22nd Anniversary of Reagan’s “Berlin Wall” Speech

Contrast this speech that actually changed the world for the better with Obama’s Muslim apology speech!

President Reagan’s remarks on East-West relations at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany on June 12, 1987

The entire address is worth listening to. But if your time is limited cue to 11:15 on the clip for the segment which contains the famous phrase “Mr. Gorbachev TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!”

Last year, I posted on the background that lead to Reagan’s demand. Ending the Cold War and removing the last scar left on post World War II Europe was a goal of Ronald Reagan’s for decades.

Many of Reagan’s advisors, including then National Security Advisor Colin Powell, thought the line “tear down this wall” was too strong and tried to get it removed. But Reagan insisted.

Contrast Reagan’s vision for a better, more peaceful world which he outlined in the Berlin Wall speech with Obama’s address in Cairo. Reagan didn’t spend half his speech apologizing for the United States or making absurd moral equivalence comparisons.

President Reagan had the moral fortitude to understand and then to explain that some things are right and some things are wrong. Thinking colored by shades of gray cannot achieve great things.

Years later, former Secretary of State George Schultz reflected on the Berlin speech and said:

“I guess the point I’m making here is that ideas matter a lot, the underlying ideas that stand behind policies. When you don’t have ideas, your policies are flip-flopping all over the place. When you do have ideas, you have more consistency. And when you have the right ideas — then you can get somewhere.”

Reagan got somewhere!