Congressional Gold Medals, Capitol Praise Bestowed on Reagans

WASHINGTON -- President Bush and lawmakers presented former President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, with the highest civilian honor from Congress on Thursday, praising Reagan as a leader who rescued America from the malaise of the 1970s.

Reagan, who is 91 and has Alzheimer’s disease, did not attend the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony. But he loomed large in the Capitol hall where hundreds of lawmakers, Bush administration officials and former Reagan administration officials gathered for the tribute.

It was a nostalgic occasion for the largely Republican audience. One speaker after another recalled Reagan as a leader who pulled the United States into a prouder era, and whose legacy influences public policy today.

“Ronald Reagan believed in the strong character of the American people, even when some on both the left and right were quite skeptical of that character,” Bush said.

“Ronald Reagan is one of the largest figures of our time,” he said. “His name will always stand for courage and consistency, for patriotism and resolve, and for humor and optimism.”

He kissed Nancy Reagan twice as he, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) conferred the award on her. The ceremony took place in the same room to which Reagan and his wife had repaired after his first inauguration; where they had learned that the hostages had been freed in Iran; and where Reagan was inaugurated the second time because of bad weather.

“I want to thank you, all of you, for all your expressions and what you’ve said,” Nancy Reagan said. Placing her hand on her heart, she said, “And I, I can’t say any more.”

Reagan once stood in front of the Berlin Wall and taunted Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, his Cold War adversary, with the cry, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

But in a written tribute, Gorbachev said of Reagan, “We changed the nature of relations between our countries by building trust.”

President Clinton signed the Gold Medal resolution for the Reagans in July 2000. It praised Reagan, who served from 1981 to 1989, for his leadership in restoring optimism to the nation and bringing an end to the Cold War. Nancy Reagan was recognized for her efforts to curb alcohol and drug abuse among the nation’s youth.

According to the White House, it is up to congressional leaders to decide when to present the award to an honoree.

George Washington received the first Congressional Gold Medal in 1776. The only other presidential couple to receive it was Gerald R. and Betty Ford in 1998.

Bush previously gave the medal to the family of the late Cardinal John O’Connor of New York and to 29 Navajo Indians for creating an unbreakable code used by the Marines during World War II’s fiercest battles.