Taking advantage of the east coast hurricane displacing all political news this weekend, a chance for me to catch up with something from July 4 when, as part of the Ronald Reagan Centennial celebrations, a ten-foot tall bronze statue of Reagan was unveiled in London.
Only CBS’s Early Show aired a full story on the event, and video of that is below, in which reporter Elizabeth Palmer concluded that in Britain he’ll be remembered “for a rare combination of skill, luck and courage that gave him a giant’s role in modern history.”
Back on July 4, I posted “Video: Reagan Statue Unveiled in Budapest and Street Named for Him in Prague,” with clips from short FNC and MSNBC news items on those events which took place in the days before the London ceremony.
“A rare honor in Britain for President Ronald Reagan. This morning on the 4th of July our 40th President gets his own statue in London,” anchor Jeff Glor announced on the Monday, July 4 Early Show.
Palmer recounted how “a crowd of admirers, most Americans, took their seats in one of London's most historic parks for the ceremony which marks the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth.”
Palmer offered a pretty positive assessment his legacy:
Ronald Reagan’s financial and social conservatism still make him a controversial figure here in the UK, but he is 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.
