Learn English Ronald Reagan Tear Down This Wall with BIG subtitles

[Applause]

thank you very much Chancellor Kohl

governing mayor deacon

ladies and gentlemen 24 years ago

President John F Kennedy visited Berlin

speaking to the people of this city and

the world at the city hall or since then

two other presidents have come each in

his turn to Berlin today I myself make

my second visit to your city we come to

Berlin we American presidents because

it’s our duty to speak in this place of

freedom but I must confess

we’re drawn here by other things as well

by the feeling of history in this city

more than 500 years older than our own

nation by the beauty of the Grunewald

and the tear garden most of all by your

courage and determination

[Applause]

perhaps the composer Paul linky

understood something about American

presidents you see like so many

presidents before me I come here today

because wherever I go whatever I do ich

hab noch einen coffer in Berlin our

gathering today is being broadcast

throughout Western Europe and North

America I understand that it is being

seen and heard as well in the East to

those listening throughout Eastern

Europe I extend my warmest greetings and

the good will of the American people to

those listening in East Berlin a special

word although I cannot be with you I

address my remarks to you just as surely

as to those standing here before me for

I join you as I join your fellow

countrymen in the West in this firm this

unalterable belief as kippot Nora in

Berlin

[Applause]

behind me stands a wall that encircles

the free sectors of this city part of a

vast system of barriers that divides the

entire continent of Europe from the

baltic south those barriers cut across

Germany in a gash of barbed wire

concrete dog runs and guard towers

farther south there may be no visible no

obvious wall but the remain armed guards

and checkpoints all the same still a

restriction on the right to travel still

an instrument to impose upon ordinary

men and women the will of a totalitarian

state yet it is here in Berlin where the

wall emerges most clearly here cutting

across your city where the news photo on

the television screen have imprinted

this brutal division of a continent upon

the mind of the world standing before

the Brandenburg Gate every man is a

German separated from his fellow men

[Applause]

every man is a Berliner forced to look

upon a scar president von weizsäcker has

said the German question is open as long

as the brandenburg gate is closed but

today the day i say as long as this gate

is closed as long as this scar of a wall

is permitted to stand it is not the

german question alone that remains open

but the question of freedom for all

mankind yet I do not come here to lament

for I find in Berlin a message of hope

even in the shadow of this wall a

message of triumph in this season of

spring in 1945 the people of Berlin

emerged from their air-raid shelters to

find devastation thousands of miles away

the people of the United States reached

out to help and in 1947 Secretary of

State as you’ve been told George

Marshall announced the creation of what

would become known as the Marshall Plan

speaking precisely 40 years ago this

month he said our policy is directed not

against any country or doctrine but

against hunger poverty desperation and

chaos

[Applause]

