Tear down this wall
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"Tear down this wall" is the famous challenge from United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate, right by the Berlin Wall, on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev, who then was the General Secretary of the Soviet Union, to tear it down as a symbol of his desire for increasing freedom in the Soviet bloc. Although the wall was technically the responsibility of the East German government, the United States considered East Germany to be a Soviet puppet state.
Reagan delivered the Tear Down This Wall speech, despite objections from the State Department and National Security Council. National Security Advisor (and future Secretary of State) General Colin Powell was one of the administration's major opponents of the speech.
On October 18 1989, East German leader Erich Honecker resigned, and on November 9, East Germany's new leadership eased restrictions on East Germans leaving the country, effectively marking the fall of the Berlin Wall. There is disagreement as to the amount of influence, if any, which the challenge had, with some sources[link] Washington Times obituary of Reagan citing the subsequent fall as evidence that it was a turning point while others[link] Letters to the editor in reply to an LA Times article crediting Regan with the fall of the Berlin wall. maintain that Reagan's speech was simply well-timed.
References
Peter Robinson, It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP, 2000, hardcover, Warner Books, ISBN 0446526657
External links
- [Full text of the speech]
- [Media met its match] - obituary crediting Reagan with getting rid of the Berlin Wall
- [Listen to the entire speech]
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