Ronald Reagan's Speech At The Brandenburg Gate

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On June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan became the second of four American Presidents to deliver a speech at the Brandenburg Gate. Just like Thoreau asked for in his essay, Civil Disobedience, Reagan stood in front of a surplus of people and expressed his opinion. “...it’s our duty to speak in this place of freedom,” (AmericanRhetoric.com). Reagan was very well known for being the most exceptional speaking American Presidents. With Berlin split into two pieces after the Cold War, Reagan saw an opportunity to use his flair to not only unify Berlin, but also strengthen the world as a whole. Just like Thoreau and Sojourner Truth, Reagan expressed his audacious opinion to achieve his main objective: To destroy the Berlin Wall. Although his goal of destroying the Berlin Wall was much more specific than Civil Rights or Civic Duty, he strived to achieve it the same way. Instead of just writing a letter to General Secretary Gorbachev, he delivered a compelling speech in front of tens of thousands of people. “Yet, I do not come here in lament. For I find in Berlin a message of hope,” (AmericanRhetoric.com). Reagan is reminding the people of Berlin that all is well and conditions will continue to get better even though it may not seem that way. He …show more content…

The Berlin Wall represented a dissociation between East and West Berlin. That separation was not able to be fixed in a day or two, or by one small letter to the General Secretary. It required an extensive amount of effort by a large group of people. That is why Reagan gave the speech; To get all of the Berliners to join the movement to get Gorbachev to open the gateway of freedom and take down the Berlin Wall. With that being said, all it takes is one person, in this case Reagan, to express their opinion to start a movement and achieve a greater

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