Twenty-five years ago this month, on June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan delivered a speech in Berlin. Standing in front of the Berlin Wall, with the Brandenburg Gate, the historic ceremonial entrance to the city, rising behind him, the president of the United States issued a challenge to the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev.
"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."
This may sound odd coming from a Reagan speechwriter, but for much of these past 25 years a question about the Berlin Wall address bothered me: Had it really mattered? The speech had been just that, a speech. Mere talk. Had it made any difference?
The Berlin Wall address revealed a lot about Reagan himself, I always granted. The State Department, the National Security Council and the ranking American diplomat in Berlin all objected to it. The challenge to tear down the wall, they insisted, would raise false hopes, place Mr. Gorbachev in a difficult position inside the Politburo, and divert attention from modest but realistic initiatives, such as negotiations to increase air traffic between West Berlin and Western Europe. State and the NSC submitted alternative drafts—by my count, no fewer than seven—each of which omitted the call to tear down the wall. The president insisted on delivering the call anyway.
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