Today is the 108th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s birth and the 15th since his passing. This year, the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project is proud to highlight Reagan’s international recognition.
The most recent international effort to honor the late president is statue of Ronald Reagan in Kiev, Ukraine. The Ukrainian Economic Freedoms Foundation started the formal process of getting a permit to construct a monument to Ronald Reagan in the center of the capital, Kyiv in 2017. If approved, the Reagan monument would be placed on the former site of a statue of Communist criminal Dmytro Manuilsky. That statue was destroyed in 2014 during the Revolution of Dignity.
“Ukrainian Economic Freedoms Foundation is looking to get permit to build a monument to Ronald Reagan in the Kyiv city center, on the place where the statue of former communist leader stood up until it was demolished during the 2014 Revolution of Dignity,” said Maryan Zablotskyy, President of the Ukrainian Economic Freedoms Foundation. “This is to underline the great impact Reagan had on the destruction of Communism. Reagan met Ukrainian diaspora and proclaimed: ‘your struggle is our struggle’. And we are forever thankful for that. Ukraine now has special laws in place that forbid the use of any communist regalia and symbols. We think this victory over totalitarianism should be polished with a monument to Reagan, who led the anti-communist movement globally. We have so far developed a concept of the monument with the help of locally known architect Kostyantyn Skrytytsky and will be going through necessary public debates and permit procedure.”
The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, founded by Grover Norquist, endorsed the Kyiv project in a letter to the UEFF. Placing the statue in the same location where the statue of the prominent leader of Communist party of Ukraine once was will serve as a reminder to Ukrainians of their unwavering independence. The site of the proposed Reagan monument is located at the intersection of Str. Lypska and Instytytska, right next to Parliament and government buildings. At the other side of street is a monument to the author of the first Ukrainian constitution.
“So far we have developed a draft concept of the monument. The monument will represent a larger composition, which includes elevation to step up to Reagan,” said Zablotskyy. “This underlines the importance of Reagan. The height of statue itself is 2.4 meters (7 feet, 10 inches). Thus visitors will be able to go up a few steps, shake Reagan’s hand and take a photo while being slightly smaller in size compared to Reagan. Behind Reagan will be a small wall which will feature his quotes about Ukraine and Ukrainian diaspora, for example: ‘Your struggle is our struggle.’
Since 2011, 11 monuments to Reagan have been built across Eastern Europe, such as in Sofia, Budapest, and Tbilisi. There are currently 151 domestic dedications in 32 states and the District of Columbia, and 17 international dedications in nine countries.
The 17 dedications are:
The Ronald Reagan Marine Railway
Pago Pago, American Samoa
Ronald Reagan Street
Prague, Czech Republic
“Grenada Salutes Ronald Reagan, Leader of Freedom” Commemorative Stamp Collection
Grenada
The Ronald Reagan Scholarship Fund
Grenada
Ronald Reagan Statue
Grosvenor Square
London, England
Ronald Reagan Statue
Ballyporeen, Ireland
The Ronald Reagan-Main Street
Ballyporeen, Ireland
The Ronald Reagan Pub
Ballyporeen, Ireland
US Army Kwajalein Atoll/Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site
Republic of the Marshall Islands
Ronald Reagan Statue
Rike Park
Tblisi, Georgia
Ronald Reagan Bust Statue
Budapest City Park
Budapest, Hungary
Ronald Reagan Bronze Statue
Freedom Square
Budapest, Hungary
Ronald Reagan Park
Gdansk, Poland
Ronald Reagan Square
Krakow, Poland
Rondo Ronalda Reagana (Ronald Reagan Circle)
Tarnow, Poland
Ronald Reagan Monument
Wroclaw, Poland
Ronald Reagan Roundabout
Wroclaw, Poland