Post by GSC Admin on Jun 11, 2004 16:25:21 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2004/06/12/politics/12scene.html
Service Draws a Mix of the Elite, Some Solemn, Some Social
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: June 12, 2004
ASHINGTON, June 11 - After Ronald Reagan's funeral on Friday, the world's political elite spontaneously transformed the grounds of the National Cathedral into a miniconvention and impromptu sidewalk wake.
Dan Quayle, former President George Bush's vice president, was one of the first to emerge from the cathedral. Mr. Quayle said he was amazed at the throngs of "ordinary people" who were paying their respects to "a great man," even as a parade of rather unordinary folk stepped out of the church: Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles, Alan Greenspan and Andrea Mitchell, Alexander M. Haig Jr., Madeleine K. Albright, and the likes of Merv Griffin, Joan Rivers and Barbara Walters.
One animated duo was Edward I. Koch, the former mayor of New York, a Democrat, and Alfonse M. D'Amato, the former senator from New York, a Republican.
Mr. Koch could not help comparing Washington with New York, to the detriment of the capital, needless to say. "I'm used to St. Patrick's," he said of the landmark cathedral in his hometown. "It's a much warmer place than here. They have much better sight lines, so you can see. You can see everybody participating. But of course it was very moving. And I loved Ronald Reagan."
As Mr. Koch chattered away, Mr. D'Amato was whispering to Bob Dole, the former senator and Republican presidential nominee. Mr. D'Amato said later that he was discussing a fund-raiser that Mr. Dole's wife, Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, is holding in New York next week for a fellow North Carolinian.
Asked whom he had seen at the service, which he called "very inspirational, a celebration of life," Mr. D'Amato said he was most thrilled to see Paul Laxalt, the former senator from Nevada, who was a close friend of Mr. Reagan.
"He was like a brother to Reagan," Mr. Dole said of Mr. Laxalt, prompting Mr. D'Amato to say, "And Bobby Dole I haven't seen in a while."
What struck Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, was that at 93, Mr. Reagan had so many colleagues and associates who outlived him.
"Normally, a guy at 93, most of his people would not have survived him, but Reagan dealt mainly with substantially younger people," Mr. Hoyer said. "But he outlived so much of the acrimony, which tends to soften with time, and we tend to remember the good times, and we remember the good aspects of his personality. This was not a sad funeral."
It was in this vein that Mr. Dole and Mr. D'Amato teased each other, and it was just a matter of time before Mr. D'Amato brought up Viagra, the potency drug for which Mr. Dole is a noted pitchman. Mr. D'Amato told him there was now something even better on the market, called Levitra.
"Does it give you hair?" Mr. Dole asked. Mr. D'Amato seemed to consider answering but demurred, and Mr. Dole, spotting his wife in the crowd, scurried away.
A few steps behind were Al Gore, the former vice president, and his wife, Tipper.
"Beautiful and moving," Mr. Gore said of the service, pre-empting further conversation by saying, "I'm not giving any interviews."
Standing on the sidewalk by himself, dutifully waiting for one of the half-dozen buses that would take House members back to Capitol Hill, was Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, the Ohio Democrat who is still running for president. Mr. Kucinich wanted it known that he had been one of the few Democrats in 1998 to vote to name National Airport near Washington after Mr. Reagan.
Behind the scenes, the former presidents and some heads of state were being herded with their bodyguards through a special exit. By chance, James Warren, a deputy managing editor of The Chicago Tribune, and Laura Ingraham, a conservative radio talk-show host, found themselves swept into that same area.
They said they saw Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, in extended conversation with the first President Bush. They said that Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were holding hands, although at one point Mrs. Carter was standing in the rain by herself and declined the offer of an umbrella. Gerhard Schroeder, too, cut a solitary figure.
And they said they saw former President Bill Clinton schmoozing at length with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador, who is the only diplomat still serving in Washington who presented his credentials to Mr. Reagan.
Mr. Clinton and his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, also conferred for several minutes with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
"We stumbled into the A-A-A-A list, with 10 trillion security guys," Mr. Warren said. Ms. Ingraham regretted bringing her digital camera, which she said did not work, and wished she had bought a disposable.
When he entered the church, Mr. Clinton seemed particularly sociable, drawing a small cluster of people, including Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and Brian Mulroney, the former Canadian prime minister, to his side. At the same time, those who saw Mrs. Clinton during the service said she appeared particularly solemn.
It was a sign of the star power of the guest list that some of the world's highest-wattage celebrities went overlooked in the crush.
Caroline Kennedy, for example, seemed to pass unnoticed by the hundreds of onlookers who had gathered behind the police barricades in the drizzle as she and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, made their way to the heavily guarded cathedral.
Like most of the other 4,000 guests, they had to present their invitations to the metropolitan police officers who served as gatekeepers to Washington's first state funeral in three decades. Now 46, Ms. Kennedy was just turning 6 at the time of the state funeral for her father in 1963; there is no evidence in newspaper archives that she attended the funeral for President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had the last state funeral in Washington, in 1973.
