From a man known for his great ability as an orator, this speech ranks as one of his finest.
The challenge to General Secretary Mikhail Gobachev is by far the most well known part of the speech;
"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!"
For the full text of the speech, and audio and video downloads go to
www.americanrhetoric. com/mp3clips/politicalspeeches/reaganbrandenburg4346.mp3
For those of you born after 1975, it may be hard to fully appreciate the perils and terrors of the so called Cold War.
Millions of people in the former Soviet Union and their vassal states in Eastern Europe did not find it particularly cold.
A divided Berlin typified the struggle.
I well remember nuclear 'drills' while in elementary school in Hialeah FL during the early sixties, and I also remember convoys of troops rolling through town during October of 1961 during the Cuban Missle Crises. Read "Thirteen Days" by Robert F. Kennedy, or view the excellent movie "The Missles of October" for a feel for that era.
The Marshall plan set in place in the years after WWII guaranteed that Berlin would have a free, Western sector even though the city was in Eastern Germany, the communist side.
Many thousands died in the attempt at escaping imprisonment in East Germany.
The Stazi was the East German intelligence service, and they were very effective and particularly ruthless.
The wall itself went up almost overnight in 1961, and seemed to catch the west by surprise.
For a good Hollywood look at that era check out "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" starring Richard Burton.
The phrase "Checkpoint Charlie" became a part of everyday vernacular in the 1960's.
President Reagan was ardently anti-communist, and viewed the liberation of those under Soviet tyranny the most important goal of his administration.
Although intellectual elitists made fun of his statements during the early portion of his first term regarding the fall of communism and the Soviet Union in particular, he soldiered on.
Early attempts at nuclear arms reduction also brought jeers and derision from them.
And when he responded to the Soviet's placing medium range missles in the Eastern bloc by deploying our own Pershing system, alarmists labeled him the most dangerous man on earth.
But his response, along with the ascension to power of Mikhail Gorbachev to the top post of General Secretary of the Soviet Union started the process of change.
When the President walked out of a conference with Gorbachev when he viewed his demands as unreasonable, critics roasted him.
But some months after his Brandenburg speech, Mr. Gorbachev came to Washington on a state visit, and preliminary agreement was reached on the first major nuclear reduction pact in history.
Later, President Reagan visited Moscow on a state visit, an event deemed impossible by his critics.
The agreement was signed, two years later the Soviet Union ceased to exist, and the Iron Curtain came down for good.
Many thousands of brave men and women risked and sacrificed their lives in their own fight for freedom, among them Lech Walesea who led the solidarity movement in Poland.
Their outpouring of affection for Ronald Reagan when he passed in 2004 was genuine and widespread.
The world is indeed a very different place today than it was during my youth.
I wonder what Reagan would think of President Putin's efforts to return to the darkness in Russia today, and indeed what Gorbachev must think?
Once again they proved what reasonable men of good will can accomplish despite the opposition of those who say "It can't be done!"
We all owe them a debt that can never fully be paid.
No comments:
Post a Comment