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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 6, 2001

Tribute to Former President Ronald Reagan by the President as Recorded for CNN's Larry King Live

     Laura and I have now spent two weeks in the house where you lived for eight years.  Everywhere we look, we find reminders of the great men and women who lived here, and the achievements they left behind.

     Your achievements, Mr. President, are clear to all Americans.  They are found in the spirit of our nation and the peace of the world.

     You came here at a time when our country needed confidence.  You told us we could be strong again, at home and abroad.  And when you left, we were.

     You came to the White House when the Cold War was real.  You told us, even when few believed it, that the evil empire would pass and that freedom would prevail.  And your resolve made it happen.

     In your time here, you never tried to seize credit -- one of the traits we?ve always admired most about you.  But tonight, on your ninetieth birthday, America knows where the credit belongs.  America knows you came here twenty years ago and changed the world.  America knows the good heart that always guided you -- the unbending principles that always defined you ... the kindness and courage and inner grace that makes you the man you are.

     For all of that, your country thanks you, Mr. President.  Your country honors you.  And your country loves you.