Category: History & Politics Key figures: Ronald Reagan (U.S. President), Peter Robinson (speechwriter), Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet General Secretary)
Summary
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan delivered a landmark address at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, West Germany, before a crowd of approximately 45,000. The speech, formally titled “Remarks on East-West Relations at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin,” was timed to coincide with the city’s 750th anniversary celebrations. Its central challenge — “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” — became one of the most quoted lines in Cold War history.
The phrase was written by White House speechwriter Peter Robinson following a research trip to West Berlin, during which local residents expressed a passionate desire for the Wall’s removal. Both the National Security Council and the State Department pushed to delete the line, arguing it was needlessly provocative. Reagan overruled those objections twice, insisting the language was genuine and appropriate. Loudspeakers broadcast the speech into East Berlin, extending its audience beyond the Western crowd. Reagan also called on the Soviet Union to open its gates, to lower barriers between East and West, and to pursue political and economic reforms consistent with his broader Cold War vision.
Significance
The speech is regarded as one of Reagan’s defining rhetorical moments and a key symbolic milestone in the latter Cold War. It intensified international pressure on the Soviet bloc’s policy of division and reinforced the message conveyed by the INF Treaty signed later that same year. When the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989 — less than two and a half years after the speech — the phrase “tear down this wall” became shorthand for the entire arc of Cold War resolution. The address has been cited by historians as emblematic of the power of public diplomacy and is regularly ranked among the greatest American presidential speeches.
Related
- INF Treaty (December 8, 1987) — Reagan and Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty just six months after the Brandenburg Gate speech, fulfilling the diplomatic pressure it symbolised.
- Iran-Contra Affair (1986–1987) — the domestic scandal running in parallel with Reagan’s Cold War diplomacy throughout 1987.
- Montreal Protocol (September 16, 1987) — another landmark international agreement concluded in the same year, reflecting 1987’s unusually productive multilateral diplomacy.
- Index of 1987 topics · Timeline
Sources
- Wikipedia — “Tear down this wall!”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_down_this_wall!
- Miller Center, University of Virginia — “June 12, 1987: Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate”: https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/june-12-1987-remarks-west-berlin