1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,480 Speaker 1: Hi, this is newt twenty twenty is going to be 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,160 Speaker 1: one of the most extraordinary election years of our lifetime. 3 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: I want to invite you to join my Inner Circle 4 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: as we discuss each twist and turn in the Race 5 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: and my members only Inner Circle Club. You will receive 6 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:18,960 Speaker 1: special flash briefings, online events, and members only audio reports 7 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: from me and my team. Here's a special offer to 8 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: my podcast listeners. 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On this episode of Newtsworld, the Berlin Wall 17 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: divided East and West Germany and was a visible reminder 18 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:09,680 Speaker 1: of the Cold War from nineteen sixty one until November ninth, 19 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,559 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine, when the East German government announced their 20 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. The reunification 21 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: of Germany and the dissolution of the Soviet Union might 22 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: not have happened had it not been for the vision 23 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: of President Ronald Reagan. President Reagan was a staunch anti communist, 24 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: and he formed a partnership with two other leaders who 25 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:36,400 Speaker 1: shared his beliefs, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Saint John 26 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: Paul the Second. Together, the three leaders all played key 27 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: roles in the fall of communism. On June twelfth, nineteen 28 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,199 Speaker 1: eighty seven, President Reagan made a speech at the Brandenburg 29 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: Gate in which he demanded mister Gorbuchoff teared down this 30 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: wall on the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the 31 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: Berlin Wall. The speech writer who wrote that famous speech 32 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: is herewith us today. I'm pleased to introduce my guest, 33 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: Peter M. Robinson Murdoch, Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Hoover 34 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:12,359 Speaker 1: Institution and former special assistant and speech writer for President 35 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:25,359 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan. I am here today with one of my 36 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 1: dear friends, extraordinarily bright conservative. But the amazing thing was, 37 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: by the time he's twenty five, he's a speech writer 38 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: for one of the greatest speaking presidents of American history, 39 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan. So if you don't mind, Peter can you 40 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: take us back to the beginning in Vessel, New York, 41 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:46,799 Speaker 1: and bring us up through your early years that grew 42 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: up in Vessel, New York, medium sized town and upstate 43 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 1: New York. You're a Georgian nuke. But Upstate to a 44 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:56,239 Speaker 1: New Yorker is anything north of Yonkers. So in those days, 45 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 1: Upstate was Republican country, pretty conservad bit of Republican country. 46 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: I went to public high school. I went to Dartmouth College. 47 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,799 Speaker 1: I graduated from Dartmouth and then spent a couple of 48 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: years studying at Oxford. I stayed on for a third 49 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: year at Oxford to write what was going to be 50 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: the finest novel ever written. And as that year drew 51 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: to a close, the novel was so bad that even 52 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: I couldn't stand to read it, and so I sent letters. 53 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: In those days, we used typewriters and type letters and 54 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: stuck them in envelopes and put post to John, and 55 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:32,359 Speaker 1: you mail the letter and wait a couple of weeks 56 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: because it was England and it took a long time 57 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: to get something to the United States. I sent letters 58 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: to everyone I could think of who might be able 59 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: to give me a lead on a job, and about 60 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: the only person who wrote back was Bill Buckley, the 61 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: great late conservative journalist. Bill had been kind enough to 62 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: notice some of my student writing. I wrote as a 63 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: conservative for the student newspaper at Dartmouths, and Bill said, 64 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: you liked writing, and you like politics. You ought to 65 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: come to Washington. This is now nineteen eighty two and 66 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: try to be a speechwriter. And you get to Washington, 67 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: get in touch with my son, Christopher. Christopher Buckley was 68 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: then writing for Vice President George H. W. Bush. In 69 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: July of nineteen eighty two, I presented myself at Christopher's office. 70 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,720 Speaker 1: Christopher announced that he was leaving the job in two weeks, 71 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: and he and our mutual friend Tony Dolan, who was 72 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: on President Reagan's staff. Christopher and Tony talked me up. 73 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: Crazy thing to do because I'd never written a speech 74 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: before in my life and I was only twenty five, 75 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,479 Speaker 1: but I came with Bill Buckley's recommendation. They talked me 76 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 1: up inside the White House and I got hired on 77 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: the staff of George H. W. Bush when he was 78 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: Vice President. Worked for him for about fourteen months, and 79 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: then there were a couple of openings on the President's 80 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: staff and I moved downstairs in the old executive office 81 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: building as it was in those days. Vice president's office 82 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: was upstairs. I moved downstairs and joined the president's staff. 83 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:56,479 Speaker 1: So that's how it happened. It was sheer dumb luck 84 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: combined with a generosity of not one but two Buckleys 85 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: and our friend Tony Dolan, who was then chief speech 86 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 1: writer to Ronald Reagan. Well, I remember occasionally hanging out 87 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: with you guys, and it was a sort of amazing 88 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: gang who understood that they were in fact helping shape history, 89 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: and that took it very starts. Then they had a 90 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:20,159 Speaker 1: president who understood the power of language, and who himself 91 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: had been a pretty good writer over the years. It 92 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: was always fun to watch you guys work. But the 93 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: thing I want to talk about in particular is the 94 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 1: Berlin Wall and the famous Berlin Wall speech. And I remember, 95 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,160 Speaker 1: because I am somewhat older than you, I remember the 96 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 1: Berlin Wall going up, and I remember the scale of 97 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: the crisis when the East Germans and the Soviets put 98 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: up the Berlin Wall to keep people trapped in East Germany. 99 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: And by the mid nineteen eighties, the Soviet system is 100 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: beginning to really break down. The Reagan strategy in the eighties. 