Ronald Reagan's death Saturday produced an outpouring of sympathy and praise for his strength and optimism throughout one of the most consequential political careers in American history.

President Bush, speaking to reporters shortly after midnight at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, credited the 40th president with inheriting “an era of division and self doubt” in America and turning that around. “He leaves behind a nation he restored and a world he helped save,” Bush said.

“He always told us that for America the best was yet to come,” Bush added. “This is true for him too. His work is done, and now a shining city awaits him.”

Reagan had “the strength that comes with character ... the humor that comes with wisdom,” the president said, at one point blinking back tears. “May God bless Ronald Reagan.”

The president's father, President George H.W. Bush, who served eight years as Reagan's vice president, told reporters at his summer home in Maine that he and wife Barbara mourn “the loss of a great president and, for us, a great friend.”

The senior Bush said that what made Reagan special was “his kindness, his decency, his sense of humor -- unbelievable -- and he had a wonderful way where you could disagree with him ... and yet he was never disagreeable about it himself. He was never mean-spirited.”

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said Reagan's political partisanship was never personal or vindictive.

“Even when he was breaking Democrats' hearts, he did so with a smile and in the spirit of honest and open debate,” Kerry said in a statement. “The differences were real, but because of the way President Reagan led, he taught us that there is a big difference between strong beliefs and bitter partisanship.”

Kerry also praised Nancy Reagan, saying, “She loved him with courage and complete devotion. She helped all of us better understand the cruel disease that took him away before it took his life, and what we must do to prevent and cure it.”

President Bill Clinton said Reagan “personified the indomitable optimism of the American people” and praised him “for keeping America in the forefront of the fight for freedom for people everywhere.”

He noted how “fitting” it is that a piece of the Berlin Wall adorns the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, symbolic of Reagan's drive to win the Cold War against the old Soviet Union.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who from his seat in the Senate watched the rise of Reagan and with him the Republican resurgence, said: “We often disagreed on issues of the day, but I had immense respect and admiration for his leadership and his extraordinary ability to inspire the nation to live up to its high ideals.”

Departing from the Democratic pattern, Kennedy also said Reagan “will be honored as the president who won the Cold War.” He drew a direct connection between Reagan's handling of the Soviet Union and his brother's, saying that “his ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall’ will be linked forever with President Kennedy's ‘Ich bin ein Berliner.’”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who followed Reagan's career path from movies to politics and keeps a bust of his “hero” in his statehouse office, noted “the tremendous force” Reagan was as a two-term governor of the Golden State before pursuing the White House.

“He served with dignity and determination, and left us with a blueprint for executive leadership that is still a model today,” Schwarzenegger said. “Gov. Reagan promoted bipartisan cooperation, furthered economic growth and embraced government's duty to protect our natural resources.”

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said Reagan's greatness was “an extension of his goodness,” and he credited him with having “led America out of weakness and malaise to heights of strength and prosperity never before witnessed by any nation in history.”

“The Gipper may be gone, but his legacy and influence on our nation will live on forever,” Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said. “Today we lost the father of the modern conservative movement.”

“No president in American history understood the timber of the American character better than Ronald Reagan,” said Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa.

Drew Lewis, Reagan's transportation secretary from 1981 to 1983, went further: “He was not the laid-back kind of lackadaisical person that he presented himself to be. That was a facade.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said Reagan was a president “of great historic impact who led the United States with strength and conviction.” And “more than two decades after he was first elected president, the Republican Party still bears his imprint,” he added.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia said: “President Ronald Reagan proved that an American, raised in difficult family circumstance, in a small town, with no personal money, could not only succeed but could rise to lead the cause of freedom and declare victory over the tyranny of the former Soviet Union.”