Bob Dole: “this past weekend we lost one of Americans greatest leaders, Ronald Reagan. I had the privilege of serving under…”

“this past weekend we lost one of Americans greatest leaders, Ronald Reagan. I had the privilege of serving under President Reagan's strong, principled leadership for 7 years--2 years in his White House as assistant to the President, or public liaison, and almost 5 years as his Secretary of Transportation. Greatness in a President is marked by the ability to chart and implement a new course, a better course, and by his level of decency and integrity. Ronald Reagan knew why he wanted to be President. He came to office with the clearest of vision, a passion for achieving his goals and in conveying them with an eloquence almost unsurpassed. Ronald Reagan made all of us, the American people, believe in ourselves again. He literally changed the world. Despite conventional wisdom, he determined that communism had to be defeated, not tolerated. He rejected the Iron Curtain, rejected the status quo, and his legacy to the world is freedom. His strength of character and bedrock belief in right and wrong ended the cold war, and his leadership unshackled the yoke of tyranny for millions upon millions of people who had known only oppression. I will always remember his remarkable rapport with the American people and what a true gentleman he was.”