in the reichstag a few moments ago I saw

a display commemorating this 40th

anniversary of the Marshall Plan I was

struck by a sonnet a sign on a burnt-out

gutted structure that was being rebuilt

I understand that Berliners of my own

generation can remember seeing signs

like it dotted throughout the Western

sectors of the city the sign read simply

the Marshall Plan is helping here to

strengthen the free world a strong free

world in the West that dream became real

Japan rose from ruin to become an

economic giant Italy France Belgium

virtually every nation in Western Europe

saw political and economic rebirth the

European Community was founded in West

Germany and here in Berlin there took

place an economic miracle the virtue of

svenne there at an hour or her Earhart

writer and other leaders understood the

practical importance of Liberty that

just as truth can flourish only when the

journalist is given freedom of speech so

prosperity can come about only when the

farmer and businessmen enjoy economic

freedom the German leaders the German

leaders reduced tariffs expanded free

trade lowered taxes from 1950 to 1960

alone the standard of living in West

Germany and Berlin doubled we’re four

decades ago there was rubble today in

West Berlin there is the greatest

industrial output of any city in Germany

busy office blocks fine homes and

apartments proud avenues and the

spreading lawns of parkland

we’re a city’s culture seemed to have

been destroyed

today there are two great universities

orchestras and an opera countless

theaters and museums where there was one

today there’s abundance food clothing

automobiles the wonderful goods of the

khuddam from devastation from utter ruin

you Berliners have in freedom rebuild a

city that once again ranks as one of the

greatest on earth and the Soviets may

have had other plans but my friends

there were a few things the Soviets

didn’t count on the leaner helots barely

know who morgue yah one Berliner

schnauzer

in the 1950s in the 1950s

Khrushchev predicted we will bury you

but in the West today we see a free

world that has achieved a level of

prosperity and well-being unprecedented

in all human history in the Communist

world we see failure technological

backwardness declining standards of

health even one and now now the Soviets

themselves may in a limited way be

coming to understand the importance of

freedom we hear much from Moscow about a

new policy of reform and openness some

political prisoners have been released

certain foreign news broadcasts are no

longer being jammed some economic

enterprises have been permitted to

operate with greater freedom from state

control

are these the beginnings of profound

changes in the Soviet state or are they

token gestures intended to raise false

hopes in the West or to strengthen the

Soviet system without changing it we

welcome change and openness for we

believe that freedom and security go

together that the advance of human

Liberty the advance of human Liberty can

only strengthen the cause of world peace

there is one sign the Soviets can make

that would be unmistakable that would

advance dramatically dramatically the

cause of freedom and peace general

secretary Gorbachev if you seek peace if

you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union

and Eastern Europe if you seek

liberalization come here to this gate

mr. Gorbachev

open this gate

mr. Gorbachev mr. Gorbachev tear down

this wall

I understand the fear of war and the

pain of division that afflict this

continent and I pledge to you my

country’s efforts to help overcome these

burdens to be sure we in the West must

priests Soviet expansion so we must

maintain defenses of unassailable

strength yet we seek peace so we must

strive to reduce arms on both sides

beginning ten years ago the Soviets

challenged the Western alliance with a

grave new threat hundreds of new and

more deadly ss-20 nuclear missiles

capable of striking every capital in

Europe the Western alliance responded by

committing itself to a counter

deployment unless the Soviets agreed to

negotiate a better solution namely the

elimination of such weapons on both

sides for many months

the Soviets refused to bargain in

earnestness as the Alliance in turn

retook prepared to go forward with its

counter deployment there were difficult

days days of protests like those during

my 1982 visit to this city and the

Soviets later walked away from the table

but through it all the Alliance held

firm and I invite those who protested

then I invite those who protest today to

mark this fact because we remain strong

the Soviets came back to the table

[Applause]

because we remain strong today we have

within reach the possibility not merely

of limiting the growth of arms but of

eliminating for the first time an entire

class of nuclear weapons from the face

of the earth as I speak NATO ministers

are meeting in Iceland to review the

progress of our proposals for

eliminating these weapons at the talks

in Geneva we have also proposed deep

cuts in strategic offensive weapons and

the Western Allies have likewise made

far-reaching proposals to reduce the

danger of conventional war and to place

a total ban on chemical weapons while we

pursue these arms reductions I pledge to

you that we will maintain the capacity

to deter Soviet aggression at any level

at which it might occur

and in cooperation with many of our

allies the United States is pursuing the

Strategic Defense Initiative research to

base deterrence not on the threat of

offensive retaliation but on defenses

that truly defend on systems in short

that will not target populations but

shield them by these means we seek to

increase the safety of Europe and all

the world but we must remember a crucial

fact East and West do not mistrust each

other because we are armed we are armed

because we mistrust each other

and our differences are not about

weapons but about liberty when President

Kennedy spoke at the city hall those 24

years ago freedom was encircled Berlin

was under siege and today despite all

the pressures upon this city Berlin

stands secure in its liberty and freedom

itself is transforming the globe in the

Philippines in South and Central America

democracy has been given a rebirth

throughout the Pacific free markets are

working miracle after miracle of

economic growth in the industrialized

nations a technological revolution is

taking place a revolution marked by

rapid dramatic advances in computers and

telecommunications in Europe only one

nation and those it controls refuse to

join the community of freedom yet in

this age of redoubled economic growth of

information and innovation the Soviet

Union faces a choice it must make

fundamental changes or it will become

obsolete

[Applause]

