Posted on 06/05/2004 3:19:47 PM PDT by Kieri
Across Eastern Europe, Gratitude to a President Who Helped End Communism
By William J. Kole Associated Press Writer Published: Jun 5, 2004
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Leaders, former dissidents and ordinary citizens across eastern Europe expressed gratitude to Ronald Reagan for helping to end decades of "evil empire" communism and Cold War-era oppression. Most of the region threw off communist rule in 1989, the year Reagan retired from a presidency marked by determination to loosen the grip of the Soviet Union through diplomacy and unrelenting appeals to the masses via Radio Free Europe.
As the world paused to remember the sacrifices of Allied troops 60 years ago on D-Day, leaders such as former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban reflected on Reagan's influence in bringing democracy to those starved for it behind the Iron Curtain.
"Hungary and Europe do not forget Ronald Reagan's help and his support for the former communist countries," Orban, 41, told The Associated Press on Saturday.
In 1983, Reagan stunned the world by denouncing the Kremlin as an "evil empire" whose nuclear arsenal threatened the globe.
In 1987, in a speech at the Berlin Wall, he challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev: "If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization ... tear down this wall."
Throughout, the Reagan administration devoted manpower and cash to quietly expanding its contacts in East bloc countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia.
"He is the one who allowed the breakup of the Soviet Union. May God rest his soul," said Bogdan Chireac, a foreign affairs analyst for the Romanian newspaper Adevarul.
Reagan appointed a deputy secretary of state to shuttle in and out of the region, and encouraged others to do the same. He poured millions of dollars into programming by Voice of America and Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, using the airwaves to encourage fledgling pro-democracy movements like Poland's Solidarity.
"During his administration, U.S. citizens at all levels and of all walks of life - politicians, senators, journalists, academics - systematically and repeatedly were visiting Czechoslovakia and other communist countries, meeting the dissidents and the opposition," former Czech dissident Jiri Dienstbier told AP.
"Their open support was very important for our safety and for our position in society," he said.
As his presidency wound down, Reagan lashed out at communism in eastern Europe as "an artificial economic and political system, long imposed on these people against their will."
Within a year, the Berlin Wall had fallen.
"Mr. Reagan, along with Pope John Paul II, was one of the architects who dismantled communism in eastern Europe and stopped the expansion of the Soviet Union," said Ivo Samson, an analyst with the Slovak Foreign Policy Association.
"The fact that today Bulgaria is a member of NATO could happen only after the efforts of this great American president. His name will forever remain in history," said Petko Bocharov, a prominent Bulgarian journalist.
There were some bumps on the road to freedom.
In 1984, while testing a microphone, Reagan cracked a joke that didn't set well with the Soviets at the height of the nuclear arms race. "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes," Reagan quipped.
His administration was criticized by human rights activists for waiting until early 1989, the year the brutal Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was toppled and executed, to withdraw that country's "most favored nation" trade status.
But his speeches, which so often sought to encourage the oppressed while taking aim at their oppressors, stirred a generation.
"For us, Reagan was important because we knew he was really anti-communist, emotionally anti-communist," said Zdenek Kosina, 65, a Czech computer specialist.
"For us, he was a symbol of the United States' genuine determination to bring communism to an end."
Laurentiu Ivan, 35, a customs officer in the Romanian capital, struggled to describe Reagan's legacy and then said: "It is due to him that we are free."
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bump
This is true for each and every one of us.
Across EASTERN Europe. No gratitude from the ingrates he and we protected from communism.
"For us, Reagan was important because we knew he was really anti-communist, emotionally anti-communist," said Zdenek Kosina, 65, a Czech computer specialist.
"For us, he was a symbol of the United States' genuine determination to bring communism to an end."
Laurentiu Ivan, 35, a customs officer in the Romanian capital, struggled to describe Reagan's legacy and then said: "It is due to him that we are free."
I had the fortune to visit eastern Europe several times in the early 90's and witness the monumental change that occured. It was a fascinating time, President Reagan is owed a great deal of gratitude for hastening the end of the evil empire.
He ended Communism in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc countries. Too bad he couldn't end it in the Democrat Party.
Let us not forget the Iron Lady.
Sorry for the duplicate post, but we may be witnessing another historic moment.
The old adage holds that God calls us home when our work here is done. I've a strong sense God picked this hour to call Ronald Reagan home. In some way, I know the passing of Ronald Reagan is going to help cement the opinions of our European allies of the goodness of America on this, the sixtieth anniversary of the D-Day invasion. His passing now may be the last great work God gave Ronald Reagan to undertake.
As I posted in another thread, our friends in Poland, our allies of the 21st Century, are going to be heart-broken today.
I never wept for the passing of a public figure until today. He was truly a giant among men. No other American understood his country so well, and no other forward personage so well represented the desire and necessity for human freedom.
Right now Communism is the least of their nasty attributes.
How do you tell a communist? Well, it?s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-communist? It?s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.
-President Ronald Wilson Reagan
Similar to today's fight against Islamic Fundamentalism [as opposed to the cold war's Communism] majority in the media claimed that Democracy would not and could not work in former Communist countries and that most these countries embraced dictatorship style regime. President Bush is being lambasted in the same fashion Reagan was for trying to spread global Democracy. Will President Bush be the next Reagan for spreading democracy to the Middle East? I think so.
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