English subtitles for clip: File:President Ronald Reagan's Speech at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987.webm
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1 00:00:23,634 --> 00:00:24,088 Thank you! 2 00:00:32,766 --> 00:00:39,640 Thank you very much. Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: 3 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:47,004 Twenty-four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, speaking to the 4 00:00:47,004 --> 00:00:53,358 people of this city and the world at the city hall. Well, since then two other presidents 5 00:00:53,358 --> 00:01:00,029 have come, each in his turn, to Berlin. And today I, myself, make my second visit to your city. 6 00:01:05,599 --> 00:01:11,679 We come to Berlin, we American Presidents, because it's our duty to speak, in this place, 7 00:01:11,679 --> 00:01:19,668 of freedom. But I must confess, we're drawn here by other things as well: by the feeling of 8 00:01:19,668 --> 00:01:27,568 history in this city, more than 500 years older than our own nation; by the beauty of the Grunewald 9 00:01:27,568 --> 00:01:39,808 and the Tiergarten; most of all, by your courage and determination. Perhaps the composer, 10 00:01:39,808 --> 00:01:46,816 Paul Lincke, understood something about American Presidents. You see, like so many Presidents before me, 11 00:01:46,816 --> 00:01:57,207 I come here today because wherever I go, whatever I do: "Ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin." 12 00:02:07,001 --> 00:02:13,357 Our gathering today is being broadcast throughout Western Europe and North America. I understand 13 00:02:13,357 --> 00:02:21,187 that it is being seen and heard as well in the East. To those listening throughout Eastern Europe, 14 00:02:21,187 --> 00:02:28,317 I extend my warmest greetings and the good will of the American people. To those listening in 15 00:02:28,317 --> 00:02:36,541 East Berlin, a special word: Although I cannot be with you, I address my remarks to you 16 00:02:36,541 --> 00:02:44,440 just as surely as to those standing here before me. For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen 17 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:51,393 in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin! 18 00:03:01,439 --> 00:03:08,785 Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system 19 00:03:08,785 --> 00:03:16,759 of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic, south, those barriers 20 00:03:16,759 --> 00:03:25,236 cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guardtowers. Farther south, 21 00:03:25,236 --> 00:03:31,919 there may be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all 22 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:40,730 the same—still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men 23 00:03:40,730 --> 00:03:50,134 and women the will of a totalitarian state. Yet it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly; 24 00:03:50,134 --> 00:03:57,288 here, cutting across your city, where the news photo and the television screen have imprinted 25 00:03:57,288 --> 00:04:05,019 this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the world. Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, 26 00:04:05,019 --> 00:04:11,357 every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. 27 00:04:20,195 --> 00:04:24,054 Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar. 28 00:04:24,054 --> 00:04:33,812 President von Weizsäcker has said: "The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed." 29 00:04:42,136 --> 00:04:51,039 Today I say: As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, 30 00:04:51,039 --> 00:05:00,303 it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind. 31 00:05:10,980 --> 00:05:17,519 Yet I do not come here to lament. For I find in Berlin a message of hope, 32 00:05:17,519 --> 00:05:21,877 even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph. 33 00:05:21,877 --> 00:05:31,073 In this season of spring in 1945, the people of Berlin emerged from their air raid shelters to find devastation. 34 00:05:31,073 --> 00:05:36,368 Thousands of miles away, the people of the United States reached out to help. 35 00:05:36,368 --> 00:05:43,200 And in 1947 Secretary of State—as you've been told—George Marshall announced 36 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:47,303 the creation of what would become known as the Marshall Plan. 37 00:05:47,303 --> 00:05:52,461 Speaking precisely 40 years ago this month, he said: 38 00:05:52,461 --> 00:05:59,386 "Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, 39 00:05:59,386 --> 00:06:03,508 poverty, desperation, and chaos." 40 00:06:10,786 --> 00:06:18,837 In the Reichstag a few moments ago, I saw a display commemorating this 40th anniversary of the Marshall Plan. 41 00:06:18,837 --> 00:06:24,980 I was struck by the sign on a burnt-out, gutted structure that was being rebuilt. 