Reagan’s funeral procession happened to go directly in front of the Museum of American History — the building I was working at that day. I went outside after work to find that a huge crowd had gathered to pay tribute to the man. It felt like Independence Day — patriotism and American pride filled the air. Everyone had a camera and it was relatively quiet. I watched in awe as the horse-drawn casket passed. People saluted, put their hands over their hearts, smiled, cried, took pictures… I even heard shouts of “I love you, Ronnie!” Personally, I had my hand over my heart and I heard myself sigh.

For once, the population was unified; Reagan’s historical and political stature seems to keep rising with every passing year. In hindsight, he was our best president and we were proud to call him our commander in chief.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2004 at 10:47 pm and is filed under photography, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.