101 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: I believe, working with Margaret Thatcher and with John Paul 102 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: the second is one of the most successful grand stre 103 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: ategies in history, and literally dismantling the Soviet Empire without 104 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: a major wards an astonishing achievement, and a big part 105 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: of that was the power of language. Reagan in sixty seven, 106 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 1: as governor, goes to Berlin and has a throwaway line. 107 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:18,720 Speaker 1: He says, though Walsher is ugly, they ought to tear 108 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,359 Speaker 1: it down. Now he's going back to Berlin and he 109 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: wants to make a big speech and could you describe 110 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:28,159 Speaker 1: from the inside as a speech writer, what's that process like? 111 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: You know, you know the trip's coming up, you know 112 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: they want to do some interesting things, but how does 113 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: that actually technically work at any given time? On the 114 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:40,039 Speaker 1: Reagan staff, there were five or six writers. In the 115 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: course of the eight years, there were fourteen different people 116 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: who held the job of speechwriter to the President. I 117 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: was there for six years. Our friend Tony Dolan was 118 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: there for all eight years. A friend, Dana Rohbacher was 119 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: there for all eight years. And there's a meeting. Tony 120 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,359 Speaker 1: is now chief speech writer again. He stepped down for 121 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 1: a bit, and now he's running the shop again. There's 122 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,359 Speaker 1: a meeting around a conference table in Tony's office and 123 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,559 Speaker 1: we're reviewing the big speeches coming up, and Tony turns 124 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: to me and says, well, Peter, it's been a while 125 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: since you had a big one. Why don't you take 126 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: this speech in Berlin. Nobody could have predicted that this 127 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: was going to be a speech that you and I, 128 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: for example, would be talking about thirty years later. But 129 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: we all knew it would likely to be one of 130 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: the half dozen or so really significant speeches the President 131 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: delivered that year. It was unusual to go on a 132 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 1: big research trip, but for a major speech, you'd send 133 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: a speech research trip. I flew over there to Berlin 134 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: with the pre advanced team. You know what that term means, 135 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: of course, But for the listeners that would be the 136 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: press officials who would liaise with the West Berlin press, 137 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: and security people who would talk to the West Berlin 138 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: security teams and so forth. And then there was a 139 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: speech writer, Robinson. I spent a day in Berlin taking notes. 140 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: Many of our listeners have no idea how big the 141 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,679 Speaker 1: difference was at that point between East and West Berlin, 142 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: and what it was like, so I think, if you 143 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: take a minute to sort of a scene setting, if 144 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,679 Speaker 1: you will, let me tell you this. My first stop 145 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: in Berlin that day was that we Americans, we traveling party, 146 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: were taken that morning to the Berlin Wall, the site 147 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: where the President would speak. I have never before and 148 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:21,239 Speaker 1: never since, been in a place where you just felt 149 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: the weight of history. The air almost seemed heavy with history. 150 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: Off to one side was the Reichstag, the German parliament. 151 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: Then it was just a museum. You could still see 152 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,720 Speaker 1: shell damage from the Second World War. There's a memorial 153 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: to Soviet soldiers in West Berlin with two members of 154 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: the Red Army goose stepping back and forth as a 155 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:46,839 Speaker 1: kind of honor guard. In West Berlin, you climb the platform, 156 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,520 Speaker 1: take the stairs up to the observation platform and peer 157 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: over the wall into East Berlin. Now behind you in 158 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 1: the west is a completely modern city. People are well dressed, 159 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: there are lights, shops are full, people are driving recent 160 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: model cars. In fact, I was astounded at the number 161 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: of Mercedes Benzes. Behind me. There's hustle and bustle and 162 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: movement and dynamism. And then you look over the wall 163 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:16,079 Speaker 1: down unterd and Lynden under the lime trees was the 164 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: name of the avenue, and it was effectively the Pennsylvania 165 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:20,839 Speaker 1: Avenue of Berlin. In the old days, it was the 166 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:25,720 Speaker 1: ceremonial center of Berlin. And you see soldiers and way 167 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: off in the distance, one or two people and one car. 168 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: It's almost motionless, and whereas behind you there's color so striking. 169 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,680 Speaker 1: You look into the east and it's as though the 170 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: color has been leached out of the picture, gray brown, drab. 171 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,199 Speaker 1: The buildings seem to be slumping, and indeed we now 172 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 1: know many of them were, so they didn't have the 173 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: funds to maintain buildings properly. It's almost between life and 174 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,959 Speaker 1: a kind of half life. I remember John Kennedy's phrase 175 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: from his inaugural addressed the long Twilight struggle. East Lin 176 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: seemed to exist in a kind of twilight. And as 177 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: I say, the main presence when you look over that wall, 178 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,319 Speaker 1: you look across no man's land, barbed wire and guard towers. 179 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:15,079 Speaker 1: The main presence was military soldiers peering at us with 180 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 1: binoculars and marching back and forth in front of that 181 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: no man's land in their drab gray uniforms. So that 182 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,520 Speaker 1: was one place we talked and wrote speeches about the 183 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: difference between freedom and communism, and right there you could 184 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,080 Speaker 1: see it, you could feel it. What impact did that 185 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: have on you? And that this was your first close 186 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: experience of just how big the gap was. Honestly, I 187 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 1: was there for business reasons. I was trying to gather 188 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 1: material for a speech, and the first impact that had 189 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:50,960 Speaker 1: on me was to scare the daylights out of me. 190 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 1: I thought to myself, Oh, my goodness, what can I 191 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:59,840 Speaker 1: possibly write for the President? What material can I possibly 192 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 1: give him that will be equal to the sense of history, 193 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,200 Speaker 1: to the sense of moment. At this place, I was 194 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 1: pretty darn shaken, which leads me to the next place 195 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 1: I went in Berlin, which was to the office of 196 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: the Council General, the ranking American diplomat, a man called 197 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,280 Speaker 1: John Cornbloom, who later, under Bill Clinton, became our ambassador 198 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:23,120 Speaker 1: to have then reunited Germany. And John Cornbloom, this won't 199 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:26,200 Speaker 1: surprise you, knude, I don't think. I sat there and 200 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,360 Speaker 1: took notes, and he was full of ideas about what 201 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan should not say. No communist bashing please. West 202 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,480 Speaker 1: Berlin is surrounded by East Germany, so people here are 203 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: very aware of the subtlety and nuance required in East 204 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 1: West relations. You've got several major universities here, and you 205 00:11:45,679 --> 00:11:48,720 Speaker 1: know that universities lean to the left. So please don't 206 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: have him come here and be an anti communist cowboy. 