[dd74]

Ronald Reagan definitely was an icon; the last of a president who related to our parents generation and for those thirty and older. As with Nixon and Carter, and I'm certain Clinton and even Bush, we won't see their achievements until at least ten years after their presidency. It should be known that under Reagan, the Cold War ended. That will imortalize him just as the cessation of the Vietnam conflict has imortalized Nixon.

Today, we took my mother, as a belated Mother's Day gift, to high tea at the Bel Air hotel. The hotel is located several blocks away from Regan's home where he died. It was definitely hard to carry on a conversation inside the hotel because of the looming, hovering helicopters. Also, streets were closed by police and, it was assumed, Secret Service, and security was quite high in the hotel itself - Secret Service not withstanding. It was a very odd feeling, us seated in this hotel, drinking champagne, tea, eating fru-fru sandwiches and pastries, and all of that under watchful eyes, as less than a mile away, a very important leader in our history was placed in a flag-draped casket.