Ronald Reagan: "Tear Down This Wall"

For many months, East Germany's beleaguered rulership tried desperately to quiet an increasingly oppositional movement and stem the tide of the people that were leaving the country (Ratnesar web). There were, by 1989, literal and metaphorical cracks in the communist bloc and the Berlin Wall; however, many thought that the wall would still remain. However, then president Ronald Reagan is quoted as saying, "I didn't know when it would come, but I have to tell you, I'm an eternal optimist" (Ratnesar web). Some two years prior, Reagan had addressed the crowd near Brandenburg Gate and is said to have challenged Soviet leader Miklah Gorbachev to tear down the wall. At the time of the speech, even Reagan's strongest supporters thought it would never happen, and his appeal would not yield a positive gain. Nevertheless, when the wall did actually come down, the world was...
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