"Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!" How Ronald Reagan's One Sentence Changed Berlin

Ronald Reagan, White House photo

Today marks the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Many things needed to happen before the wall came down, but Ronald Reagan’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate was one of the keys. Reagan delivered the speech on June 12, 1987. One of the most successful of all rhetorical presidents, Reagan knew how to use speech’s power to accomplish his purposes.

One short passage gave this speech its impact:

“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—Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Mikail Gorbachev was the last dictator of the Soviet Union before it disintegrated into its component states. At the time Reagan gave his speech, East and West Germany were separate nations. West Germany was a member of the Western alliance, while East Germany was a puppet state of the Soviet bloc. Although East Germany had its own government, everyone understood that the Soviet Union pulled its strings. Berlin, Germany’s traditional capital, was divided into East and West after World War II. East Berlin served as East Germany’s capital, while West Berlin, established by the Western Allies, was a symbolic island of freedom surrounded by communist East Germany. And the Wall symbolized tyranny.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop East Germans from fleeing to West Berlin. Nearly 200 people were killed by border guards when they tried to cross the wall, but thousands of people (including hundreds of border guards!) crossed successfully. The Brandenburg Gate, where Reagan stood when he gave the speech, was a major checkpoint for people crossing legally between East and West Berlin. The border was opened and the wall torn down on November 9, 1989. That was more than two years after Reagan’s speech, but one still feels that Reagan’s speech got the thing going, at least symbolically.

And one sentence made the difference: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

The rest of Reagan’s speech was quite good. Reagan uttered many eloquent phrases about freedom democracy, capitalism, and history. Here’s one example:

“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.”

Reagan also talked about arms control, international cooperation, progress, and unity. He proposed economic cooperation, as well as cooperation in international sports. He had quite a few ideas.

But it all came down to one sentence: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Sometimes it’s a speaker’s arguments that make the difference. Sometimes careful reasoning makes the difference. Sometimes it’s a carefully laid-out vision that makes the difference. Sometimes a speaker's storytelling makes the difference.

But, with the Brandenburg Gate speech, one simple sentence made the difference. And down the wall came.


P.S.: Most of Reagan’s presidential speeches were written by speechwriting committees. Reagan told the speechwriting team what he wanted. One speechwriter wrote a draft; the draft circulated around the West Wing, and relevant executive branch officers suggested changes. Reagan did the final editing himself. The Brandenburg Gate speech was one of his best. I recommend a wonderful book by Reagan’s speechwriter Peggy Noonan, What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era.

P.P.S.: I have often wondered why Noonan and others kept talking about a conservative revolution. Revolution strikes me as the opposite of being a conservative. What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment.