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Reagan's speech during the end of the Cold War
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The speech at the Brandenburg Gate, in June 1987, with the renowned line "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall", was the provocation made by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, to his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev, an approach to which he will answer a few years later by the elimination not only of the "Berlin wall", but also of the Soviet Union. It was a demonstration of force on Reagan’s part, of courage to challenge Gorbachev so openly.
This famous moment occurred, not as everyone would be inclined to believe in his native America, in a studio where he was familiar with every small detail, but in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin. It was happening in 1987, when Europe and the whole world were divided by what Churchill nicknamed "the iron curtain", during the cold war, right in front of the symbol of the divisions, the "Berlin wall". The Brandenburg Gate is one of the most important symbols of Berlin and of Germany, as it was built as a symbol of reconciliation.
Reagan talks about John F. Kennedy’s speech, 24 years before, ab...
He describes the physical wall in Berlin and the wall of restrictions that divides the rest of the country as a scar, insinuating that it is ugly, unnatural, and undesirable. In the third paragraph, he creates a connection between the people of the east and west by describing them as, “fellow countrymen,” and then by saying, “Es gibt nu rein Berlin. [There is only one Berlin.]” This connection poses an enthymeme that the people on both sides of the wall have common goals: freedom, security, and prosperity. Reagan then links these goals to the rest of the world by saying, “Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar.” Until this point, Reagan’s audience appears to be limited to Germans. By unifying these groups, he compels the world to empathize with their German brethren. The pain and suffering felt by the German people becomes that of mankind, encouraging the rest of the world to understand wanting the wall to fall on a personal level. This is further exemplified in the next paragraph when Reagan declares, “As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all
...speech to the world where he was quoted as saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The speech was given at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin (“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall: President Ronald Reagan”). This speech signified the beginning of the end of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. President Reagan’s foreign policy tactics are another reason why he was a great president.
Ronald Reagan adeptly utilizes Ethos Pathos and Logos in his Brandenburg Gate address, he attempts to sway the audience of the importance of success of the marshal plan and western values as a whole, and convince the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961. Reagan begins his speech by addressing the people present and recognizing the “freedom” and “feeling of history” of the city of Berlin has. He makes his first reference to previous speakers by saying, “Twenty four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, and speaking to the people of this city and the world at the city hall. Well since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn to Berlin. And today, I, myself, make my second visit to your city,”( Reagan 361) His first usage of pathos is when he addresses the east berliners who were separated from the westerners by the Berlin wall and tells them, “I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this
...rope and, soon after the Soviet Union itself, the tearing down of the wall signified the collapse for history. The eight years of the Reagan presidency was one of the most high-powered periods, in recent U.S. history, resulting in a major refocusing of the nation's business, social, and international policy. When Ronald Reagan became president, he had a clear vision of what the nation should be and made clear the direction he hoped it would take during his administration. Throughout his presidency, Reagan successfully rebuilt the nations economy, reduced the threat of nuclear war, he reinforced “peace through strength”, single handedly ended the Cold War and brought democratic reform to Eastern Europe.
A couple of the heroic values that Reagan possessed were strength and courage. Most people would agree that it took an agglomeration of strength and courage during the cold war era to make his ever famous, “Tear Down This Wall Speech” in Berlin. Ramesh Jaura explains how many people believe this speech made a positive effect toward ending the cold war:
The audience he was trying to directly get to was the people he understood were listening to it in the East. He also states, “I address my remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me.” To follow up with his statement of intended audience, Reagan says a powerful statement. A statement that is intended to the entirety of the audience. “For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin.” The final sentence meaning “There is only one Berlin.” This is yet another instance in this rhetorical masterpiece that Reagan clearly states his objective of the speech, to unify
The end of World War II was the beginning of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union had control over East Berlin, which was governed by a communist government and the United States had control over West Berlin, which was regulated by a democratic government. Both countries wanted full control over Berlin, so the Soviet Union set up a blockade on the West but was unsuccessful. The Berlin Wall was then built to stabilize the economy of East Berlin, which meant that fewer people could escape the east to live in the west. In the article “The fall of the Berlin Wall: what it meant to be there,” by Timothy Garton Ash, he highlights the feelings of no longer having a “iron curtain” segregating both sides of Berlin.
The Berlin Wall, built in August of 1961, was s physical symbol of the political and emotional divisions of Germany. The Wall was built because of a long lasting suspicion between the Soviet Union on one side and Western Europe and the United States on the other. For 28 years the Berlin Wall separated friends, families, and a nation. After WWII was over Germany was divided into four parts. The United States, Great Britain, and France controlled the three divisions that were formed in the Western half and the Eastern half was controlled by the Soviet Republic. The Western sections eventually united to make a federal republic, while the Eastern half became communist.
Though times were tough for many years for some Germans, things are improving slowly. While the wall was erect, many Germans had high hopes of change and continue to strive towards equality nationwide. In June of 1963 when John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, he gave a very impacting speech to the people of Berlin, "There are some who say that Communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin" (Sidey). Although the wall no longer physically stands, it still today divides Germany and Berlin into two separate states today.
The Berlin Crisis reached its height in the fall of 1961. Between August and October of that year, the world watched as the United States and the Soviet Union faced off across a new Cold War barrier, the Berlin Wall. In some ways, the Wall was Khrushchev’s response to Kennedy’s conventional buildup at the end of July, and there were some in the West who saw it that way. However, as Hope Harrison has clearly shown, Khrushchev was not the dominant actor in the decision to raise the Wall, but rather acquiesced to pressure from East German leader Walter Ulbricht, who regarded the Wall as the first step to resolving East Germany’s political and economic difficulties. The most pressing of these difficulties was the refugee problem, which was at its height in the summer of 1961 as thousands of East Germans reacted to the increased tensions by fleeing westward. But Ulbricht also saw the Wall as a way to assert East German primacy in Berlin, and thus as a way to increase the pressure on the West to accept East German sovereignty over all of Berlin.
After hearing Air Force stories from my Dad, I wanted to learn more about the history of the air force and there isn’t a better place to begin then the event that made the Air Force take off. After World War II, the Air Force got its separation from the Army and needed to make a name for itself. The Berlin Airlift was the event needed to do just that, showing the true ability of the Air Force and how successful they can be. The Berlin Airlift, or known as Operation Vittles, was the United States response to the Soviets placing a blockade of all transportation into Western Berlin by ground and water means. That left the Air Force to step up and bring in the supplies to keep Western Germany and its 2 million population from collapsing and the
the end of World War 1. He is regarded as one of the most well-known
The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 by the GDR (German Democratic Republic - (East Germany) under the pretext of keeping out the fascist enemy infiltrating from West Germany. In actual fact, the wall was built to keep in the population of the GDR, many of whom were fleeing to a better life in West Berlin and other European Countries. Armed border guards were sworn to protect East Germany however they knew that a better life existed on the other side of the wall. The photographer, Peter Leibing, captured the moment in history, when the first GDR Border Guard , Conrad Schumann, finally got the courage to desert his post and leap over the barricade (at that point still a barbed wire fence).
The collapse of the Berlin Wall changed Western Europe as we know it today. The Iron Curtain which had split Europe had ascended and the once divided germans were reunited under one common nation. The causal factors which resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall were internal — communism imploded upon itself—. Gorbachev attempted to reform communism through Glasnost and Perestroika, which were supposed to incorporate economic reforms and transparency, however, history illustrates that increased liberty is incompatible with communism. Dr. Schmidtke argued that structural deficiencies led along with poor economic growth which led to the collapse of communism in Europe, and consequently the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The alienation of intellectuals and the authoritative nature of communist regimes further contributed to the failure of communism in Europe. However, the collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred had it not been for Gorbachev’s Glasnost, Perestroika, and the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine. Along with German official Schabowski whose actions were the catalyst for the mass exodus of persons from the GDR into West Germany. The Collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred so swiftly had Gorbachev not tried to implement reforms to communism.
This was a defining moment for two reasons. First of all, I think this is when all of his thoughts and doubts about the society and his profession truly came alive. This is when they really surfaced. I think that this was the first time he really did anything about what his thoughts.