Nancy Reagan christens ship honoring husband

For a moment Sunday, there was only the president, a former first lady and a great new warship bearing the former president’s name.

For a moment, the crowd of thousands, aisles of dignitaries and even the shower of raindrops that came to anoint the christening of the Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier seemed suspended for a spot in time.

At that moment, President Bush turned to Nancy Reagan at the bottom of the bow of the country’s newest aircraft carrier and addressed her personally. He spoke of the day’s importance the Reagans’ 49th wedding anniversary.

“Since your wedding, you have seen the name Reagan written large in many places,” the president said. It’s fitting, he added, that the name would now appear “on the newest ship in the greatest Navy in the world.”

A moment later, the president said: “Some achievements fade with the years. But Ronald Reagan’s achievements grow stronger with the passing of time.”

The crowd cheered. The flags waved. Past, present and future intertwined.

The president’s words stirred the crowd, as did the words of the slate of VIPs before him. But it was the feeling, more than the words, which evoked so much from the crowd. The feeling that they were there to christen more than a new warship. They were there to honor a name and pay homage to simpler times when deeds, not words, carried the weight of the day.

Deeds, not words, built the Ronald Reagan. “Each day they give a job vital to our country,” Newport News Shipyard CEO William P. Fricks reminded the christening audience. “The take cold steel and weave a tapestry ... you see today.”

Sitting in the audience about 100 feet away, United Steelworkers of America Local 8888 President Arnold Outlaw put it more succinctly: “That ship is U.S. union-made.”

Deeds, not words, marked the Reagan presidency. Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., said during the christening ceremony, “Anyone who sees this ship will remember the statement: ‘Mr. Gorbachev, take down that wall.’ “

Reagan backed up that statement by building up the Navy and strengthening American resolve. And the wall, in the end, did fall.

Deeds, not words, will mark the course of the newest ship “in the greatest Navy in the world.”

“President Bush or some other future president will ask, ‘Where are the carriers?’ “ said Adm. Vern Clark, chief of Naval Operations. “Soon it will be the Ronald Reagan’s turn.”

Sunday, though, it was the shipyard’s turn to be recognized. And that praise came from the No. 1 official when it comes to military hardware the nation’s commander-in-chief. “Looking at the bow of this great ship,” he said, “I think of those who will sail it and those who have built it the finest of American workmanship.”

None of the cheering crowd would have argued with him. Mostly shipyard workers and their families came. They lined up outside the gate more than four hours before the 2 p.m. starting time in the maw of a coming nor’easter, dodging rain, bracing against the wind and taking their opportunity to see a president and former first lady acknowledge their handiwork.

For them this was a Super Bowl or better. They tailgated in the rain, stuffing down sandwiches and sipping sodas. When the president appeared, they hooted and whistled or tried. “Oh, dang,” one woman bemoaned. “It’s just too cold to whistle.”

But a Coast Guard ship can whistle in any weather. And a long tone set the stage like a maritime drum roll for the special moment when the shipyard’s Fricks showed Nancy Reagan the exact spot on the bow to smash the bubbly.

And at 3:10, she did just that, guaranteeing yet another spot in history for her husband.

Ronald Reagan, now 90 and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, remained at home in California on Sunday. The former first lady told the crowd that in some special way, the former president was present.

Warner said if President Reagan had been there, the former cavalry officer might have said, “For an old second lieutenant, not bad.”

Not bad, either, said those in attendance, for a shipyard, a Navy and a country.