Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Introduction: Reagan's Role in Ending the Cold War

More than any other single person, President Ronald Reagan was responsible for the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the defeat of communism. It was his policies as President of the United States that led to the instability in the regimes of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its puppet governments in Eastern Europe. He took the bold step of breaking with previous U.S. foreign policy to advocate the defeat of communism instead of coexistence. "Reagan's experience in winning the Cold War provides a model of strength and offers hope. In 1980, no one expected to see the Berlin Wall come down that decade."^[1] It was this forcefulness that was the proximate cause for the opening of the wall on November 9, 1989.

In an interview on November 27, 1995, Jerry Falwell said, "Many thought he was a hawk, but I never saw him that way at all. I think his 'peace through strength' initiative was just the opposite. And it turned out to be correct: it brought the Berlin Wall down; it brought Soviet communism to an end. He knew that they could not match us. He broke their back militarily and economically. I believe that this was his goal upon taking office."^[2]

Early Life, Career, and Political Evolution

Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois, the second of two sons to John "Jack" Reagan and Nelle Wilson. One of his four great-grandfathers had immigrated to the United States from Ballyporeen, Ireland in the 1860s. Prior to his grandfather's emigration, the family name had been spelled Regan. In 1920, after years of moving from town to town, the family settled in Dixon, Illinois. In 1921, at the age of 10, Reagan was baptized in his mother's Disciples of Christ church in Dixon, and in 1924 he began attending Dixon's Northside High School. Reagan always considered Dixon to be his hometown.

In 1928, Reagan entered Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, majoring in economics and sociology, and graduated in 1932. In 1929, Ronald Reagan joined Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, which he recalled during numerous interviews and conversations later in life as one of the greatest experiences he had during his college years. Though earning mediocre grades, he made many lasting friendships. Reagan developed an early gift for storytelling and acting. He worked as a radio announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball games, receiving only the bare outlines of the game from a ticker and relying on his imagination and storytelling gifts to flesh out the action. Once in 1934, during the ninth inning of a Cubs–St. Louis Cardinals game, the wire went dead. Reagan smoothly improvised a fictional play-by-play — in which hitters on both teams fouled off pitches — until the wire was restored.

Reagan was popular with audiences, and aided by his clear voice and athletic physique, he primarily starred in Hollywood in leading-man roles in B movies. His first screen credit was the starring role in the 1937 film Love Is on the Air. By the end of 1939, he had appeared in 19 films. In 1940, he played the role of George "The Gipper" Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American, from which he acquired the nickname "the Gipper," which he retained for the rest of his life.

Reagan was commissioned as a reserve cavalry officer in the U.S. Army in 1935. After the attack on Pearl Harbor he was activated and assigned, partially due to his poor eyesight, to the First Motion Picture Unit in the United States Army Air Force, which produced training and education films. He remained in Hollywood for the duration of the war and attained the rank of captain. In 1952, Ronald Reagan married Nancy Davis, who became a powerful background figure in his rise and roles as governor and president.

Ronald Reagan began his political life as a Democrat, supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal. He gradually became a staunch social and fiscal conservative. He embarked upon the path that led him to a career in politics during his tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952, and again from 1959 to 1960. In this position, he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee on Communist influence in Hollywood.

Concluding that the Republican Party was better able to combat communism, Reagan gradually abandoned his left-of-center political views, supporting the presidential candidacies of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 and Richard Nixon in 1960 — all while he was still registered as a Democrat.

His employment by the General Electric Company from 1954 to 1962 further enhanced his political image. It was during his travels for the company that his conservative beliefs coalesced. He gave speeches at GE facilities focusing on the value of a free-market economy and the benefits of GE's products, and during the course of these talks he would exchange ideas with the workers. "It was not what he said to them but what they said to him that was important. They were the kind of people with whom he grew up, and he saw them as hard-working, decent Americans for whom life had not been easy. He became a convert to their way of thinking and, in time, a champion for their interests."^[3]

By the 1964 presidential election, Reagan was an outspoken supporter of conservative Republican Barry Goldwater. His nationally televised speech, "A Time for Choosing," electrified conservatives and led to his being asked to run for Governor of California. To this day, that speech is considered one of the most stirring ever made on behalf of a candidate. Soon after, several top Republican contributors visited Reagan at his home in Pacific Palisades, California, urging him to seek the governorship in 1966. Though these requests were initially "laughed off" by Reagan, as he recounts in his autobiography, he eventually gave in.