Was it the most important speech of President Reagan’s life?
Who knows? But, on the 20th anniversary of the moment many historians believe signaled the beginning of the end of the Cold War, none of the broadcast evening news programs bothered to even mention it.
Not one.
Instead of covering the anniversary of President Reagan’s demands in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany, for Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” (video and transcript of the speech available here), ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” reported:
- American home foreclosure rates
- The battle over the immigration bill
- A possible water contamination at the Marine base at Camp Lejeune
- Goings-on in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel
- President Bush’s missing watch
- The case of the $54 million missing pants
- Correspondent Bob Woodruff’s return to the Middle East.
Clearly, they had no time to slip in a report on the 20th anniversary of Reagan’s speech. Neither did the “CBS Evening News,” although Katie had plenty of time for the following:
- The battle over the immigration bill
- A possible water contamination at the Marine base at Camp Lejeune
- Goings-on in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel
- Duke lacrosse prosecutor Mike Nifong’s problems
- Good news on the budget deficit
- The problem baby boomers will have retiring
- A new diet pill
- A gypsy moth caterpillar infestation in the mid-Atlantic region.
Obviously, no time for Reagan’s marvelous speech here. And, no time in Tuesday’s installment of the “NBC Nightly News” either given this hectic schedule:
- The battle over the immigration bill
- The problem baby boomers will have retiring
- American home foreclosure rates
- Duke lacrosse prosecutor Mike Nifong’s problems
- A story about New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg
- A new diet pill
- Goings-on in the Middle East
- Tony Blair’s comments about the media
- President Bush’s missing watch
- An experiment in education in Harlem, New York.
As you can see, it was much too busy a news day for the broadcast networks to spend even thirty seconds on one of the most important speeches by an American president in the past twenty years.
Think this would have been so universally ignored if Presidents Clinton or Carter had made this amazing speech?
No, I don't think so either.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.
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Good wrap-up, Noel.For his
June 12, 2007 - 23:31 ET by Ken ShepherdGood wrap-up, Noel.
For his part, Shep Smith mentioned the speech and included the seminal "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" line at the end of the June 12 "Fox Report."
I also think though, that the prophetic nature of the speech should be highlighted where possible and time allows. That is to say, Reagan predicted and insisted that "this wall will fall":
Ken
June 12, 2007 - 23:48 ET by Noel SheppardKen,
I'm glad somebody noticed. I'm starting to think that you and I are the only people still alive who realized the importance of this speech. Watching it today, 20 years later, it gave me chills.
Are we alone in these sentiments, Ken? ns
Noel, I don't think you're al
June 13, 2007 - 00:04 ET by Carl KolchakNoel, I don't think you're alone, but I don't think much seems to be taught about the Cold War, and when it seems to be taught, it's almost as if the U.S. and Reagan were the bad guys. Both the Soviets and the Americans became Superpowers after WW2, and it seems as if neither were really prepared to do that, but in the end that's what happened. Not much is taught about the Iron Curtain, or what was going on in those countries. I don't know what's taught in Europe, but it seems as if many Europeans seem to think the U.S. was the bad guy, and that people like Ulbricht, Honecker, Ceasuescu, Hoxha, Stalin, etc. were a bunch of swell guys and never did anything wrong. We seem to take pride in Reagan's speech, but in the end I think the way history is being taught, that most young people have no idea what the Cold War was about or why the Berlin Wall was built in the first place.
"I ask you to let the government know immediately when you see serious problems or mistakes that stand in the way of our great community endeavor. " Walter Ulbricht
Carl,....and that people like
June 13, 2007 - 00:29 ET by Dave RCarl,
....and that people like Ulbricht, Honecker, Ceasuescu, Hoxha, Stalin, etc. were a bunch of swell guys and never did anything wrong.
Well, you know what is said about those who ignore and/or forget history.
When you look back over the last six-thousand years of recorded history and see that the overwhelming majority of people who have lived during this time have done so under some form of tyranny or other, it makes you stop and think, as well as appreciate, our way of life. We have been blessed and quite fortunate to be among the very tiny minority who have been able to live our lives in relative freedom.
It is astounding to me today how many of the younger generation have absolutely no concept of freedom, or what it means not to actually have it. I hope that, unlike our ancestors, they will not have to learn the hard way. My fear, however, is that they will.
