And a way too large to hotlink picture from Wikipedia.
Posted on 06/02/2015 10:08:54 PM PDT by Ray76
(Aug 2, 2012) POLISH officials have unveiled a statue of former President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, honouring two men widely credited in this Eastern European country with helping to topple communism 23 years ago.
The statue was unveiled in Gdansk, the birthplace of Lech Walesa's Solidarity movement, in the presence of about 120 former Solidarity activists, many of whom were imprisoned in the 1980s for their roles in organising or taking part in strikes against the communist regime.
The bronze statue, erected in the lush seaside President Ronald Reagan Park, is a slightly larger-than-life rendering of the two late leaders.
It was inspired by an Associated Press photograph taken in 1987 on John Paul's second pontifical visit to the US.
The photographer who took the picture, Scott Stewart, expressed satisfaction that one of his pictures has helped immortalise "a wonderful moment in time between the two men."
"In the news business we're used to having a moment and then that moment being gone a day later. This is one image that should last for a good long time," Stewart, who now teaches graphic design and photography at Greenville Technical College in South Carolina, said in a phone interview a day before the ceremony.
"I'm happy that it's been chosen as the seminal moment to represent the relationship of these two people to Poland."
Reagan and John Paul shared a conviction that communism was a moral evil, not just a bad economic system.
Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement that led the anti-communist struggle in Poland, has often paid homage to both men and told the AP in a recent interview that he deeply respected Reagan.
"Reagan should have a monument in every city," Walesa said.
Poles widely credit the Polish-born pontiff's first visit to his homeland after becoming pope as the inspiration for Solidarity's birth.
How many lives and future lives did he free from communism? what a great man.
“”Reagan should have a monument in every city,” Walesa said. “
Yessir. Except animal-infested blue cities like Baltimore or Sanfagcisco..
And a way too large to hotlink picture from Wikipedia.
The rock group Rush did a song about the collapse of the Soviet Union
“Heresy”
All around that dull gray world
From Moscow to Berlin
People storm the barricades
Walls go tumbling in
The counter-revolution
People smiling through their tears
Who can give them back their lives
And all those wasted years?
All those precious wasted years -
Who will pay?......
ping
The United States and Reagan of course needed people friendly to our cause and that of NATO’s to help, solidarity, Thatcher a Pope that could help, but Reagan was what made it happen, Reagan and the American military and billions of the American taxpayers money.
If not for Reagan, the Russian empire would have already conquered Europe, or nuclear holocaust, or the Cold War would still be on, and things would look very different for the world today with the USSR and this rich and powerful China still shrinking the free world.
Reagan sure seemed corny at times on TV, to this teen then, but he was genuine. Election day 1980, the day I found out being registered for the draft didn’t equate to being registered to vote!
Why not, I ask, AGAIN!?
I think one should be required to put two years in military service in order to vote, or get medical deferment.
The way things are now, I would not be surprised if things like Lenin’s tomb and the Kremlin and Red Square were to be moved to somewhere like New York City, DC, Chicago, or San Francisco.
I believe this is when Reagan met the pope at Vizcaya in Miami.
I really like that!
Great Statue.
I wonder how many ‘American’ cities have a Ronald Reagan Park?
Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3296302/posts
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
