, it's reputation. It's the sense of momentum. It's the belief that even if it looks like you're down, you'll win.

HENRY: Democrats, led by Speaker Tip O'Neill, thought Reagan was a lightweight. They were determined to stop his big tax cuts. But Reagan turned on his charm, even as he recovered from the attempt on his life.

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: He was actually calling Democrats from his recuperation bed, asking them to give him a vote for The Gipper on his budget and tax cuts.

HENRY: Reagan got his tax cuts and sharp increases in defense spending.

JAMES BAKER, REAGAN CHIEF OF STAFF: He said, you know, Jim, he said, you know, I would much rather get 80 percent of what I want than to go over the cliff with my flag flying. He was a wonderful negotiator. He knew how to compromise.

HENRY: At times, even Reagan and O'Neill, the larger than life Irish pals, forged a partnership.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if they were frustrated with one another, they had to work together, and that was the makings of a series of deals, really, that were worked out between Reagan and Congress, that made for a pretty successful presidency.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Now, Daryn, obviously there were a lot of things the president was not able to accomplish, such as shrinking the size of government like he wanted to. He also faced a very hostile Congress over the Iran-Contra Scandal. So it was not all a bed of roses, obviously.

But what a lot of lawmakers up here are saying, is that Reagan was able to forge a lot of friendships across the aisle, with people like Tip O'Neill, where they would fight all day, but then they might have a cocktail at night. You don't see that happening very much these days -- Daryn.

KAGAN: No, a very different Washington indeed.

HENRY: That's right.

KAGAN: Ed Henry, thank you so much.

Reaganomics -- people either loved it or they hated it. William Niskanen probably knows Reaganomics better than anyone. Currently chairman of the Cato Institute, Niskanen served on the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1981 to 1985. He also is the author of "Reaganomics: An Insider's Account of the Policies and the People," and he's joining us from Washington.

Good morning. Thank you for being with us. WILLIAM NISKANEN, AUTHOR, "REAGANOMICS": Good morning. Good morning.

KAGAN: I want to do a little historical flashback first to remind people that it was a very different time back in 1980. Inflation at 13.5 percent. I think that's very hard for people to appreciate in this current economic environment.

NISKANEN: Yes, Reagan faced the most difficult economic problems when he was inaugurated of any president in the postwar years. But he was successful in bringing down inflation rates from about 13.5 percent down to 4 percent or so, bringing interest rates down from the 15 percent range to a very low rate, and importantly, bringing the top marginal tax rate down from 70 percent, which most people have forgotten about, to 28 percent by the end of his career.

KAGAN: OK, so let's do a little econ 101 for folks who need a little brush-up here in supply-side economics. You have these tax cuts, and that's supposed to encourage workers to spend more money and stimulate the economy. That's part of it.

NISKANEN: No, it's not to encourage them to spend more money, it's to encourage them to earn more money. It is not a demand-side focused fiscal policy; it is a supply-side focused fiscal policy, to encourage increases in output and income. The spending will take care of itself.

KAGAN: OK, part of this also was the huge buildup in military spending.

NISKANEN: Yes. But that was for a separate purpose. And I think ultimately proved to be an enormous bargain. I have no problem in defending a deficit if it leads to big benefits to my children and my grandchildren. And I think the end of the Cold War is ultimately Reagan's most important legacy.

KAGAN: So you're saying, for people who say, but look at that price tag, a $3 trillion debt by the time President Reagan leaves office, you're saying, yes, that's a huge bill, but in your mind, you think that was worth it?

NISKANEN: Yes, because it's what we spent the money on. We should judge debt by what we're buying with the debt. If we were financing current consumption spending out of borrowing, that would be morally incorrect, because it would be an intergenerational transfer from our children to ourselves. But if we are building a future for our children that is much better -- and the end of the cold war made it much better -- then it is, I think, a justifiable debt.

KAGAN: And then, again, for people out there saying, I'm not challenging you enough, we could debate this, or bring someone else on to debate it as well for many, many hours. What I want to ask you while we have you here, is the legacy how President Reagan looked at economics for the problems we face today.

NISKANEN: Well, he brought incredibly good convictions to bear. He was not a very analytic person, but he had very good convictions to bear, and that meant that you could judge what his decisions would be on a future question from his decisions on a particular question. It was not that he checked your argument and evidence very carefully, but he checked your recommendation against his bottom-line convictions. And that made it very easy to deal with him, and it made him unusually effective.

