Complete speech by Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate, Friday, June 12, 1987. "Tear down this wall" passage begins at 11:10 into this video. | |
Date | June 12, 1987 |
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Venue | Near the Brandenburg Gate at the presently named Platz des 18. März |
Location | West Berlin |
Also known as | Berlin Wall Speech |
Participants | Ronald Reagan |
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Personal life 33rd Governor of California
40th President of the United States Legacy
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The Berlin Wall Speech was delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987. The speech is commonly known by a key line from the middle part: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had encircled West Berlin since 1961.[1][2][3]
The following day, The New York Times carried Reagan’s picture on the front page, below the title "Reagan Calls on Gorbachev to Tear Down the Berlin Wall". Its impact on the Kremlin became widely known after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.[4] In the post-Cold War era, it was often seen as one of the most memorable performances of an American president in Berlin after John F. Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech of 1963.[5] It was written by Peter Robinson—then a speechwriter for the President—who currently hosts the Uncommon Knowledge program of the Hoover Institution.