Honor President Reagan's Challenge - Help Tear Down the Walls of Tyranny Wherever They Exist

" Tear down this wall!" The four most famous - and perhaps the most momentous - words of the 20th century. It was the challenge issued by United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall, in a speech at the Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987. President Reagan was in Europe to attend a G-7 meeting and went to Berlin to commemorate the 750th anniversary of the founding of the city. Reagan challenged Gorbachev, who was then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear down the Berlin Wall as a sign of Gorbachev's good faith in expressing his desire to increase freedom in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe - Gorbachev's perestroika (restructuring) and Glasnost (transparency). The Brandenburg Gate site was chosen to highlight President Reagan's conviction that Western democracy offered the best hope to open the Berlin Wall and his speech contained a series of political initiatives to achieve this end. The famous "tear down this wall" phrase was intended as the logical conclusion of the President's proposals. But, when the speech was being drafted, those four words became a source of considerable controversy within the Reagan administration. Several senior staffers and aides advised against the phrase, arguing that it might cause further East-West tensions or embarrass Gorbachev, with whom President Reagan had built a good relationship. However, American officials in West Germany and presidential speechwriter Peter Robinson disagreed. Robinson traveled to West Germany to inspect potential speech venues, and gained an overall sense that the majority of West Berliners opposed the wall. Despite getting little support for suggesting Reagan demand the wall's removal, Robinson kept the phrase in the speech text. On May 18, 1987, President Reagan met with his speechwriters and responded to the speech by saying, "I thought it was a good, solid draft." White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker objected, saying it sounded "extreme" and "unpresidential," and Deputy US National Security Advisor Colin Powell agreed. Nevertheless, Reagan liked the passage and said, "I think we'll leave it in." ~~~~~ Here are those four words spoken by President Reagan : "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!" ~~~~~ Dear readers, we should have honored Ronald Reagan's immortal challenge to tyranny a week ago. But it has been a busy seven days -- seven days that have seen Iraq torn apart by terrorists while an American President who scarcely deserves the title tries to stay out of harm's way - seven days in which American Special Forces who understand that terrorism must always be challenged went into harm's way to take one Libyan terrorist out of action - seven days in which a Ukrainian president challenged tyranny by preparing to join the European Union, despite sabre rattling from Vladimir Putin, the president of an non-democratic Russia, Ukraine's giant neighbor - seven days in which newly elected Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al- Sissi spoke the first words of hope that Egyptians have heard in more than a half century, promising to stop the routine abuse of women and demanding that his new cabinet actually roll up their sleeves and work hard to build a modern and more democratic Egypt. A busy week. One that proves that tyranny and terrorism must be challenged every day and fought back into oblivion whenever they try to enslave mankind...no matter where...no matter who...no matter how many or how few. It is the job that President Reagan entrusted to each of us -- Tear Down This Wall.