  Can you believe all of the people willing to wait in line to pay respects to President Reagan? I think that says alot about how he will be viewed from an historical standpoint.
He seems to be associated with the rebuilding of American morale and end of the cold war. Those two issues were the triggers with baby boomers like myself. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, the threat of nuclear war and the constant competition with the USSR (there's opne for your kids...what does USSR stand for? ) were always in the back of your mind. Did you ever have to do duck and cover drills in grade school?
How about learning the way to the nearest fall-out shelter? Or having a color coded tag to tell you which bus to get on during and evacuation? Not like any of that would have helped. US foreign policy for more than 40 years was dictated by Cold War politics. Then Vietnam cam along and had us questioning everything our parents took for granted and "great" about the USA. Throw in a dash of Watergate, a couple of assainations, the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days and you can see why American's morale and view of ourselves needed a little boost.
Then came Ronald Reagan. You can dbate all you want if the tax cuts he backed or his supply-side economics really helped stimulate the economy (I believ they did), but it's hard to debate that he made us feel good about being American, again. He told us it's alright to have pride in the flag. So, here's to you President Reagan. Godspeed, Mr. President, Godspeed. 