On the communications side, it is very important to recognize that most of Reaganomics had to be approved by a Democratic Congress. Even after the Republicans lost 26 seats in the House in 1982, he was able to get a good bit of his program through a Democratically controlled Congress, including, really, the most important tax reform measure of this whole century in 1986, working carefully with Mr. Ross Rostonkowski (ph).

KAGAN: Very important political and economic points.

William Niskanen, thank you, sir...

NISKANEN: Thank you.

KAGAN: ... for looking back and for your perspective. We appreciate your time.

NISKANEN: Thank you.

KAGAN: Coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY, history is made at last night's Tony Awards. We're going to lighten things up a bit. Celebrities recall what they remember best about The Gipper.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's take a look at some other stories making news coast to coast. A 6-year-old boy is found alive under a capsized boat on the James River in Newport News, Virginia. The Coast Guard says the boy was trapped for nearly two hours on Saturday while a rescue crew tried to free him. A spokesman says the boy was wearing a life jacket, and he managed to find an air pocket.

How about this, entertainer Jennifer Lopez and singer Marc Anthony have reportedly tied the knot. "People" magazine reports they exchanged I dos on Saturday at her California home. Miss Lopez's third trip down the aisle comes less than six months after her high- profile breakup with actor Ben Affleck.

Phylicia Rashad becomes the first African-American woman to claim a Tony Award for a leading role in a dramatic play on Broadway. Rashad portrayed matriarch Lena Younger in the revival of "A Raisin in the Sun."

There was a tribute to the late actor Tony Randall during the Tony Awards ceremony. And then, outside the theater, some entertainers to remember Ronald Reagan, who served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952, and then again from 1959 to 1960.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LL COOL J, ENTERTAINER: He's proof that a man can do anything, and more than one thing. So many people try to place limitations on people, you know, in different ways, like, well, you know, if you do this, you can't do that, and if you do that, you can't do this. Well, guess what, he was a movie star, and he became president of the United States, and he ended the Cold War. So that's a pretty nice hat trick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH JESSICA PARKER, ACTRESS: There's a lot to remember about him. He was an extremely charismatic leader, and he had a long and very rich life with a lot of chapters. And I think the thing that most of us will remember is that he passed away in the loving care of his family, which so many people in this country who have Alzheimer's don't have the chance to do. So it's nice -- I'm sure it's a great comfort to his family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Visit our Web site for more in-depth coverage of Ronald Reagan, from the childhood that formed him to the legacy that survives him. The address at CNN.com/Reagan.

We are back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 7, 2004 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
(WEATHER REPORT)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at our top stories at this hour. Defense attorneys for Oklahoma bombing conspirator Terry Nichols will fight for their client's life today. The defense will present testimony in the sentencing phase of the state trial. About two weeks, jurors found him guilty of 161 murder charges. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Officials in Saudi Arabia say that Islamic militants are probably to blame for yesterday's drive-by shooting of two Western journalists. A freelance cameraman working for the BBC was killed. A BBC correspondent was wounded. The men were walking in a neighborhood in the capital of Riyadh.

An Amtrak train that was stopped and searched in Maryland over terror suspicions has arrived safely in Washington D.C. Its passengers traveled by bus to union station. The drama began when a member of the U.S. military reported two men were behaving suspiciously. The FBI questioned and later released those men.

Jury selection gets under way in the first criminal trial stemming from the collapse of Enron in 2001. Two former Enron executives and four Merrill Lynch executives are accused of conspiring in an accounting scam designed to create the illusion that earning targets had, in fact, been met.

Flags are flying at half-staff today in honor of this weekend's death of former President Ronald Reagan. On Capitol Hill, the tributes take other forms. Democrats have set aside differences in their praise. And many Republicans cite the former president as their inspiration.

Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry is on Capitol Hill. He has more reaction from there.

Ed, good morning.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Lawmakers are already -- you know, they're just coming back in town from the weekend, and they're already talking about suspending most, if not all of the legislative business for the week. The House had been expected to work on the energy bill. The Senate was working on the defense bill. But obviously, no one wants any of that kind of work to overshadow the tributes to former President Reagan. We're expecting that some of those speeches will start this afternoon, perhaps around 3:00 p.m. in the Senate, where lawmakers will come forward and start paying their respects.

