On June 12, 1987, in one of his most famous Cold War speeches, President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “demolish” the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the repressive communist era in a divided Germany .
In 1945, following the defeat of Germany in World War II, the national capital, Berlin, was divided into four sections, the Americans, the British and the French controlling the Western region and the Soviets taking power in the Eastern region. In May 1949, the three western sections regrouped in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) having been established in October of the same year. In 1952, the border between the two countries was closed and the following year, the East Germans were prosecuted if they left their country without authorization. In August 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected by the East German government to prevent its citizens from escaping west. Between 1949 and the creation of the wall, it is estimated that more than 2.5 million East Germans fled west in search of a less repressive life.
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With the wall as a backdrop, President Reagan told a crowd in West Berlin in 1987: “There is a sign that the Soviets can do that would be unmistakable, which would dramatically advance the cause of freedom and Peace.” He then called his Soviet counterpart: “Secretary-General Gorbachev, if you are looking for peace – if you are looking for prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe – if you are looking for liberalization: come here, to this door . Mr. Gorbachev, open this door. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Reagan then asked Gorbachev to enter into serious arms reduction talks with the United States.
Most listeners at the time viewed Reagan’s speech as a dramatic call to Gorbachev to resume negotiations on nuclear weapons reductions. It was also a reminder that despite the Soviet leader’s public statements about a new relationship with the West, the United States wanted measures to be taken to ease the tensions of the Cold War. Fortunately for the Berliners, the speech also foreshadowed the events to come: two years later, on November 9, 1989, joyful East and West Germans broke the infamous barrier between East Berlin and West Berlin . Germany was officially reunited on October 3, 1990.
Gorbachev, who had been in office since 1985, resigned from his post as Soviet leader in 1991. Reagan, who served two terms as president, from 1981 to 1989, died on June 5, 2004, at the age of 93.
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