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7 Death, Funeral, and Tributes Afterward
Reagan died at his home in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California on June 5, 2004 at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. He died of pneumonia, surrounded by his wife Nancy and their children Patti and Ron. He is survived also by his son Michael, from his first marriage to Wyman; his daughter Maureen preceded him in death in 2001.
The news of Reagan's passing reached Washington just before 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. Because of the time difference, Europe learned the news at a late hour, meaning that the very first country there could be reaction from was Canada, since it was just before 5:00 p.m. in Ottawa when the news was received there, which meant that Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, who, like President George W. Bush, was in France for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, was the first world leader to pay tribute to President Reagan. Three other Canadian leaders joined Martin in voicing tribute: former prime minister Brian Mulroney, a very close friend of the Reagans, Opposition Leader Stephen Harper, who like Mulroney, is a Conservative, and NDP Leader Jack Layton.
Reagan was given a full presidential state funeral on June 9, the first since Lyndon Johnson in 1973, drawing many parallels. Vice President Dick Cheney, who along with Senate President Pro Tempore Ted Stevens and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, gave the eulogies, presided over the state funeral because President Bush was in Sea Island, Georgia, hosting the G-8 Summit. The final services in honor of Reagan on June 11, like those in honor of Johnson on January 25, 1973, spanned the country in one day. With 4,000 people in attendance, Reagan's national service at the National Cathedral included eulogies by former British Prime Minister Lady Thatcher, Mulroney, former president George H. W. Bush, who turned 80 the following day, and Bush. Numerous other past and present world leaders attended the service, including former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Britain's Prince of Wales, both of whom, along with Mulroney, his wife, Mila, and Thatcher, led the dignitaries in paying tribute to Reagan. In all, 218 foreign dignitaries from 165 nations attended the service, making it one of the largest gatherings of foreign dignitaries at a funeral for an American president. Many of the present world leaders who attended the service had been in the U.S. for the G-8 Summit. Among them were Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose visit to the U.S. ended when he addressed Congress a few days later, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Iraqi Acting President Ghazi al-Yawar, and Jordan's King Abdullah II.
Reagan was buried that evening at sunset in a private ceremony with 600 people, with Thatcher being one of them, in attendance at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, which included remarks from his three surviving children, ending a week of scenes, many of which had not been seen since January 25, 1973, when LBJ was buried at his ranch in his beloved hill country of Texas.
The Reagan funeral saw more eulogies than any other president funeral--10, breaking the record of 6 given during the LBJ funeral. The day after the funeral, President Bush's entire weekly radio address was his second tribute to Reagan in as many days, because the funeral happened on a Friday. Later in 2004, Reagan's eldest son, Michael, paid tribute to his father at the 2004 Republican National Convention, speaking at the convention and introducing a film, dedicating it to everyone who helped make his father president of the United States.
Reagan holds the record for the longest-living president at 93 years and 119 days. John Adams lived a record 90 years and 247 days before Reagan surpassed it on October 11, 2001.
