Today in History

Bio of Reagan on Amazon

Tear Down This Wall

Today in 1987, at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, President Ronald Reagan delivered his most famous speech. It is famous for this passage:

Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

The call to tear down the wall is one that President Reagan drafted and insisted on over the objections of his advisers, who feared it would damage the gradually improving relationship between our nation and the USSR.

President's Reagan speech was both prescient and catalyzing - two years later, on November 9, 1989, Reagan's last months in office, East and West Berliners together tore down the wall. Germany was officially reunited on October 3, 1990.

You can watch President Reagan's full speech or read the full text.

There are many, many biographies of President Reagan. I found one that seems objective and quite low-priced for kindle to use as my post picture.