207 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:54,320 Speaker 1: Oh and don't make a big deal out of the wall. 208 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: It's been there for a long time and they've gotten 209 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:00,199 Speaker 1: used to it now. That was the advice from the 210 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: foreign policy expert. The next event, I was given a 211 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: ride in a US Army helicopter over the wall. Of course, 212 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: we stayed just inside West Berlin airspace, but we went 213 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 1: over the wall, and from inside West Berlin the wall 214 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:18,839 Speaker 1: looked formidable enough. It was concrete slabs, as I recall, 215 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: they were just about thirteen feet tall. But from the 216 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: air you could see that no man's land, what it 217 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: was on the other side of the wall was essentially 218 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:32,280 Speaker 1: a killing zone, and indeed dozens of people had been 219 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 1: killed trying to escape over that wall. That What I 220 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: remember being struck by especially was that there were large 221 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:41,320 Speaker 1: areas of very carefully raked gravel. So I used the 222 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: headset to ask the pilot what was the gravel for, 223 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,960 Speaker 1: and the pilot explained that that was there for the 224 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: young East German soldiers. If one of those kids got 225 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:52,959 Speaker 1: it into his head to let a girlfriend escape in 226 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:54,440 Speaker 1: the middle of the night or a member of his 227 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: family escape in the middle of the night, he knew 228 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,599 Speaker 1: that he would have to explain the footprints in the 229 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:04,240 Speaker 1: apple to his superior officer. I just thought they thought 230 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: of everything. Last event in Berlin for this young speechwriter 231 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:13,200 Speaker 1: was that in the evening I got in a taxi, 232 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 1: I broke away from the American traveling party, left the 233 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,960 Speaker 1: hotel and went out to a residential suburb of West Berlin, 234 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,400 Speaker 1: where a couple of Berliners put on a dinner party 235 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:28,319 Speaker 1: for me. We had never met, but Dieter and Ingeborg 236 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,600 Speaker 1: else Deeter had had a career at the World Bank 237 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 1: in Washington and he had just retired back to Berlin. 238 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: So we had friends in common in Washington who got 239 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,679 Speaker 1: in touch and said, can you introduce young Robinson here 240 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:44,720 Speaker 1: to some Berliners? And that was all they were attempting 241 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:46,960 Speaker 1: to do. There was a dinner party perhaps fifteen people, 242 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: a physician, a couple of students, people of different walks 243 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: of life, and fortunately, as they spoke English, because my 244 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,440 Speaker 1: German is pretty hesitant. So we chatted for a moment 245 00:13:57,520 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: or two about the Berlin weather and German wine and so, 246 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: and then I blurted out. I felt I had to 247 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,240 Speaker 1: ask them. I said, I've been told by the American 248 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: diplomat that you've all gotten used to the wall by now, 249 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: but I just flew over it. How can that be? 250 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 1: Is it so that you're used to the wall? And knute? 251 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:17,439 Speaker 1: There was a silence. The conversation just stopped, and my 252 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 1: first thought, Oh, I've committed just the gaff or the 253 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 1: faux paw the diplomat wanted the President to avoid. And 254 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:27,960 Speaker 1: then one man raised his arm and pointed one direction 255 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: and he said, my sister lives just a few kilometers 256 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: in that direction, but I haven't seen her in more 257 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 1: than twenty years. How do you think we feel about 258 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: the wall? And they went around the room and everybody 259 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: told a story about the wall. They had stopped talking 260 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 1: about it, but they hadn't gotten used to it. One 261 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 1: man described walking to his office. He walked to work 262 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 1: each morning, and each morning he took the same route 263 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 1: and passed the same guard tower, and he said, there's 264 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: a young man in that guard tower with a rifle 265 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,120 Speaker 1: over his shoulder who peers down at me with binoculars. 266 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: We speak the same language, we share the same German history, 267 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: and yet one of us is a zookeeper and the 268 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:09,400 Speaker 1: other is an animal. And I've never been able to 269 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 1: decide which was which. And then Ingeborg else, our hostess 270 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: at this event. She was wonderfully charming, kept the conversation 271 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 1: lighthearted until this moment and she became quite angry, and 272 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: she said, if this man Gorbchev is serious with this 273 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: glass notes, this parastroika, he can prove it by coming 274 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:32,680 Speaker 1: here and getting rid of this wall. Well, that went 275 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: into my notebook, and I have to say, you knew 276 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan. I worked for Ronald Reagan. I knew immediately 277 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:43,480 Speaker 1: that if the President had been there listening to that, 278 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: that comment would have made an impact on him. The simplicity, 279 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 1: the decency, the power of that comment, the in living memory, 280 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: this world existed in which Europe was divided in two. 281 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: And I feel frustrated that I don't know how to 282 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: convey to my own children what it was like to 283 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:09,280 Speaker 1: be in this modern city West Berlin. I had about 284 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: an hour to myself and I went shopping to get 285 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 1: something for friends in the commercial district Kurfurst and Dome, 286 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:18,720 Speaker 1: and it's so bright and bustling, and the stores were 287 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: filled with such beautiful goods and products. You could almost 288 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: feel you were in an ordinary city. And then you 289 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:26,960 Speaker 1: turn a corner and look down at the end of 290 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 1: the street and there would be a wall, and you'd 291 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:31,760 Speaker 1: forget about it, go into another store, and you turn 292 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 1: it too the wall again. And I don't know how 293 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 1: to describe how to make real to people who didn't 294 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:44,040 Speaker 1: see it for themselves, just what that felt like to 295 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 1: feel that there was a truly malevolent I'll use the 296 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: term an evil empire, and that wall marks the border. 297 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:56,440 Speaker 1: That's where it began. I don't know how to convey 298 00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:59,080 Speaker 1: with it, but that was the sense that right there 299 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 1: you were on the border between deeply flawed societies, of course, 300 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: but the border was between a fundamentally decent society and 301 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:15,159 Speaker 1: a society that was really sick. How do we make 302 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: the kids understand now? I think they have to experience 303 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: it people who presently started getting it, because it's real 304 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: and reality overcomes fantasies. That was Reagan's great gamble, that 305 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: he could use language that was vivid and clear, like 306 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:32,560 Speaker 1: evil Empire and people, after initially taking a half step back, 307 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:37,639 Speaker 1: would say, well, yeah, I guess that's right. Next, Peter 308 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: Robinson explains the process of speech writing or President Reagan. 309 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:53,159 Speaker 1: This is week seven of my Profile Planned journey and 310 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 1: Debbie and I are discussing personalized coaching with our Profile coach, 311 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 1: Abbey Himwton. Debbie, I'm so I did to be able 312 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:05,440 Speaker 1: to talk through personalized coaching and how each Profile member 313 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,320 Speaker 1: works with their coach for a personalized nutrition plan. 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We really take pride in our coaching 326 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: because we know that it's something that really is going 327 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:55,439 Speaker 1: to make a difference in your journey. Another aspect of 328 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 1: the Profile Plan is our profile Precise DNA tests that 329 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,720 Speaker 1: we ask you to take. It's a very simple, cheek 330 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 1: slob and we can analyze how your body may metabilize carbohydrates. 