June 6, 2004: Headlines: COS - Peru: President Reagan: Legacy: Lansing State Journal: Peru RPCV Peter McPherson remembers Reagan as 'extraordinary'

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Peace Corps Library: Legacy: June 6, 2004: Headlines: President Reagan: Legacy: MSNBC: RPCV Chris Matthews says Ronald Reagan was a political warrior and hero : June 6, 2004: Headlines: COS - Peru: President Reagan: Legacy: Lansing State Journal: Peru RPCV Peter McPherson remembers Reagan as 'extraordinary'

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Peru RPCV Peter McPherson remembers Reagan as 'extraordinary'

Peru RPCV Peter McPherson remembers Reagan as 'extraordinary'

Peru RPCV Peter McPherson remembers Reagan as 'extraordinary'

McPherson remembers Reagan as 'extraordinary'

MSU leader spent 8 years working with president

Caption:Years ago: MSU President Peter McPherson with President Ronald Reagan.

By Sarah McEvilly
Lansing State Journal

MSU President Peter McPherson, who worked with Ronald Reagan during his eight years in the White House, said Saturday he was saddened to lose a "wonderful, extraordinary" man.

"It's really an emotional time to think about all this," McPherson said.

"It was a wonderful experience being there all eight years of the administration working for the president."

McPherson, 63, worked in President Gerald Ford's administration in the 1970s and then spent a year campaigning for Reagan. During the Reagan/Bush transition in 1980-81, McPherson worked as the president's legal counsel.

McPherson said he and other members of the transition team knew they were part of something special.

"The first few weeks were just wonderfully hectic," he said. "Those were momentous times."

McPherson stayed with Reagan, going on to work as administrator of the Agency for International Development and as deputy secretary to the U.S. Treasury Department.

One of his most memorable moments is persuading the president to help starving families in Ethiopia, which had a communist leader.

"The president in many ways was a very compassionate man," he said.

In 1984, Reagan's administration helped deliver half a million tons of food to Ethiopia.

McPherson said the effort brought about one of Reagan's most famous quotes: "A hungry child knows no politics."

"He changed the debate on the role of government," McPherson said.

He last saw the former president in the late 1990s in San Francisco, when Reagan's health was failing due to Alzheimer's disease.

"It was sad," McPherson recalled. "It wasn't the Ronald Reagan I remembered so well."

From contributing to economic policy to helping fight communism, in McPherson's eyes, Reagan did it all.

"He was a wonderful man, an extraordinary motivator," he said. "Reagan is going to be remembered forever as optimistic about America.

"There's no question that he changed the world."

Contact Sarah McEvilly at 377-1052 or smcevilly@lansing. gannett.com.




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Story Source: Lansing State Journal

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Peru; President Reagan; Legacy

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