Cold War victor Ronald Reagan dies aged 93

Reagan, who was 93, died at his home in California after his condition deteriorated rapidly over the past few days.

A White House spokeswoman said President Bush, in Paris for the D-Day commemorations, had been notified of Reagan’s death. He called it a "sad day for America".

He added: "A great American life has come to an end. He leaves behind him a world restored and a world he helped to save. His work is done. And now a shining city awaits him."

The US’s 40th president was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1994, five years after leaving the White House after two terms of office. He said then he had begun "the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life".

His legacy is an enduring brand of Republican conviction politics that ensured a firm friendship with the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who shared his core beliefs. The US-UK special relationship was never closer than during those years. He called her the "best man in England" and she responded that he was the "second-most important man in her life" after her husband Denis.

Political leaders and heads of state last night paid tribute to a commanding figure who survived both an assassination attempt and a brush with cancer during his time in the Oval Office.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said he had "heard with sadness" of the former president’s death. "President Reagan will be remembered as a good friend of Britain. At home his vision and leadership restored national self-confidence and brought some significant changes to US politics while abroad the negotiation of arms control agreements in his second term and his statesman-like pursuit of more stable relations with the Soviet Union helped bring about the end of the Cold War.

"He will be greatly missed by his many friends and admirers on this side of the Atlantic."

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "The Queen is saddened by the news."

Thatcher hailed Reagan, one of her "closest political and dearest personal friends," as "a truly great American hero. He will be missed not only by those who knew him and not only by the nation that he served so proudly and loved so deeply, but also by millions of men and women who live in freedom today because of the policies he pursued.

"Ronald Reagan had a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty and he did it without a shot being fired.

"To have achieved so much against such odds and with such humour and humanity made Ronald Reagan a truly great American hero."

Tory leader Michael Howard said: "President Reagan was one of the towering figures of our time, the man who with Margaret Thatcher won the Cold War for the West.

"It is so sadly ironic that he should have died as we prepare to commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the day when the Allies began the liberation of Europe."

Taking office at the age of 69, Reagan had already lived a career outside Washington, one that spanned work as a radio sports announcer, actor, television performer, spokesman for the General Electric Co and a two-term governor of California.

Over two terms, from 1981 to 1989, he reshaped the Republican Party in his conservative image, sought the demise of the Soviet Union and Eastern European communism and tripled the national debt to $3tr in his single-minded competition with the other superpower.

He was elected president in 1980 by an unexpectedly large margin over incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter. His victory provoked scenes of joy, for Carter was seen as a narrow-minded old puritan, even though he was 13 years younger than his successor.

Once more, champagne flowed in the White House - which had been dull and dry throughout the Carter years. But near-tragedy struck 70 days into his presidency on March 30, 1981, when Reagan was leaving a Washington hotel. A young drifter, John Hinckley, fired six shots at him but, although a bullet lodged an inch from Reagan’s heart, he recovered.

He focused much of his presidency on the economy - his particular brand came to be known as "Reaganomics" - and on the Cold War. He vastly increased military spending, driving the federal budget deficit in 1984 up to more than $180bn.

In his second term, however, Reagan was dogged by revelations that he authorised secret arms sales to Iran while seeking Iranian aid to gain the release of American hostages held in Lebanon. Some of the money was used to aid rebels fighting the leftist government of Nicaragua.

Despite the ensuing investigations, he left office in 1989 with the highest popularity rating of any retiring president in the history of modern-day public opinion polls.

Reagan lived longer than any US president, spending his last decade in the shrouded seclusion wrought by his disease, tended by his wife, Nancy, whom he called Mommy, and the select few closest to him.

Although fiercely protective of Reagan’s privacy, the former first lady let people know his mental condition had deteriorated terribly. Last month, she said: "Ronnie’s long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him."

Reagan’s body will be taken to his presidential library and museum in Simi Valley, California, and then flown to Washington to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. His funeral will be at the National Cathedral, an event likely to draw world leaders. The body will then be returned to California for a sunset burial at his library.

Reagan’s oldest daughter, Maureen, from his first marriage, died in August 2001 at the age of 60 from cancer. Three other children survive: Michael, from his first marriage, and Patti Davis and Ron from his second.