GERMANY: Berlin opens an exhibition dedicated to Ronald Reagan and his attempts to bring an end to the Berlin Wall

Record ID: 183986

  • Title: GERMANY: Berlin opens an exhibition dedicated to Ronald Reagan and his attempts to bring an end to the Berlin Wall
  • Date: 4th July 2007
  • Summary: WALL INSIDE MUSEUM WITH FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN'S 1987 QUOTE "TEAR DOWN THIS WALL" REAGAN ON VIDEO SCREEN VARIOUS OF PAINTINGS
  • Embargoed: 19th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: History
  • Reuters ID: LVA74D5D4QTIBI26M4BXKX1L2HRO
  • Story Text: The Allied Museum in Berlin has opened an exhibition on Thursday (June 28) dedicated to former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and the famous speech he held at the Berlin Wall demanding: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Twenty years after former U.S. President Ronald Reagan held his famous "Tear Down This Wall" speech at the Brandenburg Gate, the Allied Museum in Berlin opened a special exhibition on Thursday (June 28) dedicated to the speech and the speaker.
    The museum has compiled "historic" and previously unknown material with the help of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum and the Young America Foundation of the United States showing Reagan's role in overcoming the separation of two German states during the Cold War.
    Reagan held his now famous speech on June 12, 1987, not knowing that his appeal would become reality 881 days later.
    "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalisation, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate."
    Florian Weiss, curator of the exhibition, said that Reagan had a great impact on the fortune of the city. "Reagan held a great significance for Berlin: he was the only president who came to Berlin twice during his tenure," Weiss told Reuters at the exhibition opening.
    Several contemporary witnesses were on hand at the exhibit. Peter Robinson, former White House speech writer, spoke about the "Tear Down This Wall" speech.
    "From time to time, others have suggested that they wrote those lines. There is one particular diplomat who submitted a draft of a speech that had vague language in it about taking the wall down. But I didn't even see that draft until I had written my own, " Robinson said.
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