Ronald Reagan first visited divided Berlin in November 1978. After a staff ride through East Berlin, he glared at the Berlin Wall and then turned to his campaign strategist, Richard Allen, muttering “Dick, we’ve got to find a way to knock this thing down.”
Seeing the Soviet threat and horrors of communism firsthand reinforced Reagan’s view that the Cold War was a contest between good and evil. He would devote the next decade to developing a peace through strength program based upon moral clarity: recognizing human freedom could not flourish until Soviet communism was defeated.
President Reagan traveled to Berlin in June 1987 to commemorate the city’s 750th anniversary. State Department speechwriters thought Reagan should strike a firm, yet respectful tone that did not upset their West German hosts nor observers in Moscow. But Reagan had a different vision in mind for his second visit as president to the divided city. Standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate addressing a crowd of 45,000, he opened by paying homage to the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift, and President Kennedy’s visit in 1961—all moments the United States stood by Berlin in its hour of need. Then he delivered the heart of his message:
“As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind.” Ronald Reagan, Brandenburg Gate, June 12, 1987
For Reagan, the Berlin Wall symbolized the global struggle between freedom and totalitarianism, and his visit to the frontline of that struggle necessitated a decisive challenge to the communist system.
Reagan scribbled the defining words of the Cold War on his speech cards in his own hand. It was the product of weeks of interagency feuding between the State Department and NSC speechwriters over a key line: “tear down this wall!” The phrase was cut seven times, but Reagan was determined it was the message he wanted to deliver. When Reagan intoned “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” the crowd exploded. The Wall was the physical embodiment of the illegitimacy of the communist system, and Reagan’s challenge exposed it for all to see.
The Berlin Wall was the focus of evil in Reagan’s era, standing 12 feet high on prominent display in Europe’s most important city, and denying freedom to millions in Eastern Europe behind its shadow. Even though it lacks the same physically imposing, emotive effect of the wall, that evil and denial of freedom still exists in the world today from Ukraine to Hong Kong. Reagan’s words to “tear down this wall” were uniquely suited to the wall and the particular circumstances of the Cold War. But the underlying message is a clarion call that still resonates today: his conviction that true peace can only be achieved when the world is safe for human freedom to flourish for all people. We should strive to “tear down this wall” whether figurative, physical, or digital—wherever our adversaries seek to stifle freedom in the world.
