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42.Ronald Reagan: Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate

Thank you. Thank you, very much.

Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty
four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, and speaking to
the people of this city and the world at the city hall. Well since then
two other presidents have come, each in his turn to Berlin. And today, I,
myself, make my second visit to your city.

We come to Berlin, we American Presidents, because it's our duty to speak
in this place of freedom. But I must confess, we’re drawn here by other
things as well; by the feeling of history in this city -- more than 500
years older than our own nation; by the beauty of the Grunewald and the
Teirgarten; most of all, by your courage and determination. Perhaps the
composer, Paul Linke, understood something about American Presidents. You
see, like so many presidents before me, I come here today because wherever
I go, whatever I do: “Ich hab noch einen hoffer in Berlin” [I still have a
suitcase in Berlin.]

Our gathering today is being broadcast throughout Western Europe and North
America. I understand that it is being seen and heard as well in the East.
To those listening throughout Eastern Europe, I extend my warmest
greetings and the good will of the American people. To those listening in
East Berlin, a special word: Although I cannot be with you, I address my
remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me. For I
join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this
unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin. [There is only one Berlin.]
Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part
of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe.
From the Baltic South. those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of
barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers. Farther south, there
may be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and
checkpoints all the same -- still a restriction on the right to travel,
still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a
totalitarian state.

Yet, it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly; here,
cutting across your city, where the news photo and the television screen
have imprinted this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the
world.

Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German separated from
his fellow men.

Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar.
President von Weizsacker has said, "The German question is open as long as
the Brandenburg Gate is closed." Well today -- today I say: As long as the
gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it
is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of
freedom for all mankind.
Yet, I do not come here to lament. For I find in Berlin a message of hope,
even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph.
In this season of spring in 1945, the people of Berlin emerged from their
air-raid shelters to find devastation. Thousands of miles away, the people
of the United States reached out to help. And in 1947 Secretary of State
-- as you've been told --George Marshall announced the creation of what
would become known as the Marshall Plan. Speaking precisely 40 years ago
this month, he said: "Our policy is directed not against any country or
doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos."
In the Reichstag a few moments ago, I saw a display commemorating this
40th anniversary of the Marshall Plan. I was struck by the sign on a
burnt-out, gutted structure that was being rebuilt. I understand that
Berliners of my own generation can remember seeing signs like it dotted
throughout the western sectors of the city. The sign read simply: "The
Marshall Plan is helping here to strengthen the free world." A strong,
free world in the West, that dream became real. Japan rose from ruin to
become an economic giant. Italy, France, Belgium -- virtually every nation
in Western Europe saw political and economic rebirth; the European
Community was founded.
In West Germany and here in Berlin, there took place an economic miracle,
the Wirtschaftswunder. Adenauer, Erhard, Reuter, and other leaders
understood the practical importance of liberty -- that just as truth can
flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so
prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman enjoy
economic freedom. The German leaders -- the German leaders reduced
tariffs, expanded free trade, lowered taxes. From 1950 to 1960 alone, the
standard of living in West Germany and Berlin doubled.
Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the
greatest industrial output of any city in Germany -- busy office blocks,
fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of
parkland. Where a city's culture seemed to have been destroyed, today
there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, countless
theaters, and museums. Where there was want, today there's abundance --
food, clothing, automobiles -- the wonderful goods of the Kudamm. From
devastation, from utter ruin, you Berliners have, in freedom, rebuilt a
city that once again ranks as one of the greatest on earth. The Soviets
may have had other plans. But my friends, there were a few things the
Soviets didn't count on -- Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner
Schnauze. [Berliner heart, Berliner humor, yes, and a Berliner
Schnauze.**]
In the 1950s -- In the 1950s Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you."
But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of
prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the
Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining
standards of health, *even want of the most basic kind -- too little food.
Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four
decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and
inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the
ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the
victor.*
And now -- now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to
understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new
policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been
released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some
economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom
from state control.
*Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are
they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, *or to
strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and
openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the
advance of human liberty -- the advance of human liberty can only
strengthen the cause of world peace.
There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that
would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for
the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here
to this gate.
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate.
Mr. Gorbachev -- Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
I understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict this
continent, and I pledge to you my country's efforts to help overcome these
burdens. To be sure, we in the West must resist Soviet expansion. So, we
must maintain defenses of unassailable strength. Yet we seek peace; so we
must strive to reduce arms on both sides.
Beginning 10 years ago, the Soviets challenged the Western alliance with a
grave new threat, hundreds of new and more deadly SS-20 nuclear missiles
capable of striking every capital in Europe. The Western alliance
responded by committing itself to a counter-deployment (unless the Soviets
agreed to negotiate a better solution) -- namely, the elimination of such
weapons on both sides. For many months, the Soviets refused to bargain in
earnestness. As the alliance, in turn, prepared to go forward with its
counter-deployment, there were difficult days, days of protests like those
during my 1982 visit to this city; and the Soviets later walked away from
the table.
But through it all, the alliance held firm. And I invite those who
protested then -- I invite those who protest today -- to mark this fact:
Because we remained strong, the Soviets came back to the table. Because we
remained strong, today we have within reach the possibility, not merely of
limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, an
entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.
As I speak, NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland to review the progress
of our proposals for eliminating these weapons. At the talks in Geneva, we
have also proposed deep cuts in strategic offensive weapons. And the
Western allies have likewise made far-reaching proposals to reduce the
danger of conventional war and to place a total ban on chemical weapons.
While we pursue these arms reductions, I pledge to you that we will
maintain the capacity to deter Soviet aggression at any level at which it
might occur. And in cooperation with many of our allies, the United States
is pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative -- research to base
deterrence not on the threat of offensive retaliation, but on defenses
that truly defend; on systems, in short, that will not target populations,
but shield them. By these means we seek to increase the safety of Europe
and all the world. But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do
not mistrust each other because we are armed; we are armed because we
mistrust each other. And our differences are not about weapons but about
liberty. When President Kennedy spoke at the City Hall those 24 years ago,
freedom was encircled; Berlin was under siege. And today, despite all the
pressures upon this city, Berlin stands secure in its liberty. And freedom
itself is transforming the globe.
In the Philippines, in South and Central America, democracy has been given
a rebirth. Throughout the Pacific, free markets are working miracle after
miracle of economic growth. In the industrialized nations, a technological
revolution is taking place, a revolution marked by rapid, dramatic
advances in computers and telecommunications.
In Europe, only one nation and those it controls refuse to join the
community of freedom. Yet in this age of redoubled economic growth, of
information and innovation, the Soviet Union faces a choice: It must make
fundamental changes, or it will become obsolete.
Today thus represents a moment of hope. We in the West stand ready to
cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers
that separate people, to create a safer, freer world. And surely there is
no better place than Berlin, the meeting place of East and West, to make a
start.
Free people of Berlin: Today, as in the past, the United States stands for
the strict observance and full implementation of all parts of the Four
Power Agreement of 1971. Let us use this occasion, the 750th anniversary
of this city, to usher in a new era, to seek a still fuller, richer life
for the Berlin of the future. Together, let us maintain and develop the
ties between the Federal Republic and the Western sectors of Berlin, which
is permitted by the 1971 agreement.
And I invite Mr. Gorbachev: Let us work to bring the Eastern and Western
parts of the city closer together, so that all the inhabitants of all
Berlin can enjoy the benefits that come with life in one of the great
cities of the world.
To open Berlin still further to all Europe, East and West, let us expand
the vital air access to this city, finding ways of making commercial air
service to Berlin more convenient, more comfortable, and more economical.
We look to the day when West Berlin can become one of the chief aviation
hubs in all central Europe.
With -- with our French and British partners, the United States is
prepared to help bring international meetings to Berlin. It would be only
fitting for Berlin to serve as the site of United Nations meetings, or
world conferences on human rights and arms control or other issues that
call for international cooperation.
There is no better way to establish hope for the future than to enlighten
young minds, and we would be honored to sponsor summer youth exchanges,
cultural events, and other programs for young Berliners from the East. Our
French and British friends, I'm certain, will do the same. And it's my
hope that an authority can be found in East Berlin to sponsor visits from
young people of the Western sectors.
One final proposal, one close to my heart: Sport represents a source of
enjoyment and ennoblement, and you may have noted that the Republic of
Korea -- South Korea -- has offered to permit certain events of the 1988
Olympics to take place in the North. International sports competitions of
all kinds could take place in both parts of this city. And what better way
to demonstrate to the world the openness of this city than to offer in
some future year to hold the Olympic games here in Berlin, East and West.
In these four decades, as I have said, you Berliners have built a great
city. You've done so in spite of threats -- the Soviet attempts to impose
the East-mark, the blockade. Today the city thrives in spite of the
challenges implicit in the very presence of this wall. What keeps you
here? Certainly there's a great deal to be said for your fortitude, for
your defiant courage. But I believe there's something deeper, something
that involves Berlin's whole look and feel and way of life -- not mere
sentiment. No one could live long in Berlin without being completely
disabused of illusions. Something, instead, that has seen the difficulties
of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build this
good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence,
that refuses to release human energies or aspirations, something that
speaks with a powerful voice of affirmation, that says "yes" to this city,
yes to the future, yes to freedom. In a word, I would submit that what
keeps you in Berlin is love.
Love both profound and abiding.

Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental
distinction of all between East and West. The totalitarian world produces
backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the
human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world
finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront.
Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they
erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz.
Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what
they view as the tower's one major flaw: treating the glass sphere at the
top with paints and chemicals of every kind. Yet even today when the sun
strikes that sphere, that sphere that towers over all Berlin, the light
makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself,
symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.
As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German
unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a
young Berliner: "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality."
Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall, for it cannot withstand faith; it
cannot withstand the truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.
And I would like, before I close, to say one word. I have read, and I have
been questioned since I've been here about certain demonstrations against
my coming. And I would like to say just one thing, and to those who
demonstrate so. I wonder if they have ever asked themselves that if they
should have the kind of government they apparently seek, no one would ever
be able to do what they're doing again.

Thank you and God bless you all. Thank you.

　