Tens of thousands view Reagan casket

WASHINGTON -- From Boy Scouts to Supreme Court justices, tens of thousands of Americans filed solemnly past Ronald Reagan's casket at the Capitol on Thursday, a quiet prelude to a majestic funeral shaped by his own hand. Visitors from the Reagan-era ranks of power and friendship flocked to his widow's side.

World leaders including his long-ago Soviet rival Mikhail Gorbachev were among those who gazed upon his casket in hushed contemplation under the Capitol Dome. President Bush, back from his meeting with world leaders in Georgia, briefly paid respects in advance of his eulogy for the 40th president at Washington National Cathedral today.

Across from the White House, Nancy Reagan received a stream of visitors drawn from a list of the powerful, then and now.

"To Ronnie," former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, first to see Mrs. Reagan, wrote in the Blair House condolence book. "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Reagan and Thatcher shared a world view, conservative politics and enduring mutual affection.

Joanne Drake, chief of staff of the Reagan office, described the late president's final moments before his death last Saturday, as told to her by his wife.

"She told me that as he neared death and it became evident it was close, he opened his eyes and he gazed at her," Drake said. "His eyes were as blue as ever and he closed them and died. She told me it was the greatest gift ever."

Drake said Mrs. Reagan was "doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances" and was greatly comforted by the outpouring of support.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who shared an Irish ancestry with Reagan, also visited the former first lady, with his wife, Mila. "For Ron with affection, admiration and respect," the Mulroneys wrote. "The Gipper always came through!"

The former British and Canadian leaders are joining Bush and his father today in eulogizing Reagan to close the curtain on the capital's elaborate state funeral -- Washington's last goodbye before Reagan's sunset burial on the grounds of his presidential library outside Los Angeles. Besides the first President Bush, the other living former presidents were expected, too: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Bush and his wife, Laura, paused by Reagan's casket in the Capitol Rotunda, bowed their heads and closed their eyes. The president swept his hands along the flag-draped casket and the couple left to visit Mrs. Reagan. They spent about 40 minutes with her at Blair House, then returned to the White House.

The first President Bush and his wife, Barbara, also viewed the casket in the Rotunda.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who also met with Mrs. Reagan, said he recalled the president once showing him where he planned to be laid to rest. "He told me that would be the spot he would be buried and right next to him would be buried Mrs. Reagan," he said. Nakasone asked Mrs. Reagan if that was still the plan.

"She said the plan was still on and she would go next to him when she passes," Nakasone said.

Bush praised Reagan as a "great man, a historic leader and a national treasure." He would not say if he supported efforts to put Reagan's image on currency, adding that after the funeral "I will reflect on further ways to honor a great president."

Reagan's Soviet rival-turned-friend, Gorbachev, visited, too, and wrote in the condolence book in Russian, "I convey my deep feelings of condolence to dear Nancy and the whole family." Former Secretary of State George Shultz and former chief of staff Howard Baker were among the onetime Reagan aides who came to Blair House.

Gorbachev then visited Reagan's casket in the Rotunda, reaching out and briefly laying his palm on it.

Reagan began talking about his funeral in 1981, the year he became president, his office said in a statement Thursday night disclosing his wishes for the service.

He asked George H.W. Bush, when he was vice president, to speak at his funeral, and years ago asked Justice Sandra Day O'Connor -- the first woman on the Supreme Court -- to read at his service, specifying she read from a John Winthrop sermon that inspired his description of America as "the shining city upon a hill."

His office said Reagan personally asked Thatcher many years ago to speak at his funeral. The Reagans wanted an operatic selection and the former president expressed a preference for a soloist.

Other elements were filled in by Mrs. Reagan in recent years as Alzheimer's disease overtook her husband. She asked former Sen. John C. Danforth, R-Mo., an Episcopal priest, several years ago to officiate, following a suggestion from the Rev. Billy Graham that someone else be approached in the event Graham could not do it.

Mrs. Reagan asked President Bush on Saturday to deliver a eulogy, and she also asked Mulroney, a close friend of the couple, to speak.

And so the service will unfold: Danforth officiating, O'Connor reading, Irish tenor Ronan Tynan performing "Ave Maria," and the chosen eulogists paying tribute. Thatcher, who gave up public speaking after a series of small strokes, taped her remarks in advance.