331 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,840 Speaker 1: I remember doing the DNA test and it's actually very 332 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,640 Speaker 1: very easy, and I think there's a picture of me 333 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:16,880 Speaker 1: taking the test on the website profile plan dot com 334 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:20,200 Speaker 1: slash newt. 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Go 345 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: to profile plan dot com slash newt. Right now, News 346 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: World listeners can get an exclusive of offer one hundred 347 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,159 Speaker 1: dollars off a one year Profile membership by visiting profile 348 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: plan dot com slash newt Get your health journey started 349 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,679 Speaker 1: today with a free profile coach consultation at your nearest 350 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:15,680 Speaker 1: Profile location or by visiting profile plan dot com slash 351 00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 1: newt Tillas Just for a second about the process of 352 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,880 Speaker 1: generating his presidential speech. This varies from one White House 353 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,119 Speaker 1: to another. I know, for example, than the George W. 354 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:42,159 Speaker 1: Bush White House, the three principal writers, Matt Scully and 355 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:46,200 Speaker 1: Mike Gerson and John McConnell all worked together. Those dollars 356 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,680 Speaker 1: would be in a room together talking while one of 357 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 1: them sat at the keyboard, bouncing ideas off each other. 358 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: That was not the way we did it in the 359 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,680 Speaker 1: Reagan White House. In fact, I can't even imagine doing 360 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: it that what. Clearly, different presidents have different styles and 361 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 1: different writers have differ styles. But in our white House, 362 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,840 Speaker 1: the Reagan White House, once you were assigned a speech, 363 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:08,360 Speaker 1: it was your speech, and it was up to you 364 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: to figure out what you believe the president ought to say. 365 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: The first draft was yours. Now, we were friends and 366 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 1: we would kick ideas around, but when it came to 367 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:23,640 Speaker 1: writing the speech, each of us yours truly included. We'd 368 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:25,639 Speaker 1: go back to his office and close the door and 369 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,399 Speaker 1: sit in front of a word processor and write it. 370 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,680 Speaker 1: Then the speech would go from the writer to the 371 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 1: chief speech writer, Tony. Tony would add his own comments editions, 372 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: discuss it with you. You'd talked Tony out of some 373 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: of the changes he wanted to make. Maybe, I say maybe, 374 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,879 Speaker 1: because Tony's, as you know Tony. First of all, Tony's 375 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 1: a brilliant person, and in the second place, he's also 376 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: pretty insistent in his own positions. But you and Tony 377 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,359 Speaker 1: would have a negotiation, you'd come up with a draft, 378 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,119 Speaker 1: and then it would ordinarily this is important when we 379 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: get back to the Berlin Wall speech or narrowly, it 380 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:04,159 Speaker 1: would go out to staffing. Next it would go to 381 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:08,639 Speaker 1: senior White House staff and too relevant cabinet departments. Foreign 382 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,159 Speaker 1: policy speech would go out to the State Department. Speech 383 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: touching on defense would go over to the Pentagon, where Cap. 384 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,760 Speaker 1: Weinberger had a colonel who would review these speeches for him. 385 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:23,680 Speaker 1: And then there's more negotiation. Quite often you'd get suggestions 386 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,200 Speaker 1: on the draft from members of the staff or cabinet 387 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 1: secretaries that were conflicting with each other. You'd have to 388 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,440 Speaker 1: negotiate those and work out what was most sensible. Finally, 389 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: when that was done, it would go to the President. 390 00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: And Ronald Reagan took his speeches extremely seriously. He did 391 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 1: like making everything look easy, and he was an unusually 392 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,679 Speaker 1: gifted giver of speeches. He was also a very fine 393 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:50,800 Speaker 1: editor of speeches. Reviewing speeches is something he would do 394 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 1: in the upstairs and the residence in the evening. He 395 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 1: would leave the Oval office sometimes four or five in 396 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,480 Speaker 1: the afternoon, and he'd have a sheaf of work with 397 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:01,399 Speaker 1: him to do, and the residence the speeches were in 398 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: that sheaf of work. It was our job to get 399 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:07,120 Speaker 1: drafts to him, usually forty eight hours before he gave 400 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:11,359 Speaker 1: the speech. We'd send them into the president and they 401 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:15,200 Speaker 1: would always, and I mean always, come back to us 402 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:19,359 Speaker 1: the next morning, marked up by the President himself. Sometimes 403 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: those comments were minor. I can remember, for some reason, 404 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 1: it stays in my mind that there was a sixth 405 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,680 Speaker 1: page set of remarks that I'd sent to him. I 406 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 1: get into the office in the morning, have a cup 407 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: of coffee, start to review this. No changes from the 408 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: President on the first page, none on the second, none 409 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,280 Speaker 1: on the third, and I'm thinking, for once he decided 410 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 1: to watch TV instead of mark up the speeches, and 411 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: then on the last page he changed one word in 412 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,399 Speaker 1: the next to last line, and in some ways that 413 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,240 Speaker 1: made more impact on me than if he'd rewritten the speech. Extensively. 414 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan read and considered every word of every speech 415 00:23:56,359 --> 00:24:01,720 Speaker 1: before he delivered them. In the Westminster Address, which Tony drafted, 416 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: this is a very important June nineteen eighty two, the 417 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 1: President speaks before the Houses of Parliament and that is 418 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:12,920 Speaker 1: where right at the beginning of the administration, he predicts 419 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:16,480 Speaker 1: that the Soviet Union is already facing an economic crisis 420 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:18,960 Speaker 1: that will ultimately bring it down. And if you go 421 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,600 Speaker 1: to the Reagan Library today, you'll see that the President 422 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:24,919 Speaker 1: worked on that. You see maybe a third of that 423 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,400 Speaker 1: is rewritten in his own hand. So that varied, but 424 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:32,240 Speaker 1: the President always took the reading and editing of speeches 425 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:35,600 Speaker 1: very seriously. And when the President's changes came back, that 426 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: was that the speech was done. You've come back from Berlin, 427 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:42,080 Speaker 1: and what happens. The first thing that happened was Tony 428 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,360 Speaker 1: and I had a talk and I described to him 429 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: what I just abscribed to you. What I had seen 430 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,280 Speaker 1: and felt and whether berliners had said. And Tony and 431 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:53,439 Speaker 1: I then went immediately right across West Executive Avenue to 432 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,200 Speaker 1: the West Wing and we sat down with Tommy Griscombe, 433 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 1: whom you also knew. Tommy Criskom was then director of Communications. 