Papers Hail Reagan, Some Noting 'Mixed Legacy'

By: E&P Staff Even if Smarty Jones had won the third leg of racing's Triple Crown yesterday, the death of Ronald Reagan, one hopes, would have dominated Sunday's front pages.

The Boston Herald cried: "Mourning in America." The Chicago Tribune banner declared: "Reagan dies: Conservative icon from humble roots helped end Cold War, change face of politics." The top Miami Herald headline called him "America's leading man" adding in a deck, "For many in Miami, a voice for freedom."

An uncharacteristically subdued New York Post simply ran a full-page photo of Reagan against an American flag with "Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004" below. The Orange County Register of Santa Ana, Calif., offered: "Into the Sunset."

Below the heads and inside the papers, however, newspapers grappled with the Reagan legacy in contrasting ways.

Many papers, such as the Chicago Tribune and Orange County Register gave Reagan credit, in headline and copy, for ending the Cold War or at least helping to end it. The New York Times top headline, on the other hand, merely said he had "Fostered Cold-War Might."

The Times, in fact, was subdued in its front-page praise, noting that he was "imbued with youthful optimism" and that he "held out the promise of a return to greatness, the promise that America would 'stand tall' again," without saying that he had actually achieved this. Just before the jump, the paper managed to fit in a reference to the Iran-Contra "arms for hostages" scandal and its aftermath, which continued inside for another two paragraphs.

The Boston Herald credited Reagan with winning the Cold War, "scaling back government largesse and reigniting patriotic fervor."

Many other papers, however, provided more balanced views. The San Diego Union-Tribune, in Reagan's home state, noted that the Cold War had ended during his tenure and that the "twin economic ravages" of inflation and high interest rates had been brought under control, but added, "What credit Reagan deserves for these phenomena will long be debated by historians."

The Houston Chronicle praised Reagan broadly, then noted: "He was slow to grasp the impact of AIDS, which grew to epidemic proportions on his watch. The anti-abortion coalition from which Reagan drew political strength continues to oppose and limit research using fetal tissue and stem cells that might hold relief for victims of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's."

The main Knight Ridder report sent to all its newspapers praised Reagan while also noting a "mixed legacy," saying: "He cut taxes and spending sharply upon taking power, but by the time he left office the government was bigger and the national debt had tripled. He counseled patience through the nation's worst recession since the 1930s, then presided over one of the richest periods of prosperity in history, but did little to shrink the growing gap between rich and poor."