International

Bush's Visit to Rome Marred by Protests

By Don Gonyea

Published June 3, 2004 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 20 years ago.

Anti-war protesters march through the historic Piazza Venezia during President Bush's visit to Rome.

President Bush visited the Vatican on Friday to present Pope John Paul II with the Medal of Freedom -- the highest honor the United States bestows on a civilian. But the politics of the visit were decidedly mixed -- the Pope blessed the naming of new government in Baghdad and urged a full restoration of Iraqi sovereignty, while thousands of protestors outside carried signs saying "No War, No Bush." NPR's Don Gonyea reports from Rome.

International

Don Gonyea

You're most likely to find NPR's Don Gonyea on the road, in some battleground state looking for voters to sit with him at the local lunch spot, the VFW or union hall, at a campaign rally, or at their kitchen tables to tell him what's on their minds. Through countless such conversations over the course of the year, he gets a ground-level view of American elections. Gonyea is NPR's National Political Correspondent, a position he has held since 2010. His reports can be heard on all NPR News programs and at NPR.org. To hear his sound-rich stories is akin to riding in the passenger seat of his rental car, traveling through Iowa or South Carolina or Michigan or wherever, right along with him.

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