434 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: And Tony said, Peter tell Tommy. I then went through 435 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: it with him, and I said, I'd like to build 436 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:06,640 Speaker 1: a speech around a call to tears on the wall. 437 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:11,200 Speaker 1: And Tony and Tommy both sensed what I sensed, which 438 00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:14,880 Speaker 1: was if John corn Bloom probably wouldn't like that sort 439 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,119 Speaker 1: of thing, we were going to have trouble with the 440 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: foreign policy bureaucracy. The first thing that did that happened 441 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 1: was that Tony cleared my schedule and gave speeches to 442 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: the other writers and left me alone for a week. 443 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:29,400 Speaker 1: I produced a draft. I sent it in and thought 444 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: I'm done. Tony came down the hall, threw this draft 445 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: on my desk and said it's no good. And I said, Tony, 446 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,280 Speaker 1: which passage, which paragraph? What needs work? And he said 447 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 1: the whole thing, it's no good. Go home, get some sleep, 448 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:46,119 Speaker 1: start again next week. I did. Then Tony and I 449 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 1: went back and forth on a draft. There was one moment, 450 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,920 Speaker 1: one point, when I put this is how you know, youth, 451 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: I thought to myself, his audience is going to be German, 452 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: so I'll put the main line in German. Harry Gorbachoff 453 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 1: mocking zd so taw auf and Tony looked at that 454 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,639 Speaker 1: and said, Peter, when your client, as the President of 455 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,920 Speaker 1: the United States, give him his big lines in English? Now, 456 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:13,160 Speaker 1: I said that, ordinarily I have to tell you, Well, 457 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,159 Speaker 1: it's been thirty some years, so I guess I can. 458 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:17,920 Speaker 1: I guess I should feel free to tell you the 459 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 1: real story. Tony Dolan engineered a fast one. We waited 460 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,560 Speaker 1: until what the draft is done. He asked other speech 461 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,320 Speaker 1: writers to hurry up with their work. The President was 462 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,520 Speaker 1: going to be going to an economic summit in Italy 463 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 1: before going to Berlin, so there were perhaps half a 464 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: dozen other speeches that were involved with the trip to 465 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 1: Italy before he got to Berlin and gave the Berlin Address. 466 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:42,280 Speaker 1: So he asked the other speechwriters to hurry and produced drafts, 467 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:44,880 Speaker 1: and then on a Friday afternoon, this is in May 468 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:47,879 Speaker 1: of nineteen eighty seven, he waited until he heard the 469 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,560 Speaker 1: helicopter landing on the south lawn and then he took 470 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:52,880 Speaker 1: all these speeches and hurried over to the west wing 471 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,479 Speaker 1: and said to the staff secretary, Look, the President has 472 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 1: a lot of speeches coming up. You'd better give him 473 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:01,200 Speaker 1: these to review it Camp David to give him a 474 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 1: headstart on them. And the staff secretary, who was relatively 475 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,879 Speaker 1: new to that position, said yes, I will, And so 476 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,640 Speaker 1: instead of going out to staffing first, the Berlin Wall 477 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:16,399 Speaker 1: speech went directly to the President, who reviewed it that 478 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:20,200 Speaker 1: weekend at Camp David. Thank you, Tony Dolan for pulling 479 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,199 Speaker 1: that one off. And on the following Monday, we had 480 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:26,680 Speaker 1: a meeting with the President in the Oval Office and 481 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: we talked about each of these speeches, and then we 482 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,159 Speaker 1: got to my speech and the President said, well, that 483 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:34,720 Speaker 1: was a good draft, that's a fine speech, and that 484 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,840 Speaker 1: was all. He said. We always wanted more of Ronald Reagan. 485 00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:40,440 Speaker 1: You'd go in with a question prepared that you could 486 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 1: ask that you would hope would elicit more from him. 487 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: And so I explained to him, mister President, I learned 488 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,400 Speaker 1: in Berlin that they'll be able to hear your remarks 489 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,919 Speaker 1: on the other side of the wall, the communist side, 490 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: throughout East Berlin, certainly, and if the weather conditions are 491 00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:58,520 Speaker 1: just right, they'll be able to pick it up by 492 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,440 Speaker 1: radio all the way to Moscow. Is there anything in 493 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,320 Speaker 1: particular you'd like to say to people on the communist 494 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: side of the wall? And Ronald Reagan's thought for a moment, 495 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:12,320 Speaker 1: and he gave his head that little shake, and he said, well, 496 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: I'd like to tell them that that wall has to 497 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: come down. That's what I'd like to say to them. 498 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,680 Speaker 1: That wall has to come down. He always knew what 499 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: he was doing coming up the famous line tear down 500 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:30,520 Speaker 1: this wall was provocative, and many around Reagan recommended its 501 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 1: removal from the speech that story. Next, I want to 502 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:45,960 Speaker 1: tell you about a remarkably useful app that you should 503 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:50,000 Speaker 1: have a year phone. It's called Blinkest. As speaker of 504 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: the house, I find keeping up with issues of the day, 505 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: reading constantly just to know what's going on is something 506 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,800 Speaker 1: that I both take pleasure in. There's also a necessity. 507 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,520 Speaker 1: I also travel a lot. I find the easiest way 508 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 1: to bring reading materials with me without carrying a pile 509 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: of books and newspapers is to use a very informative app, 510 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,959 Speaker 1: and blinkest may be the very best. It's really unique. 511 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:17,440 Speaker 1: With one account, you can access multiple devices, and the 512 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:20,720 Speaker 1: app is on my phone and my iPad. 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Blinkst will give you 523 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: a way to get big ideas in small packages. It'll 524 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,240 Speaker 1: help make you more effective and more efficient, and you 525 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,719 Speaker 1: can start learning now. With blinkst, you get unlimited access 526 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: to read or listen to a massive library of condensed 527 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 1: nonfiction books, all the books you want, and all for 528 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: one low price. Right now for a limited time, blinkest 529 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 1: as a special offer just for our audience. Go to 530 00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: blinkest dot com slash newt try it free for seven 531 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,240 Speaker 1: days and save twenty five percent off your new subscription. 532 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: That's blinkest spelled bli n kist blinks dot com slash 533 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:26,680 Speaker 1: newt to start your free seven day trial, and you'll 534 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:29,280 Speaker 1: also save twenty five percent off, but only when you 535 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 1: sign up at blinks dot com slash newt. What happened next. 536 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:43,200 Speaker 1: There were about three weeks from that meeting in the 537 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:47,480 Speaker 1: Oval Office until the President delivered the speech. And now 538 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: the speech went out to staffing, and the State Department 539 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:55,080 Speaker 1: and the National Security Council spent all three weeks trying 540 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:59,320 Speaker 1: to squelch it. That line was too provocative, mister Corbett, 541 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: you have teared down this wall. It would raise false expectations. 