A ‘solemn night’ for farewells

President Bush silently paid his respects to Ronald Reagan yesterday by visiting the former president’s casket in the Capitol Rotunda as scores of ordinary Americans looked on in wonder.

Joined by first lady Laura Bush, the president was ushered into the hushed chamber, which was not cleared of citizens who had waited hours to visit the flag-draped casket, for about one minute. Stepping forward and blinking back tears, Mr. Bush placed both hands on the coffin and smoothed the flag before quickly departing on what he called a “solemn night” to console Nancy Reagan.

Mr. Bush’s call upon Mrs. Reagan, coming upon his return to Washington after a three-day economic summit in Georgia, was their first meeting since the 93-year-old former president died in Los Angeles after a 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Ronald Reagan was a great man, an historic leader and a national treasure,” Mr. Bush told reporters at the conference. “I’m honored to speak tomorrow at the memorial service on behalf of a grateful nation.”

The president and the first lady were among the estimated 200,000 mourners expected to pass through the Capitol to pay their respects to the former president, most of those visitors waiting patiently for hours in a long line that snaked out of the historic building, down the Hill and across portions of the Mall.

Even senior Hill staffers — who are not accustomed to waiting in line for anything — waited more than an hour in lines routed through the tunnels under the Capitol and complex of office buildings.

Outside, people waited in longer lines on blistering hot concrete.

Army Lt. Larry W. Blevins, 33, woke up yesterday morning and drove eight hours from Fort Bragg, N.C., where he is stationed. After trudging for four hours up the front lawn, he entered the dark, cavernous hallway of the Capitol with a small, leather-embossed box in his hands.

Inside was the Bronze Star Lt. Blevins earned during 11 months as a combat medic in Iraq. He aimed to give the box — with his Bronze Star — to the man he called “the greatest president.”

“He gave so much to us,” Lt. Blevins said. “I just wanted to give something back that meant something to me.”

He picked his Bronze Star, he said, because it represented “the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Robert Riche, 51, of Alexandria arrived outside the Capitol in the at about 3 a.m. with his wife, Lynn, 50, and her mother, Ann Long, 79, and stood in a slow-moving line until just before 7 a.m.

“It was very impressive. We had a quiet, reflective moment as we passed by, and it was worth the wait,” Mr. Riche said after exiting the Rotunda.

Emergency responders treated at least 70 Capitol-bound mourners yesterday for heat exhaustion, with one person hospitalized. An additional 20 persons were treated for an assortment of other ailments, including turned ankles from falling off sidewalk curbs.

Medical personnel and volunteers passed out 17,000 bottles of water.

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