oracle
06-16-2002, 05:07 PM
'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall' (http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020616-80797860.htm)
Editorial
Washington Times
History rarely cooperates by offering the opportunity to celebrate two pivotal events within a compacted period of time. But early June provided just such a constellation. In celebrating the anniversaries of the Gipper's historic, freedom-cherishing orations, we note that the Soviet Union's collapse upon the ash heap of history and the destruction of the Berlin Wall certainly would not have happened nearly as quickly without the indispensable role that Ronald Reagan played in history.
Specifically, June 8 was the 20th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's brilliant address before the British Parliament promoting democracy during an extremely dicey period of the Cold War. And June 12 was the 15th anniversary of Mr. Reagan's challenging oration at the Berlin Wall, also delivered at a key moment in history.
With the knowledge of how history has evolved since those speeches were delivered, including some very favorable developments in recent weeks, re-reading them today compels one to look with awe upon the prescience of the Gipper's rhetoric. History has already proven Mr. Reagan's greatness as a president, in no small part because he never lost focus from his single-minded determination to expand liberty and freedom through strength. Share with us the celebration of the triumph of America's ideals and Mr. Reagan's ideas.
At Parliament, Mr. Reagan told his hosts "how much at home [Americans] feel in your house," which he rightly described as "one of democracy's shrines [where] the rights of free people and the processes of representation have been debated and refined." From London, Mr. Reagan noted, he would travel to "Berlin, where there stands a grim symbol of power untamed." Then Mr. Reagan let it rip. "The Berlin Wall, that dreadful gash across the city, is in its third decade," he told his audience, which did not include, by the way, boycotting Labor Party members. Foreshadowing the "Evil Empire" speech of the following year, Mr. Reagan declared the Berlin Wall to be "the fitting signature of the regime that built it."
Despite the rueful acknowledgement that the world was "approaching the end of a bloody century plagued by a terrible political invention — totalitarianism," Mr. Reagan nonetheless rejected any sense of pessimism. To the contrary. "Optimism is in order," he asserted, "because, day by day, democracy is proving itself to be a not-at-all fragile flower." In an adaptation of Winston Churchill's famous Iron Curtain speech delivered 36 years earlier in Fulton, Mo., the Gipper then laid it on the line. "From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea," the president said, "the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than 30 years to establish their legitimacy. But none — not one regime — has yet been able to risk free elections. Regimes planted by bayonets," he presciently stated, "do not take root."
...
As he did before the British Parliament, the ever-optimistic Ronald Reagan offered a confident predicton in Berlin. "Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall," Mr. Reagan promised. "For it cannot withstand faith. It cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom."
Click here to read more (http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020616-80797860.htm)
Editorial
Washington Times
History rarely cooperates by offering the opportunity to celebrate two pivotal events within a compacted period of time. But early June provided just such a constellation. In celebrating the anniversaries of the Gipper's historic, freedom-cherishing orations, we note that the Soviet Union's collapse upon the ash heap of history and the destruction of the Berlin Wall certainly would not have happened nearly as quickly without the indispensable role that Ronald Reagan played in history.
Specifically, June 8 was the 20th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's brilliant address before the British Parliament promoting democracy during an extremely dicey period of the Cold War. And June 12 was the 15th anniversary of Mr. Reagan's challenging oration at the Berlin Wall, also delivered at a key moment in history.
With the knowledge of how history has evolved since those speeches were delivered, including some very favorable developments in recent weeks, re-reading them today compels one to look with awe upon the prescience of the Gipper's rhetoric. History has already proven Mr. Reagan's greatness as a president, in no small part because he never lost focus from his single-minded determination to expand liberty and freedom through strength. Share with us the celebration of the triumph of America's ideals and Mr. Reagan's ideas.
At Parliament, Mr. Reagan told his hosts "how much at home [Americans] feel in your house," which he rightly described as "one of democracy's shrines [where] the rights of free people and the processes of representation have been debated and refined." From London, Mr. Reagan noted, he would travel to "Berlin, where there stands a grim symbol of power untamed." Then Mr. Reagan let it rip. "The Berlin Wall, that dreadful gash across the city, is in its third decade," he told his audience, which did not include, by the way, boycotting Labor Party members. Foreshadowing the "Evil Empire" speech of the following year, Mr. Reagan declared the Berlin Wall to be "the fitting signature of the regime that built it."
Despite the rueful acknowledgement that the world was "approaching the end of a bloody century plagued by a terrible political invention — totalitarianism," Mr. Reagan nonetheless rejected any sense of pessimism. To the contrary. "Optimism is in order," he asserted, "because, day by day, democracy is proving itself to be a not-at-all fragile flower." In an adaptation of Winston Churchill's famous Iron Curtain speech delivered 36 years earlier in Fulton, Mo., the Gipper then laid it on the line. "From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea," the president said, "the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than 30 years to establish their legitimacy. But none — not one regime — has yet been able to risk free elections. Regimes planted by bayonets," he presciently stated, "do not take root."
...
As he did before the British Parliament, the ever-optimistic Ronald Reagan offered a confident predicton in Berlin. "Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall," Mr. Reagan promised. "For it cannot withstand faith. It cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom."
Click here to read more (http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020616-80797860.htm)