I watched the Reagan funeral footage today. I'm not really sure why as I've never been big on the pomp and circumstance surrounding the milestones in the life of public figures, including their deaths.
I grew up during the Reagan era in Democratic households that weren't really big on politics. All I had to go on was what I watched on TV. I don't remember having the voiced thoughts of my parents color my perceptions the way most kids remember. All I remember is growing up scared that we were going to end up in a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
Later on, I think I began to appreciate Reagan as the last of the right kind of conservatives. His presidency certainly wasn't devoid of scandal and certainly didn't please all of the people all of the time, which no presidency can ever do. I think his participation in the McCarthy era anti-communist hearings was siding too much with those who would sacrifice freedoms in the name of freedom itself. And I agree with his daughter that the build-up of nuclear weapons in order to out-spend the other side to end the Cold War was an incredibly risky strategy that wasn't a sure win.
But ultimately, I think he really was a good, decent man who led with good principles. I think he led as well as any good, decent man can lead in the most powerful position in the world, one that engenders lying, cheating, and the sacrifice of ideals. As he said at the end of his presidency, "All in all, not bad. Not bad at all."
Two things during the funeral coverage made me weepy, which surprised me. The first was the turn out in major cities around the country. ABC News showed people gathered in Times Square watching the funeral coverage on the big screen. As Taps played, people hugged, cried, and some saluted. It was touching to see the outpouring of feeling for Reagan from across America.
The second was the moment when Nancy Reagan went up to the casket to say a final goodbye. She'd seemed so strong up until that point, and then at that moment, she broke down, laying her head on the casket and crying. Her children rushed to her side and they all supported her as she patted the casket, and you could hear through someone's mic a slight whimper as she said her goodbye. It was a weird paradox, this moment that felt like it shouldn't have been on television and that I shouldn't have been watching, and simultaneously a moment where the whole world's heart, including my own, was going out to her. In some respects, the 52-year-long love story of Ronald and Nancy Reagan is an even better story than that of his presidency.
The eulogies given by his children were touching and focused almost entirely on the man and the father rather than the President. The only trace of something political came from Ron Reagan, Jr., and it was so subtle that I hope the people it seemed intended for actually got it. Ron Jr. said that his father was a deeply spiritual man, but unlike others, he felt that this was "a responsibility, not a mandate."
Did you hear that, GWB? I sure hope so. Because I wonder if Reagan hadn't been suffering from Alzheimers and had been lucid enough this last decade to watch what's going on in America, would he be ashamed at the state of the government today, and ashamed of the people who call themselves Republican?