This Day in London
The unveiling of a statue of the fortieth president of the United States.
Lady Thatcher, too frail to attend--thus does the old order pass slowly away--sent a message, which was read by Foreign Minister William Hague:
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. Through his strength and his conviction he brought millions of people to freedom as the Iron Curtain finally came down. It was a pleasure to be his colleague and his friend and I hope that this statue will be a reminder to future generations of the debt we owe him.
Inscribed on the plinth, Prime Minister Thatcher's famous, and wonderfully apt, observation: "Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot."
And--if only for the pleasure of hearing him refuse to participate in the BBC interviewer's air of barely restrained condescension--listen to Lord Howe, who (then Sir Geoffrey Howe) served as Foreign Minister during many of the Thatcher years, discussing Ronald Reagan. The fortieth president, says Howe, "made a decisive impact on the world in which we live."
(With a tip of the hat to Nicholas Mellor for the link to the Howe interview and to Lynn O'Brien, who attended the dedication of the statue, for the full-length photo.)
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May '10
Re: This Day in London
In 1964 I listened to "the speech" that the Gipper gave at the Goldwater convention. I knew from that moment on, until 1988, who I wanted to lead this great nation. I haven't been sure since, well perhaps with Mitch Daniels, be that as it may, but I haven't had such an obvious choice
I listened to a number of great things said, and observed many great things done by Ronald Wilson Reagan. Thanks to a close relative I had a seat closer than the average from which to observe.
Dear God, how we need him now.
Jul '10
Re: This Day in London
F. L. Booth:
Dear God, how we need him now. · Jul 4 at 5:14pm
Dec '10
Re: This Day in London
Jimmy Carter
F. L. Booth:
Dear God, how we need him now. · Jul 4 at 5:14pm
Jul 4 at 6:11pm
Despair is a mortal sin... despair is a mortal sin... despair is a mortal s...
Mar '11
Re: This Day in London
Peter Robinson
And--if only for the pleasure of hearing him refuse to participate in the BBC interviewer's air of barely restrained condescension-
Thanks for the link, Peter. The BBC Today program(me) is famously derisive of Conservative politicians, so actually this interview was less condescending than most - the BBC, in spite of it's bias, still does some great programs.
Hmm, Mr Reagan clearly had some great speechwriters, but towards the end of the interview mention is made of a speech that Mr Reagan gave off the cuff, throwing away the carefully crafted speech that had been prepared for him, and leaving the audience in tears - do you recall that occasion?
As for a statue of Mr Carter (or, shudder, Mr Obama) in London - sadly, it would be better received than Mr Reagan's by the predominantly Liberal UK population. I am in England at the moment, somewhat horrified by the admiration that exists here for Mr Obama, and the disdain for Mrs Palin and Mrs Bachmann, both of whom are regarded as far-right religious lunatics.
So, yes, Jimmy and Western, despair is in order (I don't think it's a mortal sin).
Edited on Jul 5, 2011 at 1:51amMar '11
Re: This Day in London
Nice video of the ceremony, here.
How good Condi Rice looks, compared to our present Secretary of State!
Memo to self: visit the statue next time you are in London, to shake off feelings of despair.
Update: Mr Obama's Ambassador voted absent.
Edited on Jul 5, 2011 at 7:45amApr '11
Re: This Day in London
Margaret Thatcher said "Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot."?!? I have to demur.
During the Cold War, the attitude of the Soviet Politburo, with full concurrence from the Western foreign policy establishment, was "What's ours is ours; what's yours is negotiable". All the fighting took place on our turf. Commie encroachment was successfully turned back in South Vietnam, but after sore-loser Democrats dumped RVN into North Vietnam's lap, the Soviets went on a world-wide shopping spree: South-West Asia, Central America, Southern Africa, the Philippines.
RR turned that around, starting with the ad hoc ousting of Communist usurpers in Grenada. Remember Joseph Savimbi? The Contras? Stingers for the mujaheddin? Everyone knows the Soviets couldn't meet the high-tech challenge of SDI. Less appreciated is that, after they emptied the garage to supply North Vietnam's second mechanized-armor invasion of RVN, their rattle-trap command economy shook itself to pieces trying to provision the Afghan campaign.
It would be less pithy but more accurate to say that RR won the Cold War without engaging regular US combat formations against Soviet, Red Chinese, or their proxies' formations.
Apr '11
Re: This Day in London
I got married in 1980, listened to the campaign and convention on the radio that summer, made it through the Reagan-Volker-Rostenkowski recession, started my family and a new career during the Reagan years, quietly rejoiced as he helped America recover from the Watergate Democrats and Jimmy Carter's malaise, and as a Vietnam vet heard and appreciated the "nightingale's song". His achievements will become more justly measured over time, so perhaps it doesn't matter that his statue in Grosvenor Square, London, is such a gawdawful attempt at public art.
It is a stiff, anodyne, characterless, cookie-cutter, ticky-tacky, $800,000 piece of soulless dreck. The first President since TR who could plausibly be posed on horseback looks like an apparatchik (and wouldn't a cowboy image have gotten up the noses of the effete, anti-Semitic, Commie-loving London bien-pensants). Contrast the statue of Ike. Without the label, the face is unrecognizable for anyone who remembers him--it looks more like Peter Robinson than RR. Is it cast in bronze, or epoxy?
This snarky, clueless BBC clip has shots of all three presidents' statues and a nice comment by Peggy Noonan.