“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

From Bill Bennett's American Patriot's Almanac:

On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood before the Berlin Wall, symbol of a totalitarian empire that robbed millions of basic human dignity and freedom, and delivered one of the great speeches of the twentieth century. More than a quarter century earlier, Soviet-backed East Germany had built the wall to keep its people from escaping Communist rule. Reagan, who knew his words would be heard on the east side of the wall, spoke directly to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. . . . Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar. . .

[I]n the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health. . . . [T]here stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor. . . .

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!

Less than three years later, the Berlin Wall came down. The Soviet Union and its puppet states crumbled as the Cold War came to an end. The United States, by standing firm for democracy and human rights, helped free millions from tyranny.

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