June 2007

A little over a year ago, Damsel and I visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. One of the exhibits that most impressed us was the huge chunk of the Berlin Wall in the garden west of the library building. Since this is the twentieth anniversary of President Reagan’s famous “Tear Down This Wall” speech, we will post this photo that Damsel snapped of the wall during our visit and an excerpt from the speech given by the best President of the twentieth century.

Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!

And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.

Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. 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! (Click to read the entire speech.)