Tear Down This Wall: Main Idea
Tear Down This Wall: Main Idea
The West is the Best, Because Freedom
Nothing puts a spring in the step and a twinkle in the eye like a good dose of ye olde freedom.
The Western world knows this, and its steps are springier than ever. In fact, life in the West is just one big economic party, and it's getting bigger every day. And Reagan's come here to Berlin to stand in front of the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall and talk about it. He gives mad props to West Berlin for all the progress it's made since being all bombed up in World War II, and he brags a bit about how awesome it is to be a Westerner.
But every party needs a pooper. For Reagan, that pooper is the Soviet Union and its buzzkilling communist ways.
After badmouthing communism for a few, though, Reagan shares several ideas on how the East and West could bring some romance back into their relationship. The most popular idea he has is for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall (the crowd really gets behind that one).
Reagan couldn't have known it then, but his call to Gorbachev would be answered. Two years after this speech was delivered, the Berlin Wall came down.
Party on, Berlin.
Questions
- Watch a video or listen to a recording of the speech. Which sentences does Reagan say as if they had exclamation points at the end? Why do you think he chose to emphasize those parts?
- Why did some West Berliners protest President Reagan's visit to their city?
- The famous "tear down this wall" line almost didn't make it into the speech. Two of the possible alternatives were "Herr Gorbachev, bring down this wall" and "One day, this ugly wall will disappear." Would the speech have felt different if one of those lines had been used instead? How?
- If you were a Soviet, the Berlin Wall was referred to as the Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart. What sort of message were the Soviets trying to convey with that name?
- Other than tearing down the Berlin Wall, what specific ideas does Reagan have on how the city of Berlin can bring the East and West together?
Chew On This
This speech is clearly an example of Western Cold War propaganda aimed at an Eastern audience.
This speech is an accurate portrayal of the differences between Eastern and Western nations during the 1980s.
Quotes
Quote #1
Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar. (18-19)
After 9/11 a Paris newspaper, La monde, published an article with a headline that said (in French, of course): "We are all Americans." How is this similar to Reagan's line here? What are they trying to say?
Quote #2
[…] just as truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic freedom. (36)
Reaganism in a nutshell? Reaganism in a nutshell. Individual and economic liberty are the recipe for success. We can see variations on this sentence echoed throughout the Gipper's presidency.
Quote #3
From devastation, from utter ruin, you Berliners have, in freedom, rebuilt a city that once again ranks as one of the greatest on Earth. (42)
Props to Berlin! They've rebuilt their utterly ruined and devastated city…which was largely ruined and devastated by the United States and its allies. (Granted, the Allies were trying to get the Nazis under control, and the Nazi capital was in Berlin, but still.)
Quote #4
In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you." But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind—too little food. (45-47)
That's it, folks, the numbers are in: democracy and capitalism FTW.
Quote #5
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! (61-63)
The implication here is that peace and prosperity for the Soviet Union can only be achieved by the removal of the Berlin Wall. Has the former Soviet Union since found peace and prosperity?