42 00:06:24,980 --> 00:06:33,015 I understand that Berliners of my own generation can remember seeing signs like it dotted 43 00:06:33,015 --> 00:06:40,128 throughout the Western sectors of the city. The sign read simply: "The Marshall Plan is 44 00:06:40,128 --> 00:06:50,604 helping here to strengthen the free world." A strong, free world in the West, that dream became real. 45 00:06:50,604 --> 00:06:59,111 Japan rose from ruin to become an economic giant. Italy, France, Belgium—virtually every nation 46 00:06:59,111 --> 00:07:07,109 in Western Europe saw political and economic rebirth; the European Community was founded. 47 00:07:07,109 --> 00:07:14,943 In West Germany and here in Berlin, there took place an economic miracle, the Wirtschaftswunder. 48 00:07:14,943 --> 00:07:24,994 Adenauer, Erhard, Reuter, and other leaders understood the practical importance of liberty—that just as 49 00:07:24,994 --> 00:07:33,080 truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so prosperity can come about 50 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:45,158 only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic freedom. The German leaders reduced tariffs, 51 00:07:45,158 --> 00:07:55,708 expanded free trade, lowered taxes. From 1950 to 1960 alone, the standard of living in West Germany and Berlin doubled. 52 00:07:55,708 --> 00:08:02,908 Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output 53 00:08:02,908 --> 00:08:12,286 of any city in Germany—busy office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of park land. 54 00:08:12,286 --> 00:08:21,028 Where a city's culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, 55 00:08:21,028 --> 00:08:31,196 countless theaters, and museums. Where there was want, today there's abundance—food, clothing, automobiles— 56 00:08:31,196 --> 00:08:34,054 the wonderful goods of the Ku'damm. 57 00:08:42,570 --> 00:08:48,560 From devastation, from utter ruin, you Berliners have, in freedom, 58 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:57,254 rebuilt a city that once again ranks as one of the greatest on Earth. The Soviets may have had other plans. 59 00:08:57,254 --> 00:09:02,455 But, my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn't count on: 60 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:13,466 Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner Schnauze. 61 00:09:22,279 --> 00:09:34,619 In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you." But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved 62 00:09:34,619 --> 00:09:44,636 a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, 63 00:09:44,636 --> 00:09:54,861 technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind—too little food. 64 00:10:00,312 --> 00:10:07,897 And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. 65 00:10:07,897 --> 00:10:15,492 We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. 66 00:10:15,492 --> 00:10:23,219 Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate 67 00:10:23,219 --> 00:10:31,367 with greater freedom from state control. Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? 68 00:10:31,367 --> 00:10:41,591 Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? 69 00:10:41,591 --> 00:10:49,351 We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, 70 00:10:49,351 --> 00:10:59,116 that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. 71 00:10:59,116 --> 00:11:10,285 There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. 72 00:11:10,285 --> 00:11:20,846 General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 73 00:11:20,846 --> 00:11:30,345 if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! 74 00:11:50,498 --> 00:11:59,595 Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! 75 00:12:13,981 --> 00:12:21,009 I understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict this continent—and I pledge to you my country's efforts 76 00:12:21,009 --> 00:12:32,261 to help overcome these burdens. To be sure, we in the West must resist Soviet expansion. So we must maintain defenses 77 00:12:32,261 --> 00:12:42,989 of unassailable strength. Yet we seek peace; so we must strive to reduce arms on both sides. Beginning 10 years ago, 78 00:12:42,989 --> 00:12:51,385 the Soviets challenged the Western alliance with a grave new threat, hundreds of new and more deadly SS-20 nuclear missiles, 79 00:12:51,385 --> 00:12:59,867 capable of striking every capital in Europe. The Western alliance responded by committing itself to a counterdeployment, 80 00:12:59,867 --> 00:13:08,865 unless the Soviets agreed to negotiate a better solution; namely, the elimination of such weapons on both sides. 81 00:13:08,865 --> 00:13:19,009 For many months, the Soviets refused to bargain in earnestness. As the alliance, in turn, prepared to go forward 82 00:13:19,009 --> 00:13:28,413 with its counterdeployment, there were difficult days—days of protests like those during my 1982 visit to this city— 83 00:13:28,413 --> 00:13:32,493 and the Soviets later walked away from the table. 