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The great and the small pay their respects

WASHINGTON - From Boy Scouts to Supreme Court justices, tens of thousands of Americans filed solemnly past Ronald Reagan's casket at the Capitol on Thursday, a quiet prelude to a majestic funeral shaped by his own hand. Visitors from the Reagan-era ranks of power and friendship flocked to his widow's side.

World leaders including his long-ago Soviet rival Mikhail Gorbachev were among those who gazed upon his casket in hushed contemplation under the Capitol dome. President Bush, back from his meeting with world leaders in Georgia, briefly paid respects in advance of his eulogy for the 40th president at Washington National Cathedral today.

Across from the White House, Nancy Reagan received a stream of visitors drawn from a list of the powerful, then and now.

"To Ronnie," former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, first to see Mrs. Reagan, wrote in the Blair House condolence book. "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Reagan and Thatcher shared a world view, conservative politics and enduring mutual affection.

Joanne Drake, chief of staff of the Reagan office, described the late president's final moments before his death Saturday, as told to her by his wife.

"She told me that as he neared death and it became evident it was close, he opened his eyes and he gazed at her," Drake said. "His eyes were as blue as ever and he closed them and died. She told me it was the greatest gift ever."

Drake said Mrs. Reagan was "doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances" and was greatly comforted by the outpouring of support.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who shared an Irish ancestry with Reagan, also visited the former first lady with his wife, Mila. "For Ron with affection, admiration and respect," the Mulroneys wrote. "The Gipper always came through!"

The former British and Canadian leaders were joining Bush and his father today in eulogizing Reagan to close the curtain on the capital's elaborate state funeral - Washington's last goodbye before Reagan's sunset burial on the grounds of his presidential library outside Los Angeles. Besides the first President Bush, the other living former presidents were expected, too: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Bush and his wife, Laura, paused by Reagan's casket in the Capitol Rotunda, bowed their heads and closed their eyes. The president swept his hands along the flag-draped casket and the couple left to visit Mrs. Reagan. They spent about 40 minutes with her at Blair House, then returned to the White House.

Bush praised Reagan as a "great man, a historic leader and a national treasure."

Reagan's Soviet rival-turned-friend, Gorbachev, visited, too, and wrote in the condolence book in Russian, "I convey my deep feelings of condolence to dear Nancy and the whole family." Former Secretary of State George Shultz and former chief of staff Howard Baker were among the onetime Reagan aides who came to Blair House.

Gorbachev then visited Reagan's casket in the Rotunda, reaching out and briefly laying his palm on it.

Reagan had begun talking about his funeral in 1981, the year he became president, family representatives said.

He asked George Bush, when he was vice president, to speak at his funeral, and years ago asked Justice Sandra Day O'Connor - the first woman on the Supreme Court - to read at his service, specifying a John Winthrop sermon that inspired his description of America as "the shining city upon a hill."

Several years ago he asked former Sen. John C. Danforth, R-Mo., to officiate, the family said.

The Capitol sergeant at arms office, which oversees security in the building, estimated 30,000 people had viewed the casket in the first 10 hours of Reagan's lying in state. His casket was continuously on view until this morning.

Boy Scouts in khaki shorts and neckerchiefs, office workers with ID tags around their necks, senators and tourists with their children in tow, an American Indian in feathered headdress, all came to pay their respects.

Art Kreatschman, 52, of New Windsor, Md., stood for three hours before his few seconds in the Rotunda. "I did okay until I got inside and then it was very moving," he said. "I teared up little."

Several thousand people stood in a line that snaked along the western end of Capitol Hill and around the Capitol reflecting pool, many writing in a condolence book. Large fans helped cool those waiting in the steamy heat, and bottled water was available. Inside the cool of the building were separate lines for congressional staff.

"He did so many great things for our country and I remember a happy and optimistic time for America," Barbara Coward, 37, of Timonium, Md., scribbled in the book. "He made me proud to be an American."

7 A.M.: Public viewing ends at the U.S. Capitol.

10:30 A.M.: Departure ceremony.

10:45 A.M.: Motorcade leaves Capitol for Washington National Cathedral.

11:30 A.M.: National funeral service at cathedral.

Former Sen. John C. Danforth, R-Mo., will officiate.

Irish tenor Ronan Tynan will perform Franz Schubert's Ave Maria.

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will read from a John Winthrop sermon.

Eulogies will be given by President Bush, former President George Bush, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

1:15 P.M.: Departure ceremony.

1:45 P.M.: Motorcade leaves cathedral for Andrews Air Force Base.

2:45 P.M.: Aircraft leaves Andrews for California.

7:45 P.M.: Aircraft arrives at Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

9 P.M.: Motorcade arrives at Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

9:15 P.M.: Private interment service at library.

CURRENT LEADERS

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder

British Prime Minister Tony Blair

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Irish President Mary McAleese

South African President Thabo Mbeki

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo

Romanian President Ion Iliescu

Acting Lithuanian President Arturas Paulauskas

Slovakian President Rudolf Schuster

Afghan President Hamid Karzai

Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga

Czech President Vaclav Klaus

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell

Haitian interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan

GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES

Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Lars Engqvist

Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh

Portuguese Parliament President Joao Mota Amaral

Serbia-Montenegran Parliament Vice President Milorad Drljevic

Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez

Philippine Foreign Secretary Delia Albert

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano

Canadian Governor General Adrienne Clarkson

Australian Governor General Maj. Gen. Michael Jeffrey

New Zealand Governor General Dame Silvia Cartwright

FORMER LEADERS

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney

Former French President Valery Giscard-d'Estaing

Former Finnish President Mauno Koivisto

Former Polish President Lech Walesa

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone

Former Danish Prime Minister Poul Schlueter

Former Estonian President Lennart Meri

Former Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev

Former Grenadian Governor General Sir Paul Scoon

OTHERS

Britain's Prince Charles

Mexican first lady Marta Sahagun

REAGAN BUGLE: After Army Sgt. Maj. Woodrow English finishes playing taps at Reagan's California gravesite Friday night, he will donate his bugle to the Reagan family. The bugle was used at a number of wreath-laying ceremonies officiated by Reagan in the 1980s.

CARRIER'S FLAG: The American flag that flew over the USS Ronald Reagan when Reagan died Saturday will be presented to Nancy Reagan during his burial service, the Navy said Thursday. Mrs. Reagan christened the carrier in 2001.

HONORS: Bells will ring 40 times in honor of the nation's 40th president at churches around the nation, including the National Cathedral, today. And for three minutes tonight, Las Vegas will lose its glimmer briefly as casino lights will be dimmed.

OLIVER NORTH: Oliver L. North, the decorated Marine who came to personify the Iran-Contra scandal with his testimony before Congress, won't attend Reagan's funeral to avoid being a distraction, he says.