The passing of Ronald Reagan is thrusting former Dole Institute director Richard Norton Smith into the national spotlight.

Among those standing in line Wednesday evening into early Thursday morning in Washington, D.C., to pay respects to former President Ronald Reagan was Richard Norton Smith.

Smith, the former director of the Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University, is considered one of the nation’s leading authorities on American presidents. He was director of the Reagan Library before moving to Lawrence to lead the organization and planning for the Dole Institute. Smith now plays a similar role in Springfield, Ill., where he is overseeing development of the Lincoln Library and Museum.

Those watching television coverage of various facets of the Reagan memorial and funeral events are likely to see and hear Smith. He is due to appear on several C-SPAN programs, CNBC broadcasts, and will be co-anchoring with Chris Wallace the live Fox television network coverage of today’s burial at the Reagan Library at Simi Valley, Calif.

Other television networks sought Smith’s input and participation, but his schedule had been filled by earlier requests.

This offers one more example of the significance of the loss of Smith when he elected to leave KU for the position in Illinois.

How nice it would have been to have the millions of viewers watching Reagan-related events on C-SPAN, CNBC and Fox seeing and hearing the comments of Smith, identified as the director of the Dole Institute at KU, rather than by his current address in Springfield, Ill.

Talk about promoting the image of excellence of a university! It would be difficult to match — even to buy — the public exposure coming from the television appearances Smith is making this weekend.