On the recordFebruary 3, 2011
I wish to speak for a few minutes today about Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan inspired freedom and changed the world. Maybe nobody said that better than former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in a prerecorded eulogy that was played at President Reagan's funeral at the National Cathedral. I would like to read just a little of that eulogy. It starts: We have lost a great president, a great American and a great man. And-- Mrs. Thatcher said-- I have lost a dear friend. In his lifetime, Ronald Reagan was such a cheerful and invigorating presence that it was easy to forget what daunting historic tasks he set for himself. He sought to mend America's wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free world and to free the slaves of communism. These were causes hard to accomplish and heavy with risk. Mrs. Thatcher went on: Yet they were pursued with almost a lightness of spirit. For Ronald Reagan also embodied another great cause--what Arnold Bennett once called ``the great cause of cheering us all up.'' His politics had a freshness and optimism that won converts from every class and every nation--and ultimately from the very heart of the evil empire. Yet his humor often had a purpose beyond humor. In the terrible hours after the attempt on his life, his easy jokes gave reassurance to an anxious world. They were evidence that in the aftermath of terror and in the midst of hysteria, one great heart at least remained sane and jocular.
