Ronald Reagan Tear Down This Wall Essay

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After World War II Germany split into four parts controlled by Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union (Russia). During this time, the United States and the Soviet Union entered the Cold War, where the U.S. tried eliminating Communism and the Soviet Union's supply of nuclear weapons. Berlin the capital of Germany, became divided between the West which belonged to France, Britain, and the United States. East Berlin came under the control of the Communist Soviet Union. Many people didn't like Communism and wanted to escape. In response, the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall to keep citizens from escaping into the West. Construction of the Berlin Wall caused conflicts for many, and in 1987, President Ronald Reagan planned to …show more content…

Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter all tried to have a peaceful coexistence with the Communist Soviet Union. President Reagan went to a totally different way, leading the Soviet Union into an arms race. In this race, the President challenged the Soviet Union to keep with the military advances that the U.S. made. President Reagan knew that leading the Soviet Union into the arms race would cause their system to collapse on itself. June 12th, 1987, President Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin with a crowd as far as he could see and delivered his “Tear Down This Wall” speech. “As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner (quote): ‘This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.’ Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.” Ronald Reagan added this saying just before he was about to give the speech to inspire the citizens of West Berlin.“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” was added into Reagan’s speech by a writer that had heard a woman in West Berlin say, “If this man Gorbachev is serious with his talk, he can prove it and get rid of this wall.” Reagan’s speech had surprisingly, almost no effect on the media of Germany at the time that he delivered the speech. All the praise came after the fall of the