542 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 1: It was aimed at Gorvichef personally, it would put him 543 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 1: in a difficult spot in the polit bureau. And on 544 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:12,200 Speaker 1: and on this went. They submitted one alternative draft after another, 545 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,960 Speaker 1: each one omitting the call to tear down the wall. 546 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:18,560 Speaker 1: I was not then part of the traveling party that 547 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,920 Speaker 1: went to Europe, but Tony told me afterwards what happened 548 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 1: and the state departments. The day they left it to 549 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,240 Speaker 1: deliver the speech in Berlin, the State Department sent another 550 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,600 Speaker 1: alternative draft to the fax machine on Air Force one, 551 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: and Ken Duberstein told me what happened. They got to Berlin, 552 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 1: and Ken Duberstein was the deputy chief of staff. Howard 553 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:39,920 Speaker 1: Baker was chief of staff, but he didn't make the 554 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:42,040 Speaker 1: trip because his wife was very ill at that point, 555 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: and Ken said in the limousine on the way to 556 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,840 Speaker 1: the wall, the President explained that he was going to 557 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: deliver the speech as written, and then he leaned across 558 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:55,800 Speaker 1: and flapped Ken on the knee and said, the boys 559 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,080 Speaker 1: at State are going to kill me for this, but 560 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 1: it's the right thing to do. And twenty minutes later, 561 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan delivered the speech General Secretary Gorbachev, if you 562 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:11,400 Speaker 1: seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union 563 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:16,800 Speaker 1: in Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to 564 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 1: this gate, mister Garbatschev, open this gate, mister Garbatchov. Mister 565 00:32:47,280 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 1: Gorbachev teared down this wall. Now, am I correct that 566 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 1: it went back and forth I think seven times, But 567 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:10,320 Speaker 1: the State, with Reagan insisting a stay in, they submitted 568 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:14,840 Speaker 1: seven alternative drafts, but from every single draft the call 569 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 1: to tear down the wall was absent. I should also 570 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,800 Speaker 1: say in Italy, Ken Duberstein sat the president down. You know, 571 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: of course, the way Washington works, and it's a terrible 572 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,240 Speaker 1: staff failure if you have to ask your principle to 573 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,200 Speaker 1: make the same decision twice. The President had already said, 574 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 1: and this is why it was very important. There were 575 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,280 Speaker 1: various people, as you know, who had the right to 576 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:41,360 Speaker 1: go to the President himself, Howard Baker, chief of staff, 577 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,440 Speaker 1: who years later, by the way, very sweetly, he opposed 578 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: the speech, and years later he told me, I've never 579 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:50,360 Speaker 1: been so happy to be wrong about anything in my 580 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:53,680 Speaker 1: life as I was about that speech. He didn't take 581 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:57,040 Speaker 1: it to the President himself. Nobody at the State Department 582 00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:59,720 Speaker 1: took it to the President himself. Why was that because 583 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 1: they knew the President had already said he especially wanted 584 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,520 Speaker 1: to deliver that passage. So what they tried to do 585 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:10,920 Speaker 1: was put pressure on Tommy Griscomb to persuade him to 586 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:14,920 Speaker 1: change his mind. The director of communications, or Tony Dolan, 587 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: or me, the speech writer, if the people involved in 588 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:20,440 Speaker 1: drafting the speech, if I had written a memorandum to 589 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,480 Speaker 1: the President saying, mister President, on second thought, I believe 590 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:26,640 Speaker 1: this passage may have been ill judged, the President would 591 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,360 Speaker 1: very likely have deferred to the guy who wrote the speech, 592 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,200 Speaker 1: because I'd been in Berlin, and I'd done the research, 593 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:36,840 Speaker 1: but I just refused to do that, and Tony backed 594 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:39,840 Speaker 1: me up, and Tom Griscomb backed me up. We just 595 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:44,480 Speaker 1: held our ground. Why because I've been to Berlin and 596 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:49,000 Speaker 1: seen it and talked to ordinary people there, and because 597 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:53,759 Speaker 1: all three of us knew Ronald Reagan. You could not 598 00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 1: ask that man to go to one of the most 599 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:02,279 Speaker 1: dramatic borders between us and them, between freedom and democracy 600 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:06,880 Speaker 1: that existed, and asked him to deliver some pabulum speech 601 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:10,520 Speaker 1: written by the State Department or the National Security Council. 602 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,760 Speaker 1: It just couldn't do it. And so we held firm 603 00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:17,680 Speaker 1: and Ken Duberstein, as I said, took the decision back 604 00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:20,520 Speaker 1: to the President in Italy. And Ken told me he 605 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:25,280 Speaker 1: sat the President down in some Italian garden and reviewed 606 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 1: the arguments against the speech, and he had the speech 607 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:29,840 Speaker 1: with him, and he asked the President to take a 608 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 1: moment and read that passage one more time. And then 609 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:34,800 Speaker 1: Ken said he and the President talked about it for 610 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,759 Speaker 1: a moment or two, and then Ronald Reagan got that 611 00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:41,399 Speaker 1: twinkle in his eye and he said, now, Ken, I'm 612 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:45,200 Speaker 1: the President, aren't I. Duberstein said, yes, sir, we're clear 613 00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:48,600 Speaker 1: about that much. So can I get to decide whether 614 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 1: this line stays in? Yes, sir, it is your decision. Well, 615 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:57,560 Speaker 1: then it stays in. And that was Ronald Reagan. You know, 616 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:02,200 Speaker 1: George Schultz told me that sector State. He actually got 617 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:05,600 Speaker 1: a call from Reagan along the same lines as they 618 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:09,640 Speaker 1: kept sending back these drafts. And then Reagan called and said, George, 619 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:12,240 Speaker 1: would you explain to your people that I'm the president 620 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:18,240 Speaker 1: and they're not? If you think for a moment about 621 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:22,720 Speaker 1: other people who might have been president instead of Ronald 622 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:26,360 Speaker 1: Reagan at that moment, we know Jimmy Carter wouldn't have 623 00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:29,319 Speaker 1: given that speech. Jimmy Carter gave a speech at Notre 624 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:32,080 Speaker 1: Dame talking about the inordinate fear of communism. He had 625 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:33,800 Speaker 1: the same view of the State Department. We needed to 626 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,600 Speaker 1: manage this relationship, not challenge them, not bring moral pressure 627 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:41,120 Speaker 1: to bear on them, recognize them as a legitimate regime, 628 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:44,640 Speaker 1: and work with them. That's really what Reagan was up to. 629 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:46,480 Speaker 1: And you, of course, this is it's so good to 630 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:48,719 Speaker 1: talk to you because we were young men together during 631 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:51,880 Speaker 1: the eighties. We saw all the stuff together, different perspective. 632 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:53,839 Speaker 1: You were on the hill, I was in the White House, 633 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:57,680 Speaker 1: but you could see Ronald Reagan's large project. Of course, 634 00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:00,279 Speaker 1: he was standing up to the Soviets, and of course 635 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:03,560 Speaker 1: he had to bring Western European allies with him. That's 636 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:07,839 Speaker 1: where Missus thatature was so important. But he also had 637 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:11,440 Speaker 1: to convince not just the American people. He won big 638 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,359 Speaker 1: the first time and in a landslide in his reelection bid, 639 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:18,800 Speaker 1: he had to bring along official Washington. He had to 640 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:24,920 Speaker 1: bring along the instruments of foreign policy, and of course, 641 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:28,520 Speaker 1: as you know, the State Department. These were highly intelligent people, 642 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:33,160 Speaker 1: They were patriotic people, They were overwhelmingly good and dedicated people. 