Posted on 07/02/2011 4:40:08 AM PDT by naturalman1975
He was the former actor loved and loathed for fighting the unions and championing 'Reaganomics'. .
But all eyes in London on Monday are more likely to be on former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher than Ronald Reagan’s new $800,000 (£500,000) statue.
The frail Iron Lady, who rarely appears in public, is ‘determined’ to attend the unveiling with around 2,000 people on Independence Day.
Baroness Thatcher, 85, declined an invitation to April’s Royal Wedding and could not attend her 85th birthday party last October because she had flu.
But her crucial partnership with Mr Reagan, who died in 2004, is seen by many as the reason for the fall of the Berlin Wall and Soviet Union.
She called him 'one of the greatest men of our time' and he once told an aide: 'Isn't she marvellous?'.
Around 40 per cent of funds for the statue came from UK private donors.
Former U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice will give the keynote address at the ceremony, which is part of a European tour celebrating what would be Mr Reagan's 100th birthday.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Baroness Thatcher’s Scottish Secretary, said Britons were at first concerned about Mr Reagan as the thought he lacked experience.
But he told MSNBC that many were won over by his ‘good judgement, good instincts and guts’ and the British ‘respect his achievements’.
The 10ft bronze monument was sculpted by Chas Fagan, of North Carolina, and will stand near statues to other former presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower.
It will be unveiled outside the U.S. Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, and a plaque will recognise Mr Reagan’s efforts in the Cold War.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
When grown ups were in charge...
Just playing a hunch . . .
But if there is any chance at all, she will attend.
We know her kind. If she believes it is the right thing to do, she will do it.
May God bless and keep Lady Thatcher.
I hope she brings Churchill’s bust to sit beside her at the ceremony.
Does anyone know of a good biography of Lady Thatcher? I’ve been wanting to read one but don’t want to waste my time on a hatchet job.
No one knows how she voted, only that, when asked about the importance of his win to blacks she agreed it was a historic marker.
How fortunate the West was that Reagan, Thatcher, and John Paul II were all in power at the same time.
Actually three of them IMO. Pope John Paul II at the same time was very helpful as well.
We all recall Lady Thatcher's magnificent eulogy at Reagan's funeral. She recorded it, some years earlier, at his request, when he first realized that his faculties were diminishing. There are many who believe that Reagan also reciprocated; that is, he recorded his eulogy of the Iron Lady, and that the DVD is in a vault in London, awaiting the day when Margaret Thatcher leaves us.
To me, that will be something to behold.
Don't fret, you'll get better with experience.
Yes indeed. I am younger than Clinton, but still in the same generation, baby boomer. I have told people if he is the best my generation has to offer, I apologize.
Hear hear.
Thanks for the info!
Baroness Thatcher’s personal assistant said some weeks ago that IF she is well she will meet with Gov Palin when she comes to England, however, the plans are tentative (as is all else) due to the lady’s health.
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