[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 158 (Wednesday, November 10, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14519-S14520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          TEN-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, as we work through the final days of the 
legislation session, we are apt to become mired in the details of our 
work. We can lose sight of the special opportunity we have, as 
legislators, to represent our fellow citizens and to conduct the 
business of a democratic society in the Nation's Capital.
  In this spirit, I wish to draw the Senate's attention to a very 
special anniversary one that I hope can inspire us to bring our efforts 
renewed appreciation for our blessings--and our duties--as legislators 
in the greatest democracy in human history.
  Ten years ago yesterday, the starkest symbol of human bondage in this 
century--the Berlin Wall--shook, cracked, and then collapsed. To be 
sure, it took time for all of it to by physically dismantled. Sections 
of it still stand, left as symbols all at once of man's capacity for 
evil and his insatiable drive to be free. But in one magnificent moment 
10 years ago, without a shot being fired, people who had only known 
cold war captivity crossed the line and became free.
  They were helped across by many hands: by the American people who

[[Page S14520]]

served by the millions in uniform and who put up trillions--trillions--
of dollars to fight the cold war; by the citizens of NATO and other 
allied nations who made similar sacrifices of blood and treasure; by 
many of their fellow countrymen who over many years kept small fires of 
freedom burning in their hearts for the day when the wall would come 
down; and, at critical moments, by great leaders.
  Joseph Shattan, a former White House speech writer and, now, a 
Bradley Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, has chronicled this 
leadership in his book ``Architects of Victory: Six Heroes of Cold 
War,'' published by Heritage, and excerpted recently in essay form in 
the Washington Times. He describes how six remarkable individuals--
Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Knorad Adenauer, Alexander 
Solzhenitsyn, Pope John Paul II, and Ronald Reagan--seized their own 
moment in the cause of freedom.
  Mr. President, as Americans, we should on this day take special note 
of the two American Presidents--one Democrat, one Republican, who 
played such vital roles in bringing about the fall of the Berlin Wall 
ten years ago. Here is Shattan on Harry Truman:

       Underlying Truman's policies was the conviction that Soviet 
     totalitarianism was no different than Nazi totalitarianism. 
     In his view, both the Nazis and the communists violated human 
     rights at home and sought to expand their empires abroad. To 
     secure a world where democratic values might flourish, Truman 
     believed the United States had to contain Soviet 
     expansionism--through economic and military aid if possible, 
     through force of arms if necessary. Over the long run, a 
     successful policy of containment would cause Soviet leaders 
     to lose their faith in the inevitability of a global 
     communist triumph. Only then could negotiations with Moscow 
     contribute to a safer, more peaceful world.
       Because the Truman administration's policy of containment 
     set the course for U.S. foreign policy over the next 35 
     years, it seems in retrospect to have been a natural, even 
     inevitable, response to Soviet aggressiveness. But it was 
     nothing of the sort. Truman's predecessor, Franklin 
     Roosevelt, had taken a markedly different approach toward 
     Moscow--one aimed at cementing an enduring U.S.-Soviet 
     friendship--and when Truman became president, he was 
     determined to follow in FDR's footsteps, even if it meant 
     ignoring his own instincts. But Truman gradually worked 
     his way out from under FDR's long shadow and placed his 
     own indelible stamp on U.S. foreign policy.
       Truman's decisive break with FDR's foreign policy came in a 
     historic speech delivered before a joint session of Congress 
     on March 12, 1947. ``I believe it must be the policy of the 
     United States,'' he declared, ``to support free peoples who 
     are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by 
     outside pressures.'' Alonzo Hamby, one of Truman's 
     biographers, rightly called this speech ``the decisive step 
     in what would soon be called the Cold War.''

  Harry Truman's steadfast commitment to ``free peoples'' assured that 
the Iron Curtain would encroach no further on freedom. But it took 
another President to push the Wall over. Here again is Shattan on 
Ronald Reagan:

       But while liberals frequently disparaged Mr. Reagan's 
     intellect, the fact was that he subscribed wholeheartedly to 
     one major truth that many of his intellectually sophisticated 
     critics either never knew or had forgotten: Societies that 
     encourage freedom and creativity tend to flourish, while 
     societies that suppress liberty tend to stagnate. This was 
     the central truth around which Ronald Reagan fashioned his 
     political career. This was the crucial insight that he 
     articulated with passion and eloquence and pursued with iron 
     resolve. And this was the basis of his Soviet strategy.
       Underlying Mr. Reagan's approach to the Soviet Union was 
     his profound (his critics would say ``childlike'' or 
     ``simplistic'') faith in freedom. Mr. Reagan simply knew that 
     there was no way a closed society like the Soviet Union could 
     prevail against an open society like the United States once 
     the open society made up its mind to win. And Mr. Reagan, 
     years before he became president, decided that the United 
     States would win the Cold War . . . The military buildup, the 
     support of anti-communist movements worldwide (better known 
     as the ``Reagan Doctrine''), the Strategic Defense 
     Initiative, the covert assistance to the Polish trade union 
     Solidarity, the economic sanctions against Moscow--all were 
     meant to force an already shaky Soviet system to embark on a 
     course of radical reform. These reforms (perestroika, 
     glasnost) soon acquired a momentum of their own, and 
     eventually brought down the Soviet Union.
       Mr. Reagan's approach to foreign policy was unprecedented. 
     The traditional U.S. strategy was to seek to contain Soviet 
     power and hope that, at some unspecified point in the future, 
     containment would convince the communist ruling class to 
     abandon its expansionist course. By contrast, Mr. Reagan 
     sought not merely to contain the Soviets but to overwhelm 
     them with demonstrations of U.S. power and resolve that left 
     them with no alternative but to accept the choice he offered 
     them: Change or face defeat.
       His success proved that great leadership does not depend on 
     intellectual or historical sophistication. What is needed, 
     above all, is the right set of convictions and the courage to 
     stand by them. Mr. Reagan's beliefs about freedom and tyranny 
     were uniquely rooted in the American experience, and his 
     courage reflected the quiet self-confidence of the American 
     heartland. His was truly a U.S. presidency that changed the 
     world.

  Much has changed in 10 years. Yes, we still have walls to tear down--
on the Demilitarized Zone in Korea, around the island of Cuba, and 
everywhere that people around the globe still struggle for peace and 
freedom. But the Cold War is over. Freedom won. As we watch the many 
celebrations underway today--in Berlin, all over Europe, and elsewhere 
in the world--let us honor Cold War heroes, and rededicate ourselves to 
the cause of freedom they championed. And, my colleagues, as we conduct 
the people's business, let us seek to renew an abiding reverence for 
the freedom that brings us here.

                          ____________________