President Ronald Reagan, in an 1987 speech, famously said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” (“Tear Down This Wall” speech). Germany and Berlin was divided, one side was controlled by the free world, West Germany and West Berlin, while the other controlled by the communist Soviet Union, East Germany and East Berlin. The Berlin wall was a symbol of the Cold War. It finally fell in 1989 and the Cold War ended soon after. The President of the United States, at the time, stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate, and delivered a speech that called an end to the wall, the arms race, and an end to Communism in Germany. The notorious speech was to convince the people of Germany that breaking barriers and uniting was in Germany’s best interest, …show more content…
As the President of the United States, Reagan is going to be looking out for American interest rather than German interests, even if they are as equally important. While talking about a benefit that would help Berlin, Reagan says, “…United States is prepared to help bring international meeting to Berlin… Berlin to serve as the site of United Nations meetings, or world conferences on human rights and arms control or other issues…” (“Tear Down This Wall” speech). Reagan says this, as a way to show how beneficial the wall coming down would be for Berlin as a whole. When, really, he could have a completely different reason for UN meetings to be held in Germany. Also, never having lived in a communist controlled area, Reagan has to assume, from stories and most likely intelligence agency reports, that it is extremely dictated and tyrannical. He makes the East side of Berlin sound like an extremely miserably place, even though he doesn’t have any first hand experience living there. His assumptions and bias was well covered up because he talked so much about the positive affects on Germany, but ultimately it helped the people understand what life could be like without communism and without a dividing