— Ch. 1 · Historical Context And Background —
Tear down this wall!.
~4 min read · Ch. 1 of 5
On the 12th of June 1987, the United States president Ronald Reagan stood before the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin. This location had been a flashpoint since 1961 when the wall first encircled the western sector of the city. The geopolitical climate remained tense as East and West Germany sat on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. Previous presidential attempts to address the issue included a 1982 visit where Reagan asked Soviet leaders why the wall existed. In 1986, twenty-five years after construction began, Reagan told West German newspaper Bild-Zeitung that he called for its removal. That same year, fifty thousand people demonstrated against his presence in West Berlin. Police deployed more officers than at any time since World War II to manage the unrest. Wide swaths of the city closed off to prevent further anti-Reagan protests. Movement throughout Kreuzberg district was completely restrained during the visit.
Speech Writing And Internal Debate
Peter Robinson traveled to West Germany to inspect potential speech venues before drafting the text. He gained an overall sense that the majority of West Berliners opposed the wall despite official restrictions. Senior staffers advised against including the phrase tear down this wall due to fears of causing tension. White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker objected saying it sounded extreme and unpresidential. Deputy U.S. National Security Advisor Colin Powell agreed with the cautionary stance. Despite little support for suggesting Reagan demand the wall's removal, Robinson kept the phrase in the draft. On Monday the 18th of May 1987, Reagan met with his speechwriters and responded positively to the document. He stated I thought it was a good solid draft while others remained skeptical. Nevertheless Reagan liked the passage and decided to leave it in place. Anthony Dolan offered another account attributing the line directly to Reagan himself during an Oval Office meeting prior to Robinson's draft. A friendly exchange of letters between Robinson and Dolan over their differing accounts appeared later in The Wall Street Journal.