Ten-foot Reagan statue unveiled in London

Ronald Reagan assumes his lapidary place in Grosvenor Square today, alongside Franklin D Roosevelt and Dwight D Eisenhower. All three presidents stood with Britain in war; yet Reagan – the man rather than the statue – towers over the other two.

We in this country have particular reason to be grateful to the Gipper. When General Galtieri attacked the Falkland Islands, he did everything he could to support us short of formally entering into hostilities with Argentina. The United States offered Britain immediate logistical and intelligence support. Caspar Weinberger recalled the president telling him to make available whatever military resources the United Kingdom requested without delay.

By contrast, FDR joined the Second World War only when Hitler – in possibly the most unhinged decision of his calamitous life – declared war on the United States. And while we owe a great debt to Ike as a soldier, his record as a president is more chequered. In later life, he identified his failure to support Britain over the Suez affair as the single greatest mistake of his career, and he was right: what misery the Middle East might have been spared had the Anglosphere stood united against Nasser.

Dignitaries attending included former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

But, Palmer points out, one key figure was missing: Margaret Thatcher, Britain's prime minister during Reagan's term in office and his staunchest international ally.

Too frail to attend, Lady Thatcher asked Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, to read a tribute on her behalf.

It said in part, "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."

Ten feet tall and cast in bronze, the statue was commissioned by the Reagan Foundation and paid for by private donors.

Reagan's financial and social conservatism still make him a controversial figure in Britain, Palmer notes, but he is, she says, "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.