Service Draws a Mix of the Elite, Some Solemn, Some Social
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: June 12, 2004
ASHINGTON, June 11 - After Ronald Reagan's funeral on Friday, the world's political elite spontaneously transformed the grounds of the National Cathedral into a miniconvention and impromptu sidewalk wake.
Dan Quayle, former President George Bush's vice president, was one of the first to emerge from the cathedral. Mr. Quayle said he was amazed at the throngs of "ordinary people" who were paying their respects to "a great man," even as a parade of rather unordinary folk stepped out of the church: Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles, Alan Greenspan and Andrea Mitchell, Alexander M. Haig Jr., Madeleine K. Albright, and the likes of Merv Griffin, Joan Rivers and Barbara Walters.
One animated duo was Edward I. Koch, the former mayor of New York, a Democrat, and Alfonse M. D'Amato, the former senator from New York, a Republican.
Mr. Koch could not help comparing Washington with New York, to the detriment of the capital, needless to say. "I'm used to St. Patrick's," he said of the landmark cathedral in his hometown. "It's a much warmer place than here. They have much better sight lines, so you can see. You can see everybody participating. But of course it was very moving. And I loved Ronald Reagan."
As Mr. Koch chattered away, Mr. D'Amato was whispering to Bob Dole, the former senator and Republican presidential nominee. Mr. D'Amato said later that he was discussing a fund-raiser that Mr. Dole's wife, Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, is holding in New York next week for a fellow North Carolinian.
Asked whom he had seen at the service, which he called "very inspirational, a celebration of life," Mr. D'Amato said he was most thrilled to see Paul Laxalt, the former senator from Nevada, who was a close friend of Mr. Reagan.
"He was like a brother to Reagan," Mr. Dole said of Mr. Laxalt, prompting Mr. D'Amato to say, "And Bobby Dole I haven't seen in a while."
What struck Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, was that at 93, Mr. Reagan had so many colleagues and associates who outlived him.
"Normally, a guy at 93, most of his people would not have survived him, but Reagan dealt mainly with substantially younger people," Mr. Hoyer said. "But he outlived so much of the acrimony, which tends to soften with time, and we tend to remember the good times, and we remember the good aspects of his personality. This was not a sad funeral."
It was in this vein that Mr. Dole and Mr. D'Amato teased each other, and it was just a matter of time before Mr. D'Amato brought up Viagra, the potency drug for which Mr. Dole is a noted pitchman. Mr. D'Amato told him there was now something even better on the market, called Levitra.
"Does it give you hair?" Mr. Dole asked. Mr. D'Amato seemed to consider answering but demurred, and Mr. Dole, spotting his wife in the crowd, scurried away.
A few steps behind were Al Gore, the former vice president, and his wife, Tipper.
"Beautiful and moving," Mr. Gore said of the service, pre-empting further conversation by saying, "I'm not giving any interviews."
Standing on the sidewalk by himself, dutifully waiting for one of the half-dozen buses that would take House members back to Capitol Hill, was Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, the Ohio Democrat who is still running for president. Mr. Kucinich wanted it known that he had been one of the few Democrats in 1998 to vote to name National Airport near Washington after Mr. Reagan.
Behind the scenes, the former presidents and some heads of state were being herded with their bodyguards through a special exit. By chance, James Warren, a deputy managing editor of The Chicago Tribune, and Laura Ingraham, a conservative radio talk-show host, found themselves swept into that same area.
They said they saw Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, in extended conversation with the first President Bush. They said that Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were holding hands, although at one point Mrs. Carter was standing in the rain by herself and declined the offer of an umbrella. Gerhard Schroeder, too, cut a solitary figure.
And they said they saw former President Bill Clinton schmoozing at length with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador, who is the only diplomat still serving in Washington who presented his credentials to Mr. Reagan.
Mr. Clinton and his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, also conferred for several minutes with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
"We stumbled into the A-A-A-A list, with 10 trillion security guys," Mr. Warren said. Ms. Ingraham regretted bringing her digital camera, which she said did not work, and wished she had bought a disposable.
When he entered the church, Mr. Clinton seemed particularly sociable, drawing a small cluster of people, including Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and Brian Mulroney, the former Canadian prime minister, to his side. At the same time, those who saw Mrs. Clinton during the service said she appeared particularly solemn.
It was a sign of the star power of the guest list that some of the world's highest-wattage celebrities went overlooked in the crush.
Caroline Kennedy, for example, seemed to pass unnoticed by the hundreds of onlookers who had gathered behind the police barricades in the drizzle as she and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, made their way to the heavily guarded cathedral.
Like most of the other 4,000 guests, they had to present their invitations to the metropolitan police officers who served as gatekeepers to Washington's first state funeral in three decades. Now 46, Ms. Kennedy was just turning 6 at the time of the state funeral for her father in 1963; there is no evidence in newspaper archives that she attended the funeral for President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had the last state funeral in Washington, in 1973.
