Former President's Bronze Likeness Unveiled To Celebrate Centennial

More than a decade after a Washington, DC-area airport was named in his honor, former President Ronald Reagan was honored Tuesday with a nine-foot bronze statue (YouTube screen grab pictured)which overlooks the airport entrance. The Daily Caller reports the ceremony was attended by luminaries from his era, including Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole, and her deputy James Burnley. They noted President Reagan's contributions to setting the stage for modern air travel, and Dole recalled his firing of striking air traffic controllers in 1981 by noting Reagan, “just did what he had to do.”

Burnley observed, “Secretary Dole and I arrived 18 months after the strike. We rebuilt that system in a way that permitted the country’s air traffic control system to be safe and continue to grow.”

The President's 100th birthday earlier this year is prompting many recollections of his years in the White House, and not all those recollections, especially those of the fired PATCO members, are as kind as those of his former administrators. But he has taken his place as a pioneer of modern conservative politics, and a total of four statues of the former president have been dedicated around the world this year.

FMI: www.reaganfoundation.org