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