Reagan bows out in style

2004-06-10 07:49

Washington - Tens of thousands of mourners of all ages turned out in sweltering heat on Wednesday to see a carefully scripted tribute to Ronald Reagan that mixed heavy symbolism with stirring pageantry and the poignancy of a lone riderless black horse to mark the fallen president.

Some wept, others waved sadly and all watched in sombre silence as the remains of the film actor, president and Cold War warrior went along Washington's Constitution Avenue on a gun carriage pulled by three pairs of horses.

"Those were his boots! His cowboy boots!" shouted one excited young woman, pointing to the riderless horse with the boots symbolically reversed in the stirrups.

The passage of the coffin was partnered by a wave rippling through the watching crowd as people raised cameras above their heads to grab a memento of the moment. They raised their arms again to applaud the car carrying Reagan's widow, Nancy. "Missing man" manoeuvre

The atmosphere of respectful silence was shattered twice; first by the roar of a 21-plane flyover by F-15E Strike Eagles, some of which performed a "missing man" manoeuvre, and then again as a 21-gun salute greeted the coffin's arrival at the steps of the Capitol building.

Not all those in the crowd were devoutly Reaganite, but even those with less than rosy memories of his presidency expressed a degree of respect for his full and influential life.

"He did it all. You have to give him that," said Wallace Palmore, a 55-year-old black Vietnam Veteran.

"Frankly, I think black people lost more rights under Reagan than they gained in the last 20 years," said Palmore. "Don't see a lot of black people here, do you?"

More representative of the general mood was Lawrence Elgin, 62, who wore a cowboy hat as a tribute to the favourite president he had twice helped vote into the White House.

"He changed this country and the world," Elgin said. "For the first time since about 1850 the beliefs of our founding fathers, of the American revolution, were being articulated."

Many parents brought along their entire families, mindful of the rarity of full state funerals in the United States. The last one in Washington was for Lyndon Johnson in 1973.

The intricately choreographed procession was carried off with split-second precision and unaffected by a security scare that caused a brief evacuation of Congress as Reagan's coffin was being flown into Andrews Air Force base.

Some had begun queuing before dawn to be first in line when the public is admitted to the Capitol Rotunda, where the president's remains will lie in state until Friday morning on a pinewood catafalque first used for Abraham Lincoln's funeral.

Once in the Rotunda, members of the public filed past the coffin, some stopping briefly to touch their hands to the hearts, salute, or bow their heads in a moment of silent prayer.

The Rotunda is to remain open to public viewing around the clock until Friday morning.

- AFP