Statue of The Great Man Unveiled in London

The 10' bronze statue of Ronald Reagan will stand in Grosvenor Square near statues of Dwight Eisenhower and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The statue was commissioned to "recognise Mr Reagan's contribution to ending the Cold War." It also commemorates the 100 year anniversary since his birth.

From the Telegraph:

Foreign Secretary William Hague and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice both paid tribute to the late President at the unveiling ceremony, which coincides with the US Independence Day celebrations.

"I doubt very much that President Reagan would have even imagined the world that we see today and so this statue of Ronald Reagan is quite clearly a memorial and a commemoration of a glorious past but more importantly it is a call to an even more glorious future," said Ms Rice, who was representing Reagan's widow, Nancy Reagan, at the ceremony.

Mr Reagan's great political ally and friend, former prime minister Baroness Thostaer, was not able to attend due to her physical frailty, so Mr Hague paid tribute to the former President on her behalf: "Ronald Reagan was a great President and a great man. A true leader for our times. It was a pleasure to be his colleague and his friend and I hope that this statue will be a reminder to future generations of the debt we owe him," he said.

And last week, a 7' bronze statue was unveiled in Budapest, Hungary.

A statue of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was unveiled Wednesday in Hungary's capital, where he was honored for his leadership in helping to end communism.

The bronze 2-meter (7-foot) likeness of the 40th president was erected in Budapest at Freedom Square, near both the U.S. Embassy and a World War II memorial to Soviet soldiers killed during the ouster of the Nazis from Hungary.

. . .

Reagan was remembered for the aid and encouragement he gave Hungary and other former Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe to gain back their freedom.

Reagan "changed the world and created a new world for Central Europe," Orban said at the unveiling ceremony. "He tore down the walls which were erected in the path of freedom in the name of distorted and sick ideologies."

Video from the London ceremony below the fold.

posted by rdbrewer at 10:23 AM

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