Thirty years ago (12/6/87) Ronald Reagan went to Berlin and gave his iconic speech since termed the "Tear Down This Wall" speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDFX-dNtsM

In the speech Reagan challenged Soviet leader Gorbachev to demonstrate his claimed desires to liberalise the Soviet system by opening the Brandenburg gates which were an integral part of the extensive system of walls called the Berlin Wall.

Reagan gave the speech against the more learned advice of the State Dept and his German ambassadors who wanted to treat the Soviet Empire with kid gloves much as he had ignored their advice when he gave his "Evil Empire" speech and as he had when he refused to drop his SDI programmes at Gorbachev's requests.

Within two years the Berlin Wall indeed did collapse and with it the Soviet Empire. Nations like Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany gained their freedom and the unification of German was commencing. Within three years the Cold War was declared over and four-and-half years later the USSR itself was sent to the dustbin of history.

This was one of the most consequential speeches of the 20th century. For the third time in a century the USA had stared down a totalitarian attempt to dominate the planet and had led the free west to victory.

I just thought its anniversary ought to be noted.

There has not been any 'staring down' from the U.S since Ronald Reagan, the only president the Communists and then Islamist were frightened of, with good reason.

Trump might have been able to do it - and he has kicked off with AGW nonsense - but he doesn't have the support of the Western world like Reagan had. Wimps like Turnbull, May, Merkel and Trudeau just don't have what it takes to support the leader of the Free World, without whom they would be toast.

Ronald McReagan bravely stood under the Wall with cracks in it from Polish Solidarity and Gorbachev's glassy nose . Most of the film is taken up with a short play in which a young pilot, portrayed by Ronald Reagan, is ordered on reconnaissance missions of the Pacific and encounters another plane which he can't tell is friendly or not.
Yanks boldly stood still as half Britain France the Czar and Anzacs fell in the snow of WWI and again in WWII . They won the war of Hollywood .

Dear mhaze,

Thank You for reminding us of this historical event.

What a day that was for free people everywhere
when finally the East German government stated
on 9th November 1989 that all GDR citizens could
visit West Germany and West Berlin.
It was awesome.

It started the chain of events that led to the
crumbling of the Soviet Union empire as well.

The actual demolition of the wall did not begin
until the Summer of 1990 and was not completed until
1992. German re-unification was formally concluded on
30 October 1990.

"In 1953 the United States under President Eisenhower showed its support for the uprising by a food relief program for East Germans. The “Eisenhower packages” contained lard, peas, flour, and pasteurized milk. The United States distributed over 5 million packages to a million East Germans who were able to gain access to West Berlin."

Now that's firepower. Ronald could at least have taken some KFC. Eisenhower's lard and peas put Khrushchev in his place and the writing was on the wall .

Yes Foxy,

I think its important to commemorate and recall these iconic episodes. We really can't know where we're going if we don't know where we've been.

The 1980s were a pivotal period and the west was lucky to have thrown up a series of leaders (Reagan, Thatcher, Kohl, John Paul II, Walesa) who were able to bring a potential catastrophic war to a peaceful close. But I'm guessing that most people know little about this recent past and therefore are open to making erroneous judgements about the present and the near future.

I've argued in these pages in the past that one really can't understand the thinking and logic behind the US Iraqi interventions in the 90s and naughties, without understanding the spectacular errors made in the 1930s.

I don't see Trump in Reaganesque terms (yet) but there are some parallels. Like Trump, Reagan was thought of as a bumbler and incapable of doing the job as President. Unlike Trump, Reagan had spent 40 years honing his understanding of what was required to make America great again and set about doing it even though most of his agenda was opposed and mocked by the so-called elite thinkers. Reading the history of the Reagan years we see him, over and over again, needing to ignore advice from the elite and the bureaucracy and being shown, finally, to be correct.

If Trump is half as successful...