FREEDOM SHRINE

Reagan at Brandenburg

1987

• After the Allies won World War II, a period of heightened tensions between the capitalist, democratic West (NATO largely led by the USA) and communist Eastern Europe (the Warsaw Pact led by the USSR) known as the Cold War began. It was characterized by the development of large nuclear forces on both sides and the descending of an “Iron Curtain” that divided Europe. After the war, Germany was divided into two parts - West Germany was a capitalist democracy while the East Germany was communist. Berlin, although geographically within East Germany, was divided into a western half (which was given to West Germany) and an eastern half (which remained with East Germany). To prevent East Germans, many of whom yearned for the prosperity of West Berlin, from defecting, East Germany erected a large wall, the Berlin Wall, around West Berlin. In this seminal speech by Ronald Reagan in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, he focused on how the capitalist, free-market nations of the West and parts of Asia have prospered vis-à-vis their counterparts in Eastern Europe. He also talked about progress between the US and the USSR on nuclear disarmament while committing to the defense of NATO allies. Finally, he delivered the most famous line of the speech: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” In 1989, the Berlin Wall finally came down; East and West Germany and Berlin were reunited. In 1991, the USSR collapsed, bringing the Cold War to an end.