643 00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:37,239 Speaker 1: But they had come of age during de Todd. They 644 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:40,800 Speaker 1: had come of age when to be a skillful foreign 645 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:46,719 Speaker 1: policy professional meant believing in real politique, in managing the relationship, 646 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:50,600 Speaker 1: because it was essentially permanent. And Ronald Reagan showed up 647 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:52,800 Speaker 1: and said, you know what I intend to bring to 648 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:56,560 Speaker 1: bear here not just real politique, but a certain moral 649 00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:01,360 Speaker 1: sense of imagination. As Reagan famously told Dick Gallant, his 650 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 1: first national security advisor, my view of the Cold War 651 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:09,520 Speaker 1: as simple, we win and they lose. And that, as 652 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:13,520 Speaker 1: you know, Knut was hotterly foreign to the way of 653 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:16,560 Speaker 1: thinking and the way of doing business at the State 654 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:20,279 Speaker 1: Department and the National Security Council, and in this case 655 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:25,680 Speaker 1: he simply overruled them. Now, the day that speech was given, 656 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:30,200 Speaker 1: Secretary Schultz was representing to the White House the objections 657 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:35,360 Speaker 1: of the State Department. Tommy Griscom was on the platform, 658 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:37,960 Speaker 1: and Tommy told me that as soon as the speech 659 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:40,640 Speaker 1: was delivered to the President, with shaking hands, there's applause. 660 00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:44,920 Speaker 1: George Schultz looks over at Tommy and starts walking toward him, 661 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:48,040 Speaker 1: and Tommy thought, oh my goodness, he's about to give 662 00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:50,160 Speaker 1: me a dressing down. He thinks this was a mistake. 663 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:53,560 Speaker 1: And George Schultz got right up to him and looked 664 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:57,560 Speaker 1: at Tommy and said three words. You were right. As 665 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:02,200 Speaker 1: soon as Raygan delivered that speech, everybody recognized the fittingness 666 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:07,920 Speaker 1: of it. Coming up next, we'll revisit the day thirty 667 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 1: years ago on November ninth, nineteen eighty nine, when Germany 668 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:22,040 Speaker 1: was reunified. Hi, this is new Gingwich. After I served 669 00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:24,760 Speaker 1: as Speaker of the House, I opened my own business, 670 00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:28,640 Speaker 1: Gingwidge three sixty. As a small business owner, I am 671 00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:33,719 Speaker 1: profit focused and budgeting, income staff, marketing and sales is 672 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:37,520 Speaker 1: key to my success. As the adage goes, you get 673 00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:41,279 Speaker 1: what you inspect, now what you expect. 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If I remember corrected, The CIA, for example, 695 00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,840 Speaker 1: had said, you're going to be embarrassed because it's going 696 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:23,080 Speaker 1: to be there for thirty or forty more years. The 697 00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:25,880 Speaker 1: State Department had said, oh, you know, you're going to 698 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:28,279 Speaker 1: embarrass Korbatchoff and make it harder to work with him. 699 00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:31,760 Speaker 1: I mean, there were all of these fears of anything 700 00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:36,359 Speaker 1: which would shake the process, and yet two short years later, 701 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:39,520 Speaker 1: the Berlin Wall comes down. Where were you when it 702 00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:42,120 Speaker 1: came down? Oh? I was in business school at that point. 703 00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:44,640 Speaker 1: I have to say I never expected it to come 704 00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:48,319 Speaker 1: down as quickly as it did. A day or two 705 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:52,279 Speaker 1: after the President delivered the speech, I remember going into 706 00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,279 Speaker 1: the White House mess and sitting down at the staff table, 707 00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:57,399 Speaker 1: and the next person to come in and sit down 708 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:00,920 Speaker 1: at the staff table was Peter Rodman of the NSC staff. 709 00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:04,720 Speaker 1: Peter was central in the effort to squelch that speech, 710 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,520 Speaker 1: and so I tensed a little bit. I didn't know 711 00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:10,520 Speaker 1: what I was going to say to him, and Peter 712 00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:12,839 Speaker 1: turned to me and he said, well, Peter, it looks 713 00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:15,839 Speaker 1: as though our speech was a big success. All right, 714 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:19,840 Speaker 1: so now it's everybody's speech. But then Peter told me 715 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:23,000 Speaker 1: something very interesting. He said, our intelligence services have picked 716 00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:26,560 Speaker 1: up cable traffic between Moscow and East Berlin in which 717 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:31,239 Speaker 1: Moscow is instructing East Berlin to expand border crossings in 718 00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:34,560 Speaker 1: the wall. Clearly this had an effect on their thinking. 719 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:38,319 Speaker 1: They recognize what a public relations disaster. That's the way 720 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,480 Speaker 1: Peter put it, what a public relations disaster the Berlin 721 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:45,000 Speaker 1: Wall is. In all the years, that's the only direct 722 00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:50,360 Speaker 1: effect on anyone I am aware of the speech except that, 723 00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,239 Speaker 1: And again, I've been thinking about this for years. We 724 00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:56,080 Speaker 1: all know that important speeches matter, but it would be 725 00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:59,560 Speaker 1: hard to say exactly did the Gettysburg address change the 726 00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:02,399 Speaker 1: course of any battle, what practical effect. I'm not saying 727 00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:05,279 Speaker 1: that the Reagan speech rises to anything like this level, 728 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:07,359 Speaker 1: but we know it mattered, but it's hard to pin 729 00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:10,880 Speaker 1: down cause and effect when it comes to words. I 730 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:14,080 Speaker 1: have spoken now over the years to a number of 731 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:18,640 Speaker 1: people who were in East Germany when the President delivered 732 00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:23,000 Speaker 1: that speech, and what they have told me was that 733 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:28,320 Speaker 1: it was a shocking moment that he said something that 734 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:32,160 Speaker 1: was so outside the realm of what could be thought 735 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:36,040 Speaker 1: that it was difficult even to make sense of it. 736 00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:39,320 Speaker 1: Get rid of the wall. The President of the United 737 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,800 Speaker 1: States saying, we could live in a world without that wall. 738 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,560 Speaker 1: How can that be? And I have come to the 739 00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:49,880 Speaker 1: conclusion that along with other people, Pope John Paul the 740 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:52,239 Speaker 1: Second who says to the people in Eastern Europe being 741 00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:58,600 Speaker 1: not afraid that, along with Margaret Thatcher, who says capitalism democracy, 742 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:02,480 Speaker 1: this is simply a terior system, and she is on 743 00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:06,480 Speaker 1: the offensive. Ideologically from the get go Votslav Hovel in 744 00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:11,560 Speaker 1: Czechoslovaki elec Vience in Poland. Ronald Reagan adds to this 745 00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:17,200 Speaker 1: effort to think new kinds of thoughts. What was unthinkable 746 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:21,480 Speaker 1: the day before he gave that speech became thinkable the 747 00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:25,439 Speaker 1: day afterwards. Before he gave that speech, people in East 748 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:30,320 Speaker 1: Berlin assumed, as did people in our own state department, 749 00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:33,920 Speaker 1: that that wall would be there for who knew essentially 750 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,719 Speaker 1: forever it was essentially permanent. And the day after he 751 00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:41,840 Speaker 1: gave that speech, the President of the United States stands 752 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:45,880 Speaker 1: in front of the wall and challenges the leader of 753 00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:50,760 Speaker 1: this empire, Mikail Gorbachev, to tear it down. It begins 754 00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:54,520 Speaker 1: to become possible to think new kinds of thoughts. I 755 00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:58,760 Speaker 1: believe Reagan helps to create a new space for thought 756 00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:03,160 Speaker 1: and feeling and protest, which, as we know, is what happens. 