A
spokesman for the Reagan family said that national and world leaders, including
former presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford as well as former
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the Rev. Billy Graham, had called
former first lady Nancy Reagan to offer condolences.  Most
political leaders and public figures throughout the world paid tribute to the
former president on Sunday and Monday, though some Latin American and Middle Eastern
leaders were critical of his administration's foreign policy.
"There
is not the least doubt that President Reagan did Nicaragua much harm, caused many
deaths. He may not have had much time or inclination to regret the damage he did,
but regardless of that we ask God to take pity on his soul," said Miguel
D'Escoto, former foreign minister in Nicaragua's revolutionary Sandinista government.
In the mid-1980s the Reagan government, fearful that Nicaragua's left-wing
Sandinista government would destabilize the region, provided secret funding to
armed opposition parties, or Contras, in the region. This became known as the
'Iran-Contra' affair, as the source of the funding was secret sales of military
equipment to Iran. In an editorial published Monday in The New York Times,
former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev called Reagan "an  extraordinary
man who in his long life saw moments of triumph, who had his ups and downs and
experienced the happiness of true love." Gorbachev honored Mr. Reagan
for his willingness to engage in dialogue with Soviet leaders after calling that
country an "evil empire" during his first term in office. "True,
Reagan was a man of the right. But, while adhering to his convictions, with which
one could agree or disagree, he was not dogmatic; he was looking for negotiations
and cooperation," Gorbachev wrote. "And this was the most important
thing to me: he had the trust of the American people." | 
"I
call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places
of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President Reagan," President
Bush said in a statement. "I invite the people of the world who share our
grief to join us in this solemn observance." 
A
state funeral, the first since that of former President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973,
will be held at the Capitol Wednesday evening, after which President Reagan's
body will lie in state for public viewing in the Capitol Rotunda building until
Friday morning.
American schools and financial aid should be only for legal citizens of the United States. There should be no exceptions to this.
