l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Walesa Unveils Statue of Ronald Reagan in Warsaw
Monday, 21 Nov 2011 09:45 AM
WARSAW, Poland — Former Polish president and anti-communist leader Lech
Walesa unveiled a statue of Ronald Reagan on an elegant Warsaw street on
Monday, honoring the late U.S. president for inspiring Poland's toppling of
communism.
Though Reagan's legacy is mixed in the U.S., across much of central and
eastern Europe he is considered the greatest American leader in recent
history for challenging the Soviet Union.
The moniker he gave it — the "evil empire" — resonated with Poles, who
suffered greatly under Moscow-imposed rule.
"I wonder whether today's Poland, Europe and world could look the same
without president Reagan," Walesa said. "As a participant in those events, I
must say that it's inconceivable."
The 11.5-foot bronze statue depicts a smiling Reagan in a historic moment —
as he stood at a podium at Berlin's Brandenburg gate in 1987 and said the
famous words, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."
It sits across from the U.S. Embassy on Aleje Ujazdowskie, a street lined
with embassies and manicured parks in the heart of the capital.
"Reagan gave us hope," said Janusz Dorosiewicz, the president of the board
of the Ronald Reagan Foundation in Poland. He conceived of the monument and
struggled for six years with bureaucracy to secure the prized location for
the statue.
Several statues of Reagan have gone up this year, the centennial of Reagan's
birth. Most notably, monuments to him have been erected in London and in
Budapest, Hungary, and yet another is to be unveiled later this week in the
former Soviet republic of Georgia.
"We've been joking that there are so many statues that we should do a coffee
table book," said Linda Bond, a representative of the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Foundation, who was in Warsaw for the ceremony.
Read more on Newsmax.com: Walesa Unveils Statue of Ronald Reagan in Warsaw
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now! |
|
