Or Was It Pink Floyd

Over the weekend a very rich Republican cornered me in a public bathroom and challenged me on what he suspected were my politics by saying Reagan’s speech in 1987 helped bring down the Wall. His argument was that Obama had insulted Reagan’s memory by deciding to send Hillary to Berlin for tonight’s festivities, instead of making a personal appearance. You can’t even call that an “analysis” — it’s nothing but talk-radio nonsense. (But how do people like that get so rich? And why do these things happen to me in the bathroom?)

Ronald Reagan didn’t tear down the Wall any more than David Bowie, who staged a protest concert near the Wall a week before Reagan’s speech. Neither did Mikhail Gorbachev, though his policies were the main reason no soldiers fired a shot during that season of Velvet Revolutions. The people who brought down Communism were the East Germans who voted with their feet, and the sudden movement of the earth took Washington by surprise as well as Moscow.

What exactly was the Reagan administration thinking in 1987? Well, after Reagan’s ringing line — aimed at his Republican base more than Mr. Gorbachev — very few people could remember the speech:

Frank Carlucci, the President’s National Security Adviser, recalls watching Reagan and thinking, “It’s a great speech line. But it will never happen.” Interviewed by ABC News, Henry Kissinger said the speech might prompt the Soviets to relax restrictions in East Berlin somewhat. “But they won’t tear down the Wall.”

For the next year and a half, the speech remained obscure. The vast majority of Americans would likely have been unable even to identify the phrase tear down this wall. But once the Wall came down, it was given new life.

Meanwhile, of course, November 9 is an unfortunate day for celebration in Germany.

UPDATE: A synagogue in Dresden has been vandalized.

UPDATE 2: The importance of Leipzig and the repressed eastern church is the topic of an excellent BBC report.

     posted 9 November 2009 by Michael Scott Moore

  1. And while the world is shouting about the “fall of the Berlin Wall,” let’s take a minute to praise the brave people of Leipzig and their march on the Runde Ecke, Stasi headquarters, which, in my opinion, is something the Berliners would never have dared to do. Leipzig is, in this discussion, the forgotten, but essential element of the story.

    — Ed Ward    Nov 9, 02:27 pm    #

  2. Isn’t it safe to say the Leipzig threw the switch? What’s weird is that nobody really noticed because the of San Francisco earthquake. The only reason I noticed was because I had just moved into a college dorm and had cable TV for the first time in my life and I was obsessed.

    — e    Nov 9, 10:13 pm    #

  3. I had forgotten this part, but I am shamelessly lifting it from Wikipedia, because I vaguely recall it as it happened…

    “Günter Schabowski: 9 November 1989, after a misunderstanding, Schabowski famously announced in a live broadcast international press conference that (effectively) all rules for travelling abroad were lifted, in effect “immediately” (“sofort, unverzüglich”). However, the misunderstanding was only with regards to the date; the plan had been to lift the rules, found to be unsustainable after mass defections of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the next morning.”

    Is Günter still around?

    — e    Nov 10, 12:29 am    #

  4. Yes, he is. I thought I posted something about him. He’s old, but he gave interviews this year. I'll post something about him. — Mike    Nov 10, 01:24 am    #

  5. Ed, the BBC did a superb programme on Leipzig which ran (I think) on both the World Service and Radio 4 a few weeks ago.

    Don’t forget the Poles, too. They were pretty crucial.

    — Bowleserised    Nov 10, 05:56 pm    #

  6. Here is the Leipzig program. I’ll post it a little higher, too.

    — Mike    Nov 15, 01:51 pm    #