WALESA GRATEFUL TO REAGAN : POLISH REFORMER HAILS FORMER PRESIDENT'S LEGACY AT LIBRARY CONFERENCE.Byline: Alicia Doyle Daily News Staff Writer Former Polish President Lech Walesa Noun 1. Lech Walesa - Polish labor leader and statesman (born in 1943) Walesa brought an enthusiastic audience to its feet Monday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs as he praised the former U.S. president's role in bringing democracy to Poland. ``We Poles owe him freedom,'' Walesa said through an interpreter. ``Freedom is just like good health - when in good health, you take it for granted, and you appreciate good health only when it's gone.'' The sold-out public conference - ``The Reagan Legacy'' - was intended to shed light on Reagan's impact domestically and abroad, tracing his political career from Hollywood to Sacramento to Washington, D.C. In the first appearance of his three-week U.S. visit, Walesa explained how Reagan's policies facilitated the fall of communism in Poland as well as other portions of Europe and the Soviet Union. ``His policies provided us with a very strong backing,'' Walesa said, stressing Reagan's convictions of democracy, freedom of speech and human rights. ``He thought problems were there to be challenged, and he challenged them.'' Walesa led the Polish trade union Solidarity during the 1980s, and served as president of Poland from 1990 to 1995. He now heads the Lech Walesa Institute Foundation, a Warsaw-based think tank supporting democratization de·moc·ra·tize tr.v. de·moc·ra·tized, de·moc·ra·tiz·ing, de·moc·ra·tiz·es To make democratic. de·moc and free-market reforms in eastern Europe Eastern Europe The countries of eastern Europe, especially those that were allied with the USSR in the Warsaw Pact, which was established in 1955 and dissolved in 1991. . Walesa arrived in Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. from a speaking engagement in Great Britain Great Britain, officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 60,441,000), 94,226 sq mi (244,044 sq km), on the British Isles, off W Europe. The country is often referred to simply as Britain. and heads to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of next. Mike Wallace of ``60 Minutes'' was also a featured speaker at Monday's forum, speaking via satellite on the legacy and influence of the former president. In addition to Wallace, who has followed Reagan's political career since he covered the nation's governors in the 1960s, the conference featured aides and colleagues of Reagan's from throughout his career. Among the featured speakers were Lou Cannon, a Reagan biographer, and Chris Matthews, an aide to the late House Speaker Tip O'Neill. Former ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. newsman Sander Vanocur of The Freedom Forum and former House Minority Leader Robert Michel were also panelists. The conference will be aired on C-SPAN at a later date. Lynda Schuler, spokeswoman for the Reagan Library and Foundation, said the event brought national attention close to home. ``It gave the people in Simi Valley the chance to actually live it,'' Schuler said. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (SIMI and CONEJO--color in CONEJO) Lech Walesa, ex-p resident of Poland, speaks at the Reagan Library. Andy Holzman/Special to the Daily News |
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