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'Tear Down This Wall' Not So Confrontational

Reagan 'defeated' Soviets with diplomacy, not bravado

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 6, 2009 12:54 PM CST

(Newser) – Prepare to see a lot of clips in the coming days of Ronald Reagan declaring, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The 20th anniversary of the Berlin wall’s fall is days away, and in our collective memory, Reagan brought it down with sheer bravado. But that’s misremembering, writes James Mann, author of a book on the president and the Cold War. Reagan’s actual policies were conciliatory, diplomatic ones that conservatives hated.

Reagan met an unprecedented five times with Mikhail Gorbachev and negotiated an arms-control treaty with him. One conservative leader called him a “useful idiot for Soviet propaganda.” The most important part of Reagan’s Brandenburg declaration was the address to “Mr. Gorbachev.” The East Germans officially controlled the wall, and Reagan was telling him, essentially, to stop supporting them. When East Germans rushed the wall 5 months later, Gorbachev did nothing, and “Reagan’s diplomacy had quite a bit to do with that.”

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Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (right) synchronize their watches. (Getty Images)

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An excerpt from Ronald Reagan's famous "Tear down this wall" speech. (GiulioBenderGrieco)

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Reagan's actual policies, bitterly contested at the time, were aimed at courting Gorbachev, building up his stature and doing business with him. - James Mann

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'Tear Down This Wall' Not So Confrontational