Posted on 06/12/2007 7:59:30 PM PDT by Mr. Brightside
The Speech That Brought Down a Wall
Monday, Jun. 11, 2007 By ROMESH RATNESAR
The four most famous words of Ronald Reagan's Presidency almost were never uttered.
Twenty years ago, on the morning of June 12, 1987, Reagan arrived in Berlin, on the occasion of the city's 750th birthday. He was scheduled to speak on the Western side of the Brandenburg Gate, for years the city's symbolic dividing line.
His speechwriters had drafted an address intended as much for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, with whom Reagan was forging a close relationship, as for the 20,000 people who gathered to hear him speak.
In the speech, Reagan would call on Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, but that language was opposed strongly by Reagan's National Security Council and the State Department, who feared it would be used by hard-liners in the Kremlin to discredit Gorbachev.
When the President's entourage arrived in Berlin, Reagan's team was still arguing over the final wording. State and NSC submitted yet another draft of the speech.
But in the limousine ride to the Wall, Reagan told his deputy chief of staff, Kenneth Duberstein, that he intended to issue the fateful challenge to Gorbachev. "It's the right thing to do," he said.
....
George Shultz went on. "I guess the point I'm making here is that ideas matter a lot, the underlying ideas that stand behind policies. When you don't have ideas, your policies are flip-flopping all over the place. When you do have ideas, you have more consistency. And when you have the right ideas — then you can get somewhere." Reagan had the right ideas.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Even less time will pass before the Bush haters of the Left and Right must acknowledge that Bush’s advocacy of Global Democracy was necessary and brilliant.
Its worth mentioning Colin Powell was also against Reagan making that famous request of Gorby and company.
When the wall fell, President Bush had been in office just a tad longer than W. had been in office when 9/11 happened. That is, I don't think Bush deserves very much credit regarding responsibility at all.
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