When Steve Kruse of Ogden, Iowa, learned last weekend that former president Ronald Reagan had died, his wife, Shelley, surprised him with a $300 round-trip ticket to Washington so Kruse could be "a part of history," he said.
As Kruse, his ears still popping from the plane ride, waited outside the U.S. Capitol yesterday afternoon -- one of the first of thousands who would gather to pay their respects to the 40th president -- he wore his "I Miss Ronald Reagan" T-shirt covered with campaign buttons. He also showed off photographs of his first child, a 6-month-old daughter named Reagan.
"I'm representing 17 of us in our family," said Kruse, 40, who works in a grocery warehouse and is active in Republican politics back home. "I just felt he was such a great guy -- this was the least I could do for him."
From far away and close by, thousands of people lined the procession route and crowded outside the Capitol yesterday for a chance to view a moment in history and bid farewell to a man whom some revered, some felt ambivalent about, but most agreed was a giant figure in American politics. The crowds were mostly white, ranging in age from babies to the elderly. As the blistering-hot afternoon gave way to a steamy evening, they waited, determined not to miss this rare occasion.
At 9 p.m., when the public began funneling through the Capitol Rotunda to view the coffin, the line laced from the Capitol's south entrance nearly to Third Street SW.
"When we saw it on the news, that he had passed away, I don't know, I just had a tugging on my heart," said Herb Hobgood, 58, a machinery company owner from Winnsboro, S.C., who drove for 10 hours with his wife, Gloria, and mother, Doris, 83. "I told my wife, we've got to go up there and participate in this thing because he was such a great man."
More than 100,000 people had paid their respects to the former president in California, viewing the flag-draped coffin at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, and an equal number was expected to do the same in the Capitol Rotunda. Outside the Capitol and along the procession route, some were careful to stake out their vantage points early.
On Constitution Avenue, where the caisson carrying Reagan's coffin was due to pass on its way to the Capitol, spectators began gathering as early as 1 p.m., taking the shady spots first. Adults set up camp chairs, small American flags and giant sun umbrellas, as children who were not born when Reagan left office sprawled on blankets and played video games.
'Bottom line, I'm American'
"I thought the world of Ronald Reagan. I think the world of Nancy," said Arlene Black, 67, of Reston, who came with her daughter Susan Armstrong of Stafford and Armstrong's three children. "Bottom line, I'm American -- to the core of my being."
Black realized that her grandchildren, ages 9, 7 and 3, "won't remember much about this," she said, "but we'll talk to them about it someday."
In the same spirit, Susan Mersman and her 17-year-old daughter, Stacey, also waited, seated in their white Ford Explorer near Suitland Road and Suitland Parkway, along the motorcade route.
"I thought it would be a good thing for me and my daughter to do," said Mersman, 48, as they sat, windows rolled down, in the parking lot of the Morningside Volunteer Fire Department. "I thought it would be a way for us to honor a former president."
Stacey Mersman had listened as her teacher at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, where she is a sophomore, discussed the Reagan funeral. She decided she, too, wanted to "witness history. . . . I decided I wanted to be a part of it."
In Southeast Washington, where Reagan's presidency was unpopular, about 150 people lined a quarter-mile stretch of Suitland Parkway near Martin Luther King Boulevard to watch the motorcade pass. The crowd there, all black and mostly children, waved as the flag-draped coffin went by. On a small bluff overlooking the motorway, Vanessa Tucker brought a dozen children from the day care of the adjacent Matthews Memorial Baptist Church to "witness a moment of history," and Walter Plush, who once served in the Air Force, videotaped the event.
"I might not agree with all of his policies, but I respect the office of the presidency," Plush said. "I was in the military and feel a respect for a former commander in chief."
Farther down the hill, Justice Department employee Birdie Harris turned out to watch the motorcade after work.
"He didn't do a lot for us, but it heals over time," she said. "You go on."
For many spectators, witnessing history required traveling a distance.
'A great patriot'
Glen and Mary Castillo of Tulsa looked at each other Monday afternoon while viewing funeral coverage on television and decided they had to make the 1,200-mile drive to Washington with their three children. After two days of traveling and overnight stays in St. Louis and West Virginia, they arrived at the Capitol yesterday afternoon, in plenty of time.
"We're here today to honor a great patriot and a great American," said Glen Castillo, 37, who works for a pharmaceutical company. "We would only do this for somebody special, like Reagan."
The Castillos both served as Marines during the Reagan administration and met each other while in the military. They wanted their children -- twins Glen Jr. and Lauren, 10, and Anna Lynn, 14 -- to see the reverent spectacle of the horse-drawn caisson.
"We had a few extra days this week and a little bit of extra change in the bank, and we felt this was the thing to do," Glen Castillo said.
Derace Owens, 60, who flew into Washington early yesterday from Jacksonville, Tex., was one of the first in line at the Capitol. Dressed in a linen suit and a wide-brimmed cowboy hat to shade his face from the sun, Owens said he decided to come the moment he learned of the president's death. A cross-country trip to a city where he has no family or friends was no deterrent, he said.
"Reagan never put himself first," he said, tearing up as he spoke. Today, he added, "the least we can do is . . . put him first."
Barry Perry's 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, was taking an American history course during the summer session at North Carolina State University, and she implored her father to drive her to Washington to pay respects to the man who was president when she was born.
"She decided to skip school, with her teacher's blessing," said Perry, 43, of Raleigh, N.C. , who had his own reasons for wanting to come. Perry voted for Reagan twice and saw him "as a genuine, down-to-earth person."
Other spectators, such as Craig Byram, 35, of Austin, Minn., were already in town sightseeing. He secured a spot to watch the procession between Ninth and 10th streets on Constitution Avenue.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Byram said.
He said he learned his view of the world from watching Reagan in office.
"Modern-day politics is missing the language of hope and positivism," he said. "I wish candidates from both parties would have his speechwriters."
Ruth and Steve Lech, Oklahoma natives who call themselves "full-time RVers," already were in the Washington area in their 37-foot motor home. Big supporters of Reagan, they did not think twice about plunging into the crowds gathering at the Capitol.
'Made us all proud'
"I think he made us all proud of our country again," Ruth Lech said. "We were kind of down there for a while."
Not everyone was caught up in the moment, however.
Vickie Morse of Manassas, 58, began camping out outside the Capitol at 11 a.m. with two granddaughters in tow and plenty of granola bars, liquids and books. The wait was made bearable by chats with others in line.
"This has been a great way to meet wonderful humanity," said Morse, a homemaker. "That's the way Reagan was."
But a few feet away in the shade of a tree, Morse's granddaughters, Kaely, 11, and Keely Clapper, 14, played their fourth round of the card game "speed" and pondered the president they had learned about on an A&E television movie.
"We don't really know who this man is, except that he was a great speaker," Keely said. "Our grandmother dragged us here."