[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 170 (Tuesday, November 17, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2785-E2786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 17, 2009

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.''
  Against the counsel of the State Department and others in 
Washington's foreign policy establishment, President Reagan uttered 
these six words standing at the Brandenburg Gate June 12, 1987--words 
that marked his presidency and defined an era.
  Former Soviet spy Whittaker Chambers famously said when he defected 
that he believed he was joining the right side by rejecting communism, 
but that he was leaving ``the winning side for the losing side.''
  Reagan however, who was himself indelibly shaped by Chambers' account 
of his defection in the historic book Witness, always believed he was 
on the winning side.
  Unbothered by those who cautioned that he would offend the Soviets, 
Reagan, the eternal optimist, felt compelled to issue this challenge to 
Gorbachev believing what seemed to be unimaginable at the time--that 
one day the wall would in fact fall.
  Erected in 1961 the Berlin Wall was an enduring symbol of communism--
a physical manifestation of the divide between East and West, free and 
captive.
  With rapt attention, many Americans gathered around their televisions 
20 years ago as scenes emerged of East Berliners pouring across the 
border, tearfully embracing strangers, and raising glasses of champagne 
as they rejoiced with West Berliners in their newfound liberty--the 
free world rejoiced with them.
  For decades an epic struggle had been underway between two vastly 
different

[[Page E2786]]

ideologies. Then, in the span of a year, three giants converged on the 
world scene and human history was forever changed. England's Iron Lady, 
Margaret Thatcher, Poland's native son, Pope John Paul II, and our own 
Ronald Reagan boldly championed freedom, inspired hope in millions and 
gave those living behind the Iron Curtain the courage to imagine a 
world transformed.
  While the Soviet Union is relegated to the history books, today there 
remain ideologies that threaten human freedom and dignity. There remain 
governments who rule by fear. There remain people held captive in their 
own nation.
  Similarly, there are those who still warn that America ought not 
meddle in other countries internal affairs. There are still those who 
caution against disrupting bilateral relations. There are still those 
who maintain that the desire for freedom and basic human rights is not 
universal.
  But the events of 20 years ago teach us something very, very 
different.
  Ask the Sharanskys and Solzhenitsyns whose lives in prison improved 
when leaders in the West spoke out on their behalf. Ask the thousands 
of East Berliners who, facing certain death if caught, dug tunnels, 
constructed hot air balloons and built pulleys in their desperate 
attempts to escape a literal prison.
  There are lessons to be drawn from this anniversary--lessons which 
must inspire our foreign policy today. People yearn for freedom, they 
crave dignity. These things are not bestowed by the government and as 
such cannot forever be denied by the government. People are inspired by 
words. Dictators cower when their lies are exposed. And seemingly 
impenetrable regimes can find themselves on ``ash heap of history.''

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