But what they're basically saying is they want to start preparing for the pomp and circumstance for this historic state funeral that will be coming up.

So if any legislative business comes up this week, it would just be very minor things. For example, on Tuesday, we're expecting the possibility, that would be the likely day that they would bring up a concurrent resolution that would allow for the rotunda to be opened up for President Reagan's casket to lie in state.

We're also hearing a lot about how this will play out on Wednesday. Obviously, President Reagan's body will be flown in to Andrews Air Force Base, then taken near the White House and the Washington Monument on Constitution Avenue, and put on a horse-drawn caisson for the procession down to the Capitol on Wednesday evening. Then the Capitol, of course, will be opened up for Wednesday night, and all day Thursday, for citizens to come in and file past the casket. Capitol Police officials saying they're expecting somewhere around 100,000 people to come forward. It's going to be -- security is obviously going to be very tight, much different than what we saw in previous historic occasions, like in 1963 when then-president John F. Kennedy was lying in state. Obviously then there were tens of thousands of people coming in, but not quite as much security.

People, officials here talking about how everyone will have to go through metal detectors. There will be long lines. There will be searches of bags. Obviously all security police officials saying they'll be working overtime. And this outpouring of support that you mentioned from Democrats, what Democrats like Senator Edward Kennedy say is that while they disagreed with a lot of President Reagan's policies, they felt that they connected with him on a personal level. That personal warmth. He was known as a great communicator. He was a star in Hollywood, but then had to use those communication skills when he was elected president in order to get his agenda passed on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY (voice-over): Ronald Reagan liked playing the hero against all odds, like the dying football player George Gipp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, ACTOR: Win just one for The Gipper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: He enjoyed the same role as president, with Congress as his stage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Presidential power is not really one of those things where there are a lot of concrete weapons available to you. As much as anything, it's reputation. It's the sense of momentum. It's the belief that even if it looks like you're down, you'll win.

HENRY: Democrats, led by Speaker Tip O'Neill, thought Reagan was a lightweight. They were determined to stop his big tax cuts. But Reagan turned on his charm, even as he recovered from the attempt on his life.

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: He was actually calling Democrats from his recuperation bed, asking them to give him a vote for The Gipper on his budget and tax cuts.

HENRY: Reagan got his tax cuts and sharp increases in defense spending.

JAMES BAKER, REAGAN CHIEF OF STAFF: He said, you know, Jim, he said, you know, I would much rather get 80 percent of what I want than to go over the cliff with my flag flying. He was a wonderful negotiator. He knew how to compromise.

HENRY: At times, even Reagan and O'Neill, the larger than life Irish pals, forged a partnership.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if they were frustrated with one another, they had to work together, and that was the makings of a series of deals, really, that were worked out between Reagan and Congress, that made for a pretty successful presidency.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Now, Daryn, obviously there were a lot of things the president was not able to accomplish, such as shrinking the size of government like he wanted to. He also faced a very hostile Congress over the Iran-Contra Scandal. So it was not all a bed of roses, obviously.

But what a lot of lawmakers up here are saying, is that Reagan was able to forge a lot of friendships across the aisle, with people like Tip O'Neill, where they would fight all day, but then they might have a cocktail at night. You don't see that happening very much these days -- Daryn.

KAGAN: No, a very different Washington indeed.

HENRY: That's right.

KAGAN: Ed Henry, thank you so much.

Reaganomics -- people either loved it or they hated it. William Niskanen probably knows Reaganomics better than anyone. Currently chairman of the Cato Institute, Niskanen served on the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1981 to 1985. He also is the author of "Reaganomics: An Insider's Account of the Policies and the People," and he's joining us from Washington.

Good morning. Thank you for being with us. WILLIAM NISKANEN, AUTHOR, "REAGANOMICS": Good morning. Good morning.

KAGAN: I want to do a little historical flashback first to remind people that it was a very different time back in 1980. Inflation at 13.5 percent. I think that's very hard for people to appreciate in this current economic environment.

NISKANEN: Yes, Reagan faced the most difficult economic problems when he was inaugurated of any president in the postwar years. But he was successful in bringing down inflation rates from about 13.5 percent down to 4 percent or so, bringing interest rates down from the 15 percent range to a very low rate, and importantly, bringing the top marginal tax rate down from 70 percent, which most people have forgotten about, to 28 percent by the end of his career.

