Ronald Reagan's memorial unveiled in front of US Embassy in Warsaw

photo - PAP/Andrzej Hrechorowicz

The former Solidarity leader said that “as a participant in these events,” it was “inconceivable” that such changes would have come about without the last American president during the post-1945 cold-war era.

Walesa added that thirty years ago, it seemed that the fall of the communist system would not be possible without a nuclear war.

The bronze statue of Reagan has been installed not far from the American Embassy, on Ujazdowskie Avenue, one of the capital's most picturesque thoroughfares.

A statement from President Barack Obama was read out to the guests attending the ceremony, which said that: “The location of this monument is a fitting reminder of the close ties between the American and Polish people, and a tribute to the strong support the United States gave Poland during its long struggle to free itself from communist rule”.

The three-metre high monument, designed by sculptor Wlaydyslaw Dudek, depicts Reagen nicknamed ‘the Gipper’ making his famed 1987 speech at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

During the Berlin address Reagan called on his Russian counterpart, President Gorbachev, to “tear down this wall.”

A letter was also read from Nancy Reagan. “I am touched by today’s ceremony in Warsaw to recognize his accomplishments,” Reagan’s widow writes.

“My husband always felt a strong bond with the people of Poland who longed for freedom. I remember the Christmas in 1981 [after martial law had been declared] when we placed candles in our White House windows, in honour of Solidarity, as [Reagan] was determined that America would do everything it could to advance liberty,” she writes.

Although the statue was created as a result of a private initiative by a group of Polish businessmen, today's ceremony was attended by a number of state dignitaries.

Poland's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski was joined by US Ambassador to Poland Lee A. Feinstein, as well Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.

Three American senators also flew to Poland for the event. (pg/nh)

The monument has been situated vis-a-vis the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw and will always remind us, the Polish people, of the best of America. However, Lech Walesa who unveils memorials to Ronald Reagan refuses to commemorate his own president Lech Kaczynski who was killed in a plane crash in Russia in 2010.

"The only significant (good) thing that Lech Kaczynski did to Poland was that he died.", said Lech Walesa in a TV interview which can be seen on YouTube in the Polish language. This made that half of the Polish people, the part who votes for conservatives, just hate that man for his cynisism and untold primitive contempt for the man, we, the conservatives, deem to be a national hero.

Therefore, while the need to commemorate The Gipper is as obvious for the Poles as the Sun in the sky, still, the man who unveiled this monument, imho, should not have been there in that place at that time.

"Hanna Beata Gronkiewicz-Waltz (Polish pronunciation: [ˈxanna ɡrɔnˈkʲevʲit͡ʂ ˈvalt͡s], born 4 November 1952 in Warsaw) is a Polish liberal-conservative politician who has been the Mayor of Warsaw since 2 December 2006. She is the first woman to ever hold this position."

A Polish liberal-conservative?

I suspected as much with the hyphenated name.

I hope the liberals stay the hell out of Poland!

"Liberal" in the European sense of being for limited government and free markets.

"Conservative" in the European sense of favoring traditional moral values and continuity.

Poland is a rarity in Europe: the liberal-conservatives and the right-wingers are the number one and number two parties with the socialists/excommunists further behind.

“liberal”, in the sense we Poles use it, means pro fiscal freedom. Conservative, used together with liberal, means that a person is pro capitalistic with pro low taxes option. Liberal conservative does not actually say about his/her viewpoints on religion, God, etc, so it can also embrace the right wing of the US Democratic Party or the RINOs.

The social conservatives, on the other hand, are those, whose main imperative is based on Ten Commandments, both in economy and in the social live. So, just like in the Holy Bible, taxes should be at the level of 1/10 of income and the main economical goal of the Conservatives is to build the economy system based on it, or at least to do the best to get closer to that model, as close as possible.
As to social matters - no abortion, no euthanasia, no etc. homosexual marriages, etc. Family, a union between a man and a woman, is absolutely A.No1, protected and supported by the whole power of the state, etc. etc. etc.
They, like HG Waltz and her party, don't give a da*n for that, while to us, this is as basic and simple as ABC. No compromises.

I miss President Reagan. I am old enough to remember how horrible Carter was and he made us feel ashamed to be Americans and if I remember right, Carter remarked that it would be beneficial to us that our standard of living goes down !

And the current W.H. occupant goes and travels the world and badmouths this country now, more direct that what Carter did. And zero calls us American’s lazy. Maybe we don’t want to work hard since we get punished with more taxes !

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Walesa unveils one more for the 'Gipper'