Reagan's body lies in state

Thousands of Americans filed silently past Ronald Reagan's body at the US Capitol yesterday in an emotional outpouring of respect and affection for the 40th President of the United States.

Mr Reagan's coffin is to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda until today, when a funeral service will take place at the National Cathedral. Around 150,000 people were expected to file past the casket during those 34 hours.

After the funeral, Mr Reagan's body will be flown back to California one last time for a sunset burial on the grounds of his presidential library overlooking rolling desert hills just north of Los Angeles.

Many past and present world leaders and veterans of the Cold War struggle against communism that Mr Reagan helped to end were making their way to Washington for the funeral.

They included former Soviet Communist leader Mikhail Gorbachev, formally representing Russia, and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a staunch Reagan ally.

Lech Walesa, the shipyard electrician who became a labour leader in Communist Poland and later his country's President, was also attending.

Mr Reagan died on Saturday aged 93 after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. He bid farewell to the American people in a moving letter 10 years ago and had since lived in seclusion, cared for by his wife, Nancy.

Since Saturday, the US media has provided blanket coverage and glowing assessments of the historical legacy and sunny personality of a man rated one of the most significant US Presidents of the 20th century.

An estimated 2,000 people an hour were filing past Mr Reagan's casket during the overnight public viewing in the Rotunda.

The elaborate symbolism and pageantry of the week of mourning, orchestrated according to plans drawn up long in advance by the Reagan family, seemed fitting for a man whose public skills were first honed as a Hollywood movie star.

On Wednesday, military jets swooped low over the procession and drums rolled as as the body was brought on a horse-drawn military wagon to the Capitol.

Thousands of people lining the road applauded and cheered Mr Reagan's widow. Now 82, the frail-looking former First Lady leaned for support on the arm of a military officer and waved to the crowd. Many onlookers waved American flags. Some cried, others took photographs as the procession passed.

Mr Reagan's death has unleashed an outpouring of public affection for a President who was often seen as a sharply divisive figure during his eight years in office, between 1981 and 1989.

At a brief service on Wednesday night, Vice President Dick Cheney hailed Mr Reagan as the victor of the Cold War.

"It was the vision and will of Ronald Reagan that gave hope to the oppressed, shamed the oppressors and ended an 'Evil Empire'," Mr Cheney said.

Celebrated by his supporters as a champion of freedom and free enterprise, Mr Reagan provoked furious opposition at home and abroad.

Opponents were frustrated that none of the scandals of those years seemed to stick to Mr Reagan and dubbed him the "Teflon President".