Dave R, people in this countr
June 13, 2007 - 00:36 ET by Carl KolchakDave R, people in this country think they have it bad when their cable goes out. They think they have it bad because their high speed internet goes down, or that their cell phone is out of range. They think they have it bad if their favorite sports team doesn't win. They think they have it bad if the CD player in their car isn't working, or that their radio isn't working. I could go on and on. I don't like Bill Clinton, but Bill Clinton was not rounding up those who disagreed with him politically and put them in political prisons. George Bush Sr. and George Bush Jr. don't round of Democrats and put them in politcal prisons. Reagan didn't do it, and neither did Carter. Nixon didn't do it and neither did Johnson. Want to know about repression, check out guys like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung, Ceausescu, Hoxha, and see how guys like that treated those who didn't agree with them politcally.
You are 100% correct to say that we are blessed to live in freedom, however I have a feeling that they way people are being taught today, that we will probably see Communism come back.
"I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane" Waylon Jennings
The three people most respo
June 13, 2007 - 05:24 ET by motherbeltThe three people most responsible for the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the USSR were President Ronald Reagan, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II. And I don't know what is being taught in schools today regarding the Cold War, but when you hear and read about it in the media, it was the sainted Mikhail Gorbachev (sp?) that was responsible for ending it. As if he just decided, out of the blue, that freedom was a good thing. He became the new hero of the left, simply because they couldn't stand to admit that Reagan accomplished something Democrat Presidents had tangled with for years, and failed at.
You read The President, The P
June 14, 2007 - 05:22 ET by UnsaneYou read The President, The Pope and the Prime Minister yet? Good book...for one, I definitely appreciate Pope John Paul II much more after I read it.
FIFTEEN DOWN, ONE TO GO...(until the SPURS' FOURTH RING!!!)
unsane
June 14, 2007 - 05:28 ET by Cool ArrowWho's LeBroom James?
Weren't some of Reagan's ow
June 13, 2007 - 05:11 ET by sarcasmoWeren't some of Reagan's own political advisors against putting the "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" line in the speech?? A cursory search reveals nothing, but that's what I recall from somewhere...
JMR
Yes, that's true. And Ted K
June 13, 2007 - 06:58 ET by Sergeant ROCKYes, that's true. And Ted Kennedy and other democRATS were working with the Soviets behind the scenes to undermine Reagan's foreign policy.
Noel, Ken - Not at all.
June 13, 2007 - 14:04 ET by Gary HallNoel, Ken - Not at all. The sentiments run deep here. (;~> gh
When I first saw the link yesterday morning, I forwarded it to my daughter. Could have expected as much - last night her homeword assignment for her AP US History class (11th gr) was to research and write an essay on Watergate (I gues the teacher's other option would have been Iran-Contra!)
I suggested to her that she might compare the media attention given to dirty tricks by Republicans vs. those by Democrats. Specifically, I mentioned Bill Moyers' request of J. Edgar Hoover's help in digging up information on any homosexuals in the Goldwater camp for the 1964 election. Oh shame on me - I'm always getting her into trouble!
Ronald Wilson Reagan
June 12, 2007 - 23:54 ET by Dave RThe left will never get over their derision for President Ronald W. Reagan, for he represented, as well as courageously stood up for, the one thing the left has come to singularly despise about this great country:
Real freedom.
I seriously doubt that we, nor the world, shall ever see his like again.
How sad.
watched fred on leno--
June 13, 2007 - 00:02 ET by misterbillwatched fred on leno--he came across well--got a lot of applause from the audience which in my experience has been largely cheering for Democrats over time.
Fred speaks plain. Run,Fred, run.
misterbill,To be bluntly hone
June 13, 2007 - 00:45 ET by Dave Rmisterbill,
To be bluntly honest here, I firmly now believe that the near-term survival of this country, in anything close to resembling its current form, will rest upon two things:
1) A true conservative president (which we have not seen since Ronald Reagan).
2) The passage of the Fair Tax bill, else the train wreck that this country has been bearing down on for for the last sixty plus years is going to be damned fatal. The only real difference at this point being that with the republicans, the wreck is going to occur three days later than if the dims were running the whole show.
Ronald Reagan somehow managed to slow the speed of said train somewhat, but WJC managed to get the steam going again. All Mr.Bush has managed to do, with the hideous prescription drug plan, the increased size of the federal government, and his inexplicable desire to add what could possibly be over 100 million people (or more) to this country over the next ten years has not only put grease on the rails, but has sharply steepened the incline.
Fred Thompson just may be the the one to nudge this country back into a semblance of sanity.
If not, I'll be checking employment opportunities in the Caymans.
Instead of ruthlessly attacki
June 13, 2007 - 05:14 ET by UnsaneInstead of ruthlessly attacking "C" and those least able to pay the so-called "Fair Tax", why not make taxes truly fair and hit everyone at 15-17% of income across the board, with absolutely positively NO breaks or deductions?
