Mr Gorbachev Tear Down The Berlin Wall Essay

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” This is one of the most famous quotes from former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. On June 12, 1987 President Reagan flew to Germany to appeal to the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was the physical barrier between West and East Germany, and the symbolic barrier between two political ideologies: democracy and communism.The idea for the Berlin Wall came just after WWII, when the U.S., along with Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union defeated Adolf Hitler, and gained control of the country. At a conference held in 1945 it was decided that Germany would be divided among the four countries to keep history from repeating itself. Between 1945 and 1961 those four parts of Germany
became known as East and West Germany, and freedom in East Germany began to deteriorate. That’s when, in 1961, the infamous Berlin Wall was constructed. Its purpose was to not only keep the West Germans out, but to imprison the East Germans.
And, anyone caught trying to escape over the wall was shot and killed.On June 12, 1987 President Reagan made his now famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate, while standing behind two panes of bullet proof glass. Reagan’s main goal was to convince the people of West Berlin to accept democracy and oppose the Berlin Wall, a wall that had been standing for over 25 years at the time of his speech. At this time tensions between East and West Germany were heightened, making it the perfect time to address the problem at hand. Reagan used most of his time trying to communicate his message quoting bits and pieces of history to support his claims. The structure of Reagan’s speech was very simple to understand. He was basically saying, “This is what the problem is and this is what we need to do to fix it.” Reagan didn’t make any empty claims it was all based on facts. His style was simple, short, and to the point, and written in such a way that people didn’t need a dictionary to follow along with it. Being a former actor, Reagan spoke in a very moving tone of voice which is one of the reasons that his speech had the impact on the people the way it
did. The effect of Reagan’s speech on the people says a lot about his influence and success. At first it seemed like his speech at failed at achieving its goal of getting Gorbechev to tear down the Berlin wall because it didn’t get the immediate media coverage that they had anticipated, and it was criticized for being idealistic. There was no progress for some time and so the whole effort was considered a bust.
The Berlin wall stood for two years after that. And, on November 9, 1989 the East German Communist Party had a change of heart. They decided to allow the German Democratic Republic to come and go across the border whenever they wanted. This was around the time that the media really started paying attention to what was going on in Germany, and praising Reagan for his persistence and his position on human rights and the U.S. foreign policy. The night of November 9, 1989 was an emotional and historic one! People began to freely cross the borders, and many people gathered at the wall with sledge hammers and picks, and whatever else they could find. And, they began to chip away at the wall that once imprisoned them. Reagan will forever live in the history books as the man who brought East and West Germany together again, united a once broken country.