KAGAN: OK, so let's do a little econ 101 for folks who need a little brush-up here in supply-side economics. You have these tax cuts, and that's supposed to encourage workers to spend more money and stimulate the economy. That's part of it.

NISKANEN: No, it's not to encourage them to spend more money, it's to encourage them to earn more money. It is not a demand-side focused fiscal policy; it is a supply-side focused fiscal policy, to encourage increases in output and income. The spending will take care of itself.

KAGAN: OK, part of this also was the huge buildup in military spending.

NISKANEN: Yes. But that was for a separate purpose. And I think ultimately proved to be an enormous bargain. I have no problem in defending a deficit if it leads to big benefits to my children and my grandchildren. And I think the end of the Cold War is ultimately Reagan's most important legacy.

KAGAN: So you're saying, for people who say, but look at that price tag, a $3 trillion debt by the time President Reagan leaves office, you're saying, yes, that's a huge bill, but in your mind, you think that was worth it?

NISKANEN: Yes, because it's what we spent the money on. We should judge debt by what we're buying with the debt. If we were financing current consumption spending out of borrowing, that would be morally incorrect, because it would be an intergenerational transfer from our children to ourselves. But if we are building a future for our children that is much better -- and the end of the cold war made it much better -- then it is, I think, a justifiable debt.

KAGAN: And then, again, for people out there saying, I'm not challenging you enough, we could debate this, or bring someone else on to debate it as well for many, many hours. What I want to ask you while we have you here, is the legacy how President Reagan looked at economics for the problems we face today.

NISKANEN: Well, he brought incredibly good convictions to bear. He was not a very analytic person, but he had very good convictions to bear, and that meant that you could judge what his decisions would be on a future question from his decisions on a particular question. It was not that he checked your argument and evidence very carefully, but he checked your recommendation against his bottom-line convictions. And that made it very easy to deal with him, and it made him unusually effective.

On the communications side, it is very important to recognize that most of Reaganomics had to be approved by a Democratic Congress. Even after the Republicans lost 26 seats in the House in 1982, he was able to get a good bit of his program through a Democratically controlled Congress, including, really, the most important tax reform measure of this whole century in 1986, working carefully with Mr. Ross Rostonkowski (ph).

KAGAN: Very important political and economic points.

William Niskanen, thank you, sir...

NISKANEN: Thank you.

KAGAN: ... for looking back and for your perspective. We appreciate your time.

NISKANEN: Thank you.

KAGAN: Coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY, history is made at last night's Tony Awards. We're going to lighten things up a bit. Celebrities recall what they remember best about The Gipper.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's take a look at some other stories making news coast to coast. A 6-year-old boy is found alive under a capsized boat on the James River in Newport News, Virginia. The Coast Guard says the boy was trapped for nearly two hours on Saturday while a rescue crew tried to free him. A spokesman says the boy was wearing a life jacket, and he managed to find an air pocket.

How about this, entertainer Jennifer Lopez and singer Marc Anthony have reportedly tied the knot. "People" magazine reports they exchanged I dos on Saturday at her California home. Miss Lopez's third trip down the aisle comes less than six months after her high- profile breakup with actor Ben Affleck.

Phylicia Rashad becomes the first African-American woman to claim a Tony Award for a leading role in a dramatic play on Broadway. Rashad portrayed matriarch Lena Younger in the revival of "A Raisin in the Sun."

There was a tribute to the late actor Tony Randall during the Tony Awards ceremony. And then, outside the theater, some entertainers to remember Ronald Reagan, who served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952, and then again from 1959 to 1960.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LL COOL J, ENTERTAINER: He's proof that a man can do anything, and more than one thing. So many people try to place limitations on people, you know, in different ways, like, well, you know, if you do this, you can't do that, and if you do that, you can't do this. Well, guess what, he was a movie star, and he became president of the United States, and he ended the Cold War. So that's a pretty nice hat trick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH JESSICA PARKER, ACTRESS: There's a lot to remember about him. He was an extremely charismatic leader, and he had a long and very rich life with a lot of chapters. And I think the thing that most of us will remember is that he passed away in the loving care of his family, which so many people in this country who have Alzheimer's don't have the chance to do. So it's nice -- I'm sure it's a great comfort to his family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Visit our Web site for more in-depth coverage of Ronald Reagan, from the childhood that formed him to the legacy that survives him. The address at CNN.com/Reagan.

We are back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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