RSS
Home
Reagan: Tear down this wall
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
"Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" -- President Ronald Reagan (1987)
The 10 Best Presidential Speeches
Committed to ending the Cold War in his first inaugural speech as president, Ronald Reagan addressed East and West Berliners on June 12, 1987, in the same spot President Kennedy had spoke more than two decades earlier.
As the Soviet economy collapsed throughout the 1980s, Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began diplomatic efforts to help the USSR explore substantial arms agreements and, as Reagan hoped, to open the region to democracy and the end of both Communism and the Cold War.
U.S. and Soviet Union negotiations were warmed by the relationship between Gorbachev and Reagan, who would successfully petition to the Soviet leader to tear down the Berlin Wall in his now famous speech:
As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.
As a result of Reagan’s strength and determination, demolition of the Berlin Wall would begin in 1989. The Soviet Union would fall in 1991, effectively ending the Cold War.
NEXT: George W. Bush, 9/11 Address--American Resolve
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
