Passage: Ronald Reagan, 93

Ronald Reagan, the U.S. president devoted to winning the Cold War and making people believe it was "morning again in America," died Saturday. The nation's 40th president was a radio sports announcer, an actor, a two-term governor of California and a crusader for conservative politics. Over two presidential terms, from 1981 to 1989, Reagan reshaped the Republican Party in his conservative image and tripled the national debt to $3 trillion in his single-minded competition with the other superpower. Reagan's presidency overlaid the spendthrift 1980s, tagged by some as the Greed Decade -- a time of conspicuous consumption, hostile takeovers, new billionaires and a growing division between rich and poor. Critics still point to Reaganomics as meaning big defense spending at the expense of domestic needs and a growing national debt, yet Reagan was known for his folksy appeal and optimism.
-- Associated Press