Missouri Republicans honor Reagan at convention

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Missouri Republicans honored former President Reagan with a moment of silence at their annual convention on Saturday after learning he had finally passed away after a long struggle against Alzheimer's disease.

"He was called 'The Great Communicator.' There's no question he had wonderful speaking skills," said U.S. Sen. Kit Bond. "But he had the most powerful message, and he knew it and he lived it and he believed it."

The nearly 1,000 participants at the Republican state convention paused from their political business and stump speeches to honor the former two-term president. Republicans learned of Reagan's death just as the convention ended.

Reagan lived longer than any other U.S. president -- long enough to see many items named after him.

Among them is the "Ronald Reagan Republican Center" -- the GOP state headquarters in Jefferson City.

Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder recalled attending his first state convention in Springfield in 1976 as a college student and delegate committed to Reagan's unsuccessful presidential campaign against then-President Ford.

"He remains an inspiration to me, as he was then," said Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau.

Bond said Reagan campaigned on his behalf three times in 1986 as Bond was running for Senate. Bond won that race and said his "first big vote" in the Senate was to override Reagan's veto of a highway bill.

Before that vote, Bond said, he spent 90 minutes with Reagan in the Oval Office explaining why he was opposing the president's veto. But Reagan did not carry a grudge, Bond said.