757 00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:06,520 Speaker 1: That year and a half later, a protest movement begins 758 00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:10,680 Speaker 1: in churches, begins in Leipz League and sweeps across East 759 00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:14,920 Speaker 1: Germany and culminates with a hundred thousand people marching down 760 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,120 Speaker 1: Unta den Linden, that avenue that was empty when I 761 00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:20,920 Speaker 1: was there in nineteen eighty seven. In nineteen eighty nine 762 00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:25,440 Speaker 1: there are one hundred thousand East Germans protesting, and as 763 00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:28,560 Speaker 1: you know, of course, a couple of Pollitt Bureau. First 764 00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:32,640 Speaker 1: they forced Eric Connaker, the long time dictator of East Germany, 765 00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:35,880 Speaker 1: they force him to resign. They go into emergency session 766 00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:38,680 Speaker 1: the Pollitt Bureau in East Germany, and then the middle 767 00:45:38,719 --> 00:45:42,000 Speaker 1: of the night on November ninth, they issue a number 768 00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:45,160 Speaker 1: of dictats and a member of the Politt Bureau who's 769 00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:48,640 Speaker 1: also the press officer, he's bleary eyed, he's tired, and 770 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:54,680 Speaker 1: he misinterprets a decision of the polit Bureau and says 771 00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:58,680 Speaker 1: that all the checkpoints are now open effective. His questions 772 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:01,359 Speaker 1: that mean now effective, immediate at Lian and this man 773 00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:06,480 Speaker 1: Gunterushevasky says yes effective immediately, and the press conference was 774 00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:11,160 Speaker 1: being carried live in East Berlin. Immediately people begin streaming 775 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:14,719 Speaker 1: to the checkpoints in the wall on foot, by bicycle, 776 00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:18,600 Speaker 1: by cars. The soldiers have not received any orders. This 777 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:22,920 Speaker 1: takes everyone by surprise, and there's a standoff that lasts sometime. 778 00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:25,799 Speaker 1: And finally, of course, the soldiers have a choice. They 779 00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:29,279 Speaker 1: can open fire, but they're receiving no direction, and one 780 00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:31,600 Speaker 1: of them decides to act like a human being and 781 00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:34,759 Speaker 1: he opens the gate. And then all the checkpoints are open, 782 00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:37,880 Speaker 1: and the Berlin Wall has ceased to function. From the 783 00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:40,400 Speaker 1: Berlin Walls specifically, take a look at them. They've been 784 00:46:40,400 --> 00:46:43,200 Speaker 1: there since last night. They are here in the thousands, 785 00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:46,319 Speaker 1: they are here in the tens of thousands. Occasionally they 786 00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:50,520 Speaker 1: shout d mahamusvek, the wall must go. Thousands and thousands 787 00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:53,000 Speaker 1: of West Germans come to make the point that the 788 00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:56,440 Speaker 1: wall has suddenly become irrelevant something as you can see, 789 00:46:56,480 --> 00:46:59,399 Speaker 1: almost a party on how do you measure You're such 790 00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:03,080 Speaker 1: an astonished moment in history. The East German government said 791 00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:04,920 Speaker 1: tonight they were going to make more openings in the 792 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:08,040 Speaker 1: wall at least a dozen more put bulldozers right through 793 00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:11,120 Speaker 1: the wall so that more people could cross to the west. 794 00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:15,080 Speaker 1: The East German communist leadershef Tonight said there'd be a 795 00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:19,080 Speaker 1: new election law guaranteeing secret elections which the rest of 796 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:22,359 Speaker 1: the world could monitor. And only twenty four hours after 797 00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:26,080 Speaker 1: East Germans were told they could go anywhere anytime, the 798 00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:30,640 Speaker 1: Soviet Union said that was a sensible move. I never 799 00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:33,879 Speaker 1: taught the President about this afterwards, but I did ask 800 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:37,480 Speaker 1: missus Reagan what his impression, What did he feel when 801 00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:39,960 Speaker 1: the wall came down, and she said that he was 802 00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:42,960 Speaker 1: especially struck that it wasn't Corvichev who brought the wall down, 803 00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:46,480 Speaker 1: it was ordinary German people themselves. That that meant a 804 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,600 Speaker 1: great deal to him. I remember the night the wall 805 00:47:49,719 --> 00:47:54,160 Speaker 1: came down, Oh yes. The next night, Sam Donaldson had 806 00:47:54,239 --> 00:47:57,240 Speaker 1: flown out to sit with Reagan and he said to Reagan, 807 00:47:57,360 --> 00:48:00,200 Speaker 1: are you surprisinglys And Reagan said, will you know I 808 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:03,000 Speaker 1: always thought they were Germans on both sides of the wall, 809 00:48:03,960 --> 00:48:06,600 Speaker 1: you know, just that simple. The other is to go 810 00:48:06,719 --> 00:48:08,840 Speaker 1: back to your point, because both of us are creatures 811 00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:12,080 Speaker 1: of words and of the importance of ideas. I think 812 00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:16,280 Speaker 1: one of the characteristics that Thatcher, Saint John Paulo Second 813 00:48:16,719 --> 00:48:20,759 Speaker 1: and Reagan had. It was really important that we often 814 00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:27,239 Speaker 1: forget today, is they established moral superiority. They assert it 815 00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:32,239 Speaker 1: in a way which absolutely shattered the Soviet mythology that 816 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:35,319 Speaker 1: in fact Reagan, I'm told, I don't this may be apocryphal, 817 00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:37,640 Speaker 1: but I know the handful of times I flew an 818 00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:40,200 Speaker 1: Air Force one, Reagan would always come back, and he 819 00:48:40,239 --> 00:48:43,560 Speaker 1: would always tell anti Soviet jokes. And I am told 820 00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:47,120 Speaker 1: that at the very first meeting with Gorbachev he began 821 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:51,120 Speaker 1: with an anti Soviet joke, those very mild ones, but 822 00:48:51,719 --> 00:48:55,120 Speaker 1: in essence it was a man says to the reporters, Look, 823 00:48:55,160 --> 00:48:57,440 Speaker 1: I have as much freedom in Russia as I do 824 00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:01,520 Speaker 1: in America, And the reporters is how that be? He says, Well, 825 00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:04,080 Speaker 1: in America, I can stand up in front of the 826 00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:07,520 Speaker 1: White House and I can say Ronald Reagan is a 827 00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:11,200 Speaker 1: terrible president, and nothing will be done. He said, Anne, 828 00:49:11,239 --> 00:49:13,200 Speaker 1: I can stand up in front of the Kremlin and 829 00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:16,239 Speaker 1: I can say Ronald Reagan is a terrible president and 830 00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:22,600 Speaker 1: nothing will be done. So we have equal freedom. As 831 00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:24,840 Speaker 1: a member of New Center Circle, you can listen to 832 00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:29,680 Speaker 1: our podcast extra Peter Robinson's story behind his book, How 833 00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:33,040 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan Changed My Life. If you're not a member 834 00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:36,919 Speaker 1: of new Center Circle, please consider joining today at Newt 835 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:46,120 Speaker 1: Center Circle dot com. Thank you to my guest Peter M. Robinson. 836 00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:49,880 Speaker 1: You can learn more about President Reagan's Berlin Wall speech, 837 00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:53,000 Speaker 1: the Cold War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall 838 00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:57,680 Speaker 1: on our show page at newtsworld dot com. Newtsworld is 839 00:49:57,719 --> 00:50:01,800 Speaker 1: produced by Westwood One. Our executive producer is Debbie Myers 840 00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:06,080 Speaker 1: and our producer is Garnsey Slow. Our editor is Robert Borowski, 841 00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:10,320 Speaker 1: and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. Our guest booker is 842 00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:13,759 Speaker 1: Grace Davis. The artwork for the show was created by 843 00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:18,560 Speaker 1: Steve Penley. The music was composed by Joey Salvio. Special 844 00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:21,560 Speaker 1: thanks to the team of Ingwish three sixty and Westwood 845 00:50:21,560 --> 00:50:25,480 Speaker 1: One's John Wardock and Robert Mathers. Please email me with 846 00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:29,319 Speaker 1: your comments at newt at newtsworld dot com. If you've 847 00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:31,720 Speaker 1: been enjoining Newtsworld, I hope you will go to Apple 848 00:50:31,800 --> 00:50:35,200 Speaker 1: Podcast and both rate us with five stars and give 849 00:50:35,280 --> 00:50:38,040 Speaker 1: us a review so others can learn what it's all about. 850 00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:52,080 Speaker 1: I'm newt Gangwish. This is Newtsworld, the Westwood one podcast network,