Post by chad sexington on Jul 4, 2011 4:28:05 GMT -5
A statue of former US President Ronald Reagan will be unveiled later at a ceremony outside the American embassy in central London.
The invited guests include former UK prime minister Baroness Thatcher - who was a close ally of Reagan when they were both in power in the 1980s.
The 10-foot bronze statue was specially commissioned to "recognise Mr Reagan's contribution to ending the Cold War".
A piece of the Berlin Wall will be installed in front of the plinth.
The statue will stand outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, opposite the statue of President Dwight Eisenhower.
Lady Thatcher famously described Mr Reagan as "the second most important man" in her life.
She once said he had "a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty and he did it without a shot being fired".
Lady Thatcher is not expected to attend Monday's unveiling because of her frail health.
Foreign Secretary William Hague and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will speak at the unveiling, which falls on US Independence Day.
Mr Reagan famously described the Soviet Union as the "evil empire" and kept up a hardline strategy towards it, escalating the arms race with the USSR during his firm term in office.
However, during his second term, and after encouragement from Lady Thatcher, Mr Reagan employed diplomatic means as well, meeting Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on a number of occasions and putting pressure on him, both publicly and privately, to reform.
Mr Reagan left the White House in January 1989, shortly before the collapse of communism.
'Underestimated'
Lord Howe, who was foreign secretary under Lady Thatcher, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Mr Reagan was "a formidable leader" who did play a crucial part in ending the Cold War.
"Margaret Thatcher saw his potential in that respect as soon as he was elected," he said.
"She said that his election was a watershed in world politics and she saw it as her duty to do all she could to reinforce his bold strategy."
Lord Howe added: "Many people did underestimate him, but he was, in fact, a man of authority, warmth, determination.
"The Reagan doctrine was what he annunciated - that the West would not abandon those countries which had communism forced upon them - so he made a decisive impact on the world in which we live."
Mr Reagan died in 2004, aged 93, after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for many years.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14009137
Feel free to branch into Reagan chat, Thatcher chat, Cold War chat, or anything related.