today thus represents a moment of hope

we in the West stand ready to cooperate

with the east to promote true openness

to break down barriers that separate

people to create a safer freer world and

surely there is no better place than

Berlin the meeting place of East and

West to make a start free people of

Berlin today is in the past the United

States stands for the strict observance

and full implementation of all parts of

the for power agreement of 1971 let us

use this occasion the seven hundred and

fiftieth anniversary of this city to

usher in a new era to seek a still

fuller richer life for the Berlin of the

future together let us maintain and

develop the ties between the Federal

Republic and the Western sectors of

Berlin which is permitted by the 1971

agreement and I invite mr. Gorbachev let

us work to bring the eastern and western

parts of the city closer together 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

to open berlin still further to all

Europe East and West let us expand the

vital air access to this city finding

ways of making commercial air service to

Berlin more convenient more comfortable

and more economical we look to the day

when West Berlin can become one of the

chief aviation hubs in all Central

Europe with with our French with our

French and British partners the United

States is prepared to help bring

international meetings to Berlin it

would be only fitting for Berlin de

servers the site of United Nations

meetings or world conferences on human

rights and arms control or other issues

that call for international cooperation

there is no better way to establish hope

for the future than to enlighten young

minds and we would be honored to sponsor

summer youth exchanges cultural events

and other programs for young Berliners

from the East

our French and British friends I’m

certain will do the same and is my hope

that an authority can be found in East

Berlin to sponsor visits from young

people of the Western sectors

[Applause]

one final proposal one close to my heart

Sport represents a source of enjoyment

and ennoble imminent and you may have

noted that the Republic of Korea South

Korea has offered to permit certain

events of the 1988 Olympics to take

place in the north the international

sports competitions of all kinds could

take place in both parts of this city

and what better way to demonstrate to

the world the openness of this city than

to offer in some future year to hold the

Olympic Games here in Berlin east and

west

in these four decades as I have said you

Berliners have built a great city you’ve

done so in spite of threats the Soviet

attempts to impose the East mark the

blockade today the city thrives in spite

of the challenges implicit in the very

presence of this wall what keeps you

here certainly there’s a great deal to

be said for your fortitude for your

defiant courage but I believe there’s

something deeper something that involves

Berlin’s whole look and feel and way of

life not mere sentiment no one could

live long and Berlin without being

completely disabused of illusions

something instead that has seen the

difficulties of life in Berlin but chose

to accept them that continues to build

this good and proud City in contrast to

a surrounding totalitarian presence that

refuses to release human energies or

aspirations something that speaks with a

powerful voice of affirmation that says

yes to this city yes to this future yes

to freedom in a word I would submit that

what keeps you in Berlin is love

[Applause]

love both profound and abiding perhaps

this gets to the root of the matter to

the most fundamental distinction of all

between east and west the totalitarian

world produces backwardness because it

does such violence to the spirit

sporting the human impulse to create to

enjoy to worship the totalitarian world

finds even symbols of love and of

worship and affront years ago before the

East Germans began rebuilding their

churches they erected a secular

structure the television tower at

Alexanderplatz virtually ever since the

authorities have been working to correct

what they view as the towers one major

flaw treating the glass sphere at the

top with paints and chemicals of every

kind yet even today when the Sun strikes

that sphere lets fear that towers over

all Berlin the light makes the sign of

the Cross

there in Berlin like the city itself

symbols of love symbols of worship

cannot be suppressed as I looked out a

moment ago from the Reichstag that

embodiment of German unity

I noticed words crudely spray-painted

upon the wall perhaps by a young

Berliner quote this wall will fall

beliefs become reality yes

across Europe this wall will fall for it

cannot withstand faith it cannot

withstand the truth the wall cannot

withstand freedom and I would like

before I close to say one word I have

read and I have been questioned since

I’ve been here about certain

demonstrations against my coming and I

would like to say just one thing and to

those who demonstrate so I wonder if

they have ever asked themselves that if

they should have the kind of government

they apparently seek no one would ever

be able to do what they’re doing again

[Applause]

thank you and god bless you all

[Applause]

[Applause]

you