Who gave the 'Tear down this wall' speech at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987?

Ronald Reagan gave the