(That, and damn it would be nice if SOMEONE would re-visit the idea of privatizing Social Security...)
FIFTEEN DOWN, ONE TO GO...(until the SPURS' FOURTH RING!!!)
I suppose from their, the Lef
June 13, 2007 - 00:11 ET by I-BurnI suppose from their, the Lefts, point of view, RR is the one who came along and ruined *everything*. Back in those days the Dems/Leftists were telling us that our time was through and that Americans needed to get used to being a declining power, economically and militarily. They were sure that the rising tide of Socialism (though let's be honest and admit that it was in actuality, Communism) was about to overwhelm the world, and were waiting with open arms. Then along came Ronal Reagan, and suddenly our country was strong, and our people were optimistic. Rather than worldwide Socialism/Communism that the Left anticipating, suddenly Communism was in severe decline and soon to take a major fall in the Soviet Union.
You can imagine the frustration and anger this caused among "our betters". This is why they're still engaged in slandering his name, and legacy, to this day. Something that I doubt they'll ever cease. For if they can succeed in discrediting the man, they can attempt to reinstitute the disasterous course that Ronald Reagan so masterfully avoided.
The importance of President R
June 13, 2007 - 00:04 ET by jdhawkThe importance of President Reagan's vision of a free and democatic Eastern Europe and Russia embodied in that speach cannot be over emphasized. That hundreds of millions are able to taste a modicum of freedom is truly a shinning moment for mankind after the tens of millions that were incarcerated, tortured and murdered by a heinous villany that is communism. Americans can be justly proud for the expenditure of trillions of treasure and the loss of tens of thousands of lives in the cold war and its many hot skirmishes.
With a mere glimpse of his greatness shone in 1964 when he gave the "Time for Choosing" speech, who knew what a great president he would eventually make?
Laura Ingram played his speec
June 13, 2007 - 03:18 ET by USA4freedomLaura Ingram played his speech while Frederic Chopin played in the back ground- it was breathtaking. And yes my eyes watered as they do with so many of his speeches. The greatness of our country the generosity of its people, the basic goodness of Americans. In the great words of Regan; the shining city on the hill.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.
Ronald Reagan- 40th Anniversary of D-Day
Where was I?
June 13, 2007 - 10:10 ET by Ole_SargeJune of 1987, I was serving in the United States Air Force, assigned to the 51st Tactical Fighter Wing, stationed at "K-2" Air Base, The Republic of (South) Korea. That second week of June, we were once again in "exercise mode." Running around in chemical warefare protective suits. launching aircraft to train to drop munitions and fight other aircraft in the skies of this "Land of Morning Calm" and midnight madness. A land that had ceased firing, but was still at war. A "tinderbox" or trigger in the long COLD WAR.
I heard the speech, as did many others and you know, we thought it was a good speech, but would it? Could it actually happen in our lifetimes?
Well, history WAS made, and continued to be made. One threat beaten back (I don't think it is truly dead, just still battered and bloody) another poised like a "snake."
Because while the "bear" was dispatched, we rested and feasted rather than truly "watched" ofr other threats -- like the "Hydra-like" snake that has been curling up and around us in our "drunken" stupor.
I had to laugh yesterday when
June 13, 2007 - 12:56 ET by deedledeeI had to laugh yesterday when Dan Rather was on Fox and David Asman talked about President Reagan's "tear down this wall" speech. Rather had to comment paraphrasing "the wall didn't come down until five or six years later" implying that Reagan's speech didn't have an immediate effect. According to my history, the gates were opened and the wall started to come down on November 9, 1989. Poor Dan, hard newsman, still trying to invent history.
Memories
June 14, 2007 - 05:28 ET by UnsaneI was a boy when I heard this speech, and thought it all well and good...but Gorbachev being a commie, I figured he would ignore the whole thing, and that would be that.
Then came that Thursday afternoon in 1989 when I came home from school and did what ALL the teenagers did back in the day when they came home from school - tune into CNN, where I heard the following announcement (or something to this effect): "The East German government has opened the border with West Germany and West Berlin."
To which I said, "Well, they CAN'T do that! Because if they did that, then what is the point of having the Berlin Wall?" At which point the enormity of the news hit home. I had to be pried from the TV that night.
FIFTEEN DOWN, ONE TO GO...(until the SPURS' FOURTH RING!!!)
Berlin Wall
June 14, 2007 - 05:34 ET by Cool ArrowGreat Wall of China was built to keep invaders out. Where's the outcry? Shouldn't they have sacrificed their national identity to be more inclusive?
Berlin wall was built to keep people in. Why is it we constantly hear comparison of our proposed border wall with the Berlin wall rather than the Great wall?