The Eternal Optimist: Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004)

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He was deeply guided by the principle that the Soviet system was wrong. It made a tremendous impression when we went to Berlin and stood on a balcony to see the other side. There was not a soul on the street, and we thought how eerie and disturbing that was. When we went to Checkpoint Charlie, and Ronnie was shown the line that people couldn't cross, he took his foot and put it over the line. He felt it was important to assert what was right. He got very stubborn and even mad when his advisers would take out a line he really believed from a speech. It was on that trip that he stood in front of the Berlin Wall and said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Ronnie felt this was his greatest accomplishment--finding a safe ending to the cold war. And his other great legacy, he felt, was giving our country back its optimism.

At our last Kennedy Center Honors show, Walter Cronkite went back onstage at the end and brought out all the cast, performers and crew to salute us. By this time, the aisles were filled with ushers, and he gave a very touching tribute. The audience then turned, faced us and sang Auld Lang Syne. I had dissolved into tears by that time. But Ronnie called down, "Beats getting an Oscar." Only Ronnie could do that.

When we were leaving the White House for the last time and walking toward the helicopter, he turned to me with his heartwarming grin. "Well, it's been a wonderful eight years," he said. "All in all, not bad. Not bad at all."

Editor's note: Before her husband's death, Nancy Reagan wrote about her memories of him for TIME