Ten-foot Reagan statue unveiled in London

Ronald Reagan got a rare honor on the other side of the pond on the Fourth of July.

A bronze statue of the 40th U.S. president was unveiled outside the U.S. embassy in London.

A crowd of admirers, mostly Americans, took their seats in one of London's leafiest and most historic parks for the ceremony, reports CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer.

It came on the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth or, as Ronald Reagon Presidential Foundation Chairman Fred Ryan told the crowd, "as I think he would describe it, the 61st anniversary of his 39th birthday!"

The backdrop was festive Fourth of July pomp.

Dignitaries attending included former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

But, Palmer points out, one key figure was missing: Margaret Thatcher, Britain's prime minister during Reagan's term in office and his staunchest international ally.

Too frail to attend, Lady Thatcher asked Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, to read a tribute on her behalf.

It said in part, "Ronald Reagan was a great president and a great man, a true leader for our times. He held clear principles, and acted upon them with purpose."

Ten feet tall and cast in bronze, the statue was commissioned by the Reagan Foundation and paid for by private donors.

Reagan's financial and social conservatism still make him a controversial figure in Britain, Palmer notes, but he is, she says, "widely admired for his diplomatic skills, and especially, his willingness to engage the Soviet Union and help end the Cold War.

"It is for his international statesmanship that Ronald Reagan will be remembered on this side of the Atlantic, and for a rare combination of skill, luck and courage that gave him a giant's role in modern history."