Eastern Polish city honours President Reagan

The idea of honouring the late statesman, seven years after his death, came from city councilor Marcin Nowak of the conservative Law and Justice party and the KoLiber Association of young Polish conservative professionals.

According to Nowak, Ronald Reagan was one of the greatest personalities in the history of the 20th century, whose servives for the overthrow of the communist system cannot be overestimated.

Reagan’s two terms of office, from 1981 to 1989, coincided with the crumbling of the Soviet empire, the Solidarity revolution in Poland and the imposition of martial law. In 1981, several months after the formation of Solidarity, the Reagan administration warned Moscow and the Warsaw regime against anti-Solidarity actions. After the imposition of martial law in December 1981, President Reagan supported the Polish cause.

In a special address he said: “Poland is not East or West. Poland is at the centre of European civilisation. It has contributed mightily to this civilisation. It is doing so today by being magnificently unreconciled to oppression.”

In June 1982 President Reagan had an audience with Pope John Paul II devoted to Poland and the Soviet domination in Europe. Some historians later described the contacts between the two men as “one of the great secret alliances of our time”.

It was partly thanks to the US support, which included high tech communications and printing equipment, that by 1988 Solidarity was strong enough to stage nationwide strikes and forced the government to enter into a dialogue.

During a visit to the United States in 2007, the late Polish President Lech Kaczyński presented to Nancy Reagan the Order of the White Eagle as a posthumous homage to Ronald Reagan from the Polish nation.

There are plans to erect a statue in President Reagan’s memory in Warsaw. (mk)