On June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan issued this statement to Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev…
“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!”
It was the challenge delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall, in a speech at the Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall.
It was a historic moment.
Contributor Andrea Ryan added: A special credit should be given to Peter Robinson, President Reagan’s speechwriter who wrote this speech. He is currently Editor-In-Chief for Ricochet. You can read his three short posts here describing the courage and conviction Reagan had to keep these words under strong objection by the National Security Council and the State Department…wanting those words removed.
Two years later the Berlin Wall came down – on November 9, 1989.
Today German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed the fall as “a dream come true.”
The BBC reported:
The fall of the Berlin Wall has shown the world that dreams can come true and “nothing has to stay as it is”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.
Speaking 25 years after the event, Mrs Merkel said the message for those in countries where rights were threatened was that things could get better.
Earlier she attended a service for the former East German regime’s victims.
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people fleeing from communist East Germany to the West.
Its fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War.
Later in the day, some 7,000 white balloons – perched on 3.6-metre poles to match the height of the wall and stretching for 15km (nine miles) – will be released to symbolise its disappearance.
