Ten-foot Reagan statue unveiled in London

(CBS News) 

Ronald Reagan got a rare honor on the other side of the pond on the Fourth of July.

A bronze statue of the 40th U.S. president was unveiled outside the U.S. embassy in London.

A crowd of admirers, mostly Americans, took their seats in one of London's leafiest and most historic parks for the ceremony, reports CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer.

It came on the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth or, as Ronald Reagon Presidential Foundation Chairman Fred Ryan told the crowd, "as I think he would describe it, the 61st anniversary of his 39th birthday!"

The backdrop was festive Fourth of July pomp.

Dignitaries attending included former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

But, Palmer points out, one key figure was missing: Margaret Thatcher, Britain's prime minister during Reagan's term in office and his staunchest international ally.

Too frail to attend, Lady Thatcher asked Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, to read a tribute on her behalf.

It said in part, "Ronald Reagan was a great president and a great man, a true leader for our times. He held clear principles, and acted upon them with purpose."

Ten feet tall and cast in bronze, the statue was commissioned by the Reagan Foundation and paid for by private donors.

Reagan's financial and social conservatism still make him a controversial figure in Britain, Palmer notes, but he is, she says, "widely admired for his diplomatic skills, and especially, his willingness to engage the Soviet Union and help end the Cold War.

"It is for his international statesmanship that Ronald Reagan will be remembered on this side of the Atlantic, and for a rare combination of skill, luck and courage that gave him a giant's role in modern history."

[actornaught]

How appropriate. A lousy president whose "legacy" is almost entirely BS, is represented by what looks all the world like turdmetal.

I'm flush with ambivolence...

[cbsnacilbuper]

The Missing US Ambassador at the feast for Ronald Reagan
Last night's Guildhall dinner in honour of Ronald Reagan's centenary was a truly glittering and warm occasion.

The British roasted lamb and the sunny Californian chardonnay evoked the close Anglo-US relationship of Reagan and Thatcher as much as the fine speeches by Condi Rice and William Hague.

But guests were left asking, where on earth was the American ambassador to London, Louis B Susman?

"Our ambassador should be here," said Lynn de Rothschild, the American entrepreneur who is married to Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and was one of Hillary Clinton's key fundraisers in 2008 as well as a supporter of several Republican presidential candidates. "This was an historic dinner to mark Reagan's centenary and to celebrate him as the man who ended the Cold War. What could not be more important?

[hsinco-2009]

How many tax dollars were wasted on this?

Too many!

[JPinNY24]

Great to see the best president of my times honored, even if it is in Englandistan. I just flushed a 1 lb. statue of Obama.

[RobAla]

People seem to forget what Reagan did for the United States and for the world. I voted for President Carter, and then regretted after the nation came to a fiscal standstill. The year after President Reagan took office, the prime went to 21%. I thought I was fortunate to get a home mortgage loan at 15%, and unemployment was worse than it is today. Reagan turned that around and moved to the nation back into prosperity.

He ignored the left leaning press, and dealt with the Soviet Union as a strong US President to end the Cold War. We could use a President like that today.

[JV1970]

I agree with RobAla! During the Reagan years we were a superpower and not a third world country like we are today. Our military was strong and we held our head high and the president apologized to NO ONE! I wish it was still true today!

[PVperson2]

I don't want to see it until it has a good load of bird crap on it's head, then it'll look natural.

[noloyalisti]

What an awful, awful, pathetic, brainless, corporate puppet Reagan was. The forerunner of the perfect current day Republicon.

[retm-w]

Agreed, and every republican is an exact copy of him.

[noloyalisti]

Reagan was only the 2nd worst president of all time after the lying, killing disaster of Bush Jr. I doubt that statue in London will last long, Reagan was a horrible failure. He was a proponent of failed free-trade, deregulation, privatization and globalization.

I might actually vote for Reagan being the WORST president of all time because of all the future disaster he started.

[WeHappyFew]

Well I shall be at Grosvenor Square, Saturday. I am I the only one who thinks unveiling a statue of a president in london on July 4th a slight **** take on the British?

Anyway, Happy July 4th!

PS I thought the embassy was moving to the South Bank along from MI6. Are they going to dig him up? (The Statue, that is)

[your-one-k1ng]

"Ironically, the statue has the same mental function as Reagan during his last two years in office."

I KID. I KID!