84 00:13:32,493 --> 00:13:43,858 But through it all, the alliance held firm. And I invite those who protested then—I invite those who protest today— 85 00:13:43,858 --> 00:13:51,883 to mark this fact: Because we remained strong, the Soviets came back to the table. 86 00:14:04,500 --> 00:14:06,843 And because we remained strong, 87 00:14:06,843 --> 00:14:16,699 today we have within reach the possibility, not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, 88 00:14:16,699 --> 00:14:25,799 an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth. As I speak, NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland 89 00:14:25,799 --> 00:14:32,377 to review the progress of our proposals for eliminating these weapons. At the talks in Geneva, 90 00:14:32,377 --> 00:14:41,081 we have also proposed deep cuts in strategic offensive weapons. And the Western allies have likewise made 91 00:14:41,081 --> 00:14:50,235 far-reaching proposals to reduce the danger of conventional war and to place a total ban on chemical weapons. 92 00:14:50,235 --> 00:15:00,327 While we pursue these arms reductions, I pledge to you that we will maintain the capacity to deter Soviet aggression 93 00:15:00,327 --> 00:15:03,502 at any level at which it might occur. 94 00:15:11,889 --> 00:15:16,598 And in cooperation with many of our allies, the United States is pursuing 95 00:15:16,598 --> 00:15:23,982 the Strategic Defense Initiative—research to base deterrence not on the threat of offensive retaliation, 96 00:15:23,982 --> 00:15:33,636 but on defenses that truly defend; on systems, in short, that will not target populations, but shield them. 97 00:15:33,636 --> 00:15:43,433 By these means we seek to increase the safety of Europe and all the world. But we must remember a crucial fact: 98 00:15:43,433 --> 00:15:54,399 East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed; we are armed because we mistrust each other. 99 00:16:02,215 --> 00:16:09,382 And our differences are not about weapons but about liberty. When President Kennedy spoke at the City Hall 100 00:16:09,382 --> 00:16:18,636 those 24 years ago, freedom was encircled, Berlin was under siege. And today, despite all the pressures upon this city, 101 00:16:18,636 --> 00:16:25,278 Berlin stands secure in its liberty. And freedom itself is transforming the globe. 102 00:16:25,278 --> 00:16:34,705 In the Philippines, in South and Central America, democracy has been given a rebirth. Throughout the Pacific, 103 00:16:34,705 --> 00:16:43,913 free markets are working miracle after miracle of economic growth. In the industrialized nations, a technological revolution 104 00:16:43,913 --> 00:16:50,824 is taking place—a revolution marked by rapid, dramatic advances in computers and telecommunications. 105 00:16:50,824 --> 00:17:01,732 In Europe, only one nation and those it controls refuse to join the community of freedom. Yet in this age 106 00:17:01,732 --> 00:17:08,875 of redoubled economic growth, of information and innovation, the Soviet Union faces a choice: 107 00:17:08,875 --> 00:17:15,286 It must make fundamental changes or it will become obsolete. 108 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:28,656 Today thus represents a moment of hope. We in the West stand ready to cooperate 109 00:17:28,656 --> 00:17:37,962 with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safer, freer world. 110 00:17:37,962 --> 00:17:46,204 And surely there is no better place than Berlin, the meeting place of East and West, to make a start. 111 00:17:55,708 --> 00:18:02,161 Free people of Berlin: Today, as in the past, the United States stands for the strict observance 112 00:18:02,161 --> 00:18:09,676 and full implementation of all parts of the Four Power Agreement of 1971. Let us use this occasion, 113 00:18:09,676 --> 00:18:19,559 the 750th anniversary of this city, to usher in a new era, to seek a still fuller, richer life for the Berlin 114 00:18:19,559 --> 00:18:26,299 of the future. Together, let us maintain and develop the ties between the Federal Republic 115 00:18:26,299 --> 00:18:32,398 and the Western sectors of Berlin, which is permitted by the 1971 agreement. 116 00:18:32,398 --> 00:18:40,872 And I invite Mr. Gorbachev: Let us work to bring the Eastern and Western parts of the city closer together, 117 00:18:40,872 --> 00:18:51,069 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. 118 00:19:03,496 --> 00:19:09,947 To open Berlin still further to all Europe, East and West, let us expand the vital air access 119 00:19:09,947 --> 00:19:16,888 to this city, finding ways of making commercial air service to Berlin more convenient, more comfortable, 120 00:19:16,888 --> 00:19:26,220 and more economical. We look to the day when West Berlin can become one of the chief aviation hubs in all central Europe. 121 00:19:26,220 --> 00:19:39,605 With our French and British partners, the United States is prepared to help bring international meetings to Berlin. 122 00:19:39,605 --> 00:19:48,704 It would be only fitting for Berlin to serve as the site of United Nations meetings, or world conferences on human rights 123 00:19:48,704 --> 00:19:54,004 and arms control or other issues that call for international cooperation. 124 00:20:01,512 --> 00:20:04,420 There is no better way to establish hope for the future 125 00:20:04,420 --> 00:20:11,804 than to enlighten young minds, and we would be honored to sponsor summer youth exchanges, cultural events, 126 00:20:11,804 --> 00:20:19,482 and other programs for young Berliners from the East. Our French and British friends, I'm certain, will do the same. 127 00:20:19,482 --> 00:20:28,944 And it's my hope that an authority can be found in East Berlin to sponsor visits from young people of the Western sectors. 128 00:20:36,616 --> 00:20:44,812 One final proposal, one close to my heart: Sport represents a source of enjoyment and ennoblement, 129 00:20:44,812 --> 00:20:53,980 and you many have noted that the Republic of Korea—South Korea—has offered to permit certain events of the 1988 Olympics 130 00:20:53,980 --> 00:21:02,985 to take place in the North. International sports competitions of all kinds could take place in both parts of this city. 131 00:21:02,985 --> 00:21:10,064 And what better way to demonstrate to the world the openness of this city than to offer in some future year 132 00:21:10,064 --> 00:21:15,634 to hold the Olympic games here in Berlin, East and West. 133 00:21:29,077 --> 00:21:37,298 In these four decades, as I have said, you Berliners have built a great city. You've done so in spite of threats— 134 00:21:37,298 --> 00:21:45,489 the Soviet attempts to impose the East-mark, the blockade. Today the city thrives in spite of the challenges 135 00:21:45,489 --> 00:21:54,536 implicit in the very presence of this wall. What keeps you here? Certainly there's a great deal to be said for your fortitude, 136 00:21:54,536 --> 00:22:03,521 for your defiant courage. But I believe there's something deeper, something that involves Berlin's whole look and feel 137 00:22:03,521 --> 00:22:12,654 and way of life—not mere sentiment. No one could live long in Berlin without being completely disabused of illusions. 138 00:22:12,654 --> 00:22:20,348 Something instead, that has seen the difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build 139 00:22:20,348 --> 00:22:30,469 this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence that refuses to release human energies or aspirations. 140 00:22:30,469 --> 00:22:41,738 Something that speaks with a powerful voice of affirmation, that says yes to this city, yes to the future, yes to freedom. 141 00:22:41,738 --> 00:23:01,349 In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin is love—love both profound and abiding. 142 00:23:01,349 --> 00:23:08,451 Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental distinction of all between East and West. 143 00:23:08,451 --> 00:23:18,354 The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, 144 00:23:18,354 --> 00:23:26,953 to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront. 145 00:23:26,953 --> 00:23:34,865 Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: 146 00:23:34,865 --> 00:23:43,497 the television tower at Alexander Platz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct 147 00:23:43,497 --> 00:23:53,358 what they view as the tower's one major flaw, treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind. 148 00:23:53,358 --> 00:24:05,858 Yet even today when the Sun strikes that sphere—that sphere that towers over all Berlin—the light makes the sign of the cross. 149 00:24:17,858 --> 00:24:26,896 There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed. 150 00:24:26,896 --> 00:24:36,541 As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, 151 00:24:36,541 --> 00:24:45,867 perhaps by a young Berliner, "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." 152 00:24:56,580 --> 00:25:00,463 Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. 153 00:25:00,463 --> 00:25:08,983 For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom. 154 00:25:08,983 --> 00:25:16,445 And I would like, before I close, to say one word. I have read, and I have been questioned since I've been here 155 00:25:16,445 --> 00:25:26,154 about certain demonstrations against my coming. And I would like to say just one thing, and to those who demonstrate so. 156 00:25:26,154 --> 00:25:35,969 I wonder if they have ever asked themselves that if they should have the kind of government they apparently seek, 157 00:25:35,969 --> 00:25:40,798 no one would ever be able to do what they're doing again. 158 00:26:01,799 --> 00:26:05,149 Thank you and God bless you all.