It was originally written as “Herr Gorbachev, take down this wall” and re-written as “Herr Gorbachev, machen Sie dieses Tor auf.” Yep, Reagan’s famous “Tear down this wall” speech, given 21 years ago today at the Berlin Wall, almost had Reagan speaking in German instead.
Colin Powell (then with the NSC) wanted the line eliminated and the State Department changed it to “One day, this ugly wall will disappear.” Secretary of State George Schultz didn’t want to insult Gorby.
But Reagan loved the line, and told his speechwriter, “Let’s leave it in. The boys at State are going to kill me, but it’s the right thing to do.”
That’s what was phenomenal about Reagan. He had an innate sense of what was truly important, and his views on issues were so clear and so visionary that speechwriters loved writing for him.
Why was there only one Great Communicator?
Because Ronald Reagan’s writers were never attempting to fabricate an image, just to produce work that measured up to the standard Reagan himself had already established. His policies were plain. He had been articulating them for decades—until he became President he wrote most of his material himself.
For a great look at the writing of a great speech, read this by Peter Robinson, the Reagan speechwriter who wrote the “Tear down this wall” speech.
