Ronald Reagan - Grosvenor Square, London, UK
N 51° 30.649 W 000° 09.148
30U E 697589 N 5710476
This statue of former US President Ronald Reagan stands in the south west corner of Grosvenor Square outside the United States of America embassy.
Waymark Code: WMD5WE
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/23/2011
Views: 4
The bronze statue, about one and a half times lifesize, stands on a granite plinth. Reagan is stood upright with hands at his side. He is wearing a suit with the jacket held closed by one button and a tie. His hair is in the familiar style. He has his back to the United States embassy and is looking into the distance in the direction of Germany.
His gaze passes over a memorial tablet, a few metres to the south of the statue, that records some comments made by and made about President Ronald Reagan. The bronze plaque has a "window" in it with a barbed wire effect carved across it. The window holds a piece of the Berlin Wall from the east side.
The memorial reads:
"'No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.'
Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, 1981-1989, First Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., January 1981.
Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States of America, was a principled fighter for freedom. With a clear vision and will, he gave hope to the oppressed and shamed the oppressors. His contribution to world history in the 20th century culminated in his determined intervention to end the Cold War. President Reagan has left a lasting legacy as a campaigner for global peace.
'With the lever of American patriotism, he lifted up the world. And so today, in Pargue, in Budapest, in Warsaw and Sofia, in Bucharest, in Kiev and in Moscow itself, the world celebrates the life of the great liberator.'
Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister 1979-1990.
'With President Reagan, we travelled the road from confrontation to co-operation. I join in the tribute to this remarkable man and salute him.'
Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1985-1991 (President 1990-1991).'
'I recall with deep gratitude the late President's unwavering commitment... to the cause of freedom as well as his abiding faith in the human and spiritual values which ensure a future of solidarity, justice and peace in our world.'
Pope John Paul II, Pontificate 1978-2005.
'We owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989.'
Lech Walesa, President of Poland 1990-1995.
'Mr Gorbchev, open this gate, Mt Gorbachev, tear down this wall.'
The Berlin Wall symbolised the Cold War in its division of East and West.
The City had been divided by Soviet troops on 13th August 1961, when overnight a barricade of barbed wire coils and concrete posts was built along the 28.5 mile border between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. It was later replaced by a concrete wall with watchtower patrols. Berlin was a western enclave in the middle of the Soviet controlled East Germany, and considered crucially important to NATO.
The building of the wall was authorised by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party, Nikita Krushchev, following political tension between him and the US President John F Kennedy. The instability of the Cold War had created vast migration from the GDR. The wall created human tragedy for Berliners but war was avoided and West Berlin had been saved.
The Berlin Wall remained in place for 28 years and was finally demolished on 9th November 1989, thereby peacefully uniting Germany and liberating Eastern Europe. The reunification of Germany and Berlin took place on 3rd October 1990."
The above says it all about President Reagan and his achievements.
Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.