[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 97 (Thursday, June 12, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5536-S5537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              21ST ANNIVERSARY OF ``TEAR DOWN THIS WALL''

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today is the anniversary of an 
important event in recent world history that demonstrates the impact 
that words--well-chosen words--can have.
  June 12, 1987, marks the day that President Ronald Reagan issued a 
challenge to Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to make unmistakably 
clear his commitment to lessening Cold War tensions and increasing 
freedom in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe.
  Speaking before the Brandenburg Gate in what was then West Berlin, 
President Reagan stood only 100 yards away from the Berlin Wall, which 
had divided the free people of West Berlin from the captive Germans in 
Soviet-controlled East Berlin for decades. An estimated 20,000 people 
gathered to hear him, including West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
  ``There is one sign the Soviets could make that would be 
unmistakable,

[[Page S5537]]

that would advance the cause of freedom and peace,'' President Reagan 
said.
  Addressing the Soviet Premier directly, he then continued:

       If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet 
     Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberation: Come here 
     to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, 
     tear down this wall!

  Two years later, Germans East and West did raze that wall, presaging 
German reunification and the fall of the Soviet Union. A piece of the 
Berlin Wall is preserved today in the Ronald Reagan Presidential 
Library in Simi Valley, CA.
  At the time, the Soviet state-run press agency called this historic 
speech ``openly provocative'' and ``war-mongering.'' But Chancellor 
Kohl, who was there, knew the truth. ``Ronald Reagan was a man who 
achieved great things for his country,'' Chancellor Kohl said in 2004. 
``He was a stroke of luck for the world, especially for Europe.''
  There we have an example of the power to make walls crumble, by the 
sound of freedom--all because of the right words, well chosen and 
linked to the right policy.
  We cannot say what national security crisis will confront us in the 
future, but we can say that confront us they will, no question about 
it. When that happens, the world must know that America will fight on 
the side of justice and freedom.
  One great leader made that clear 21 years ago today when he said four 
simple words: ``Tear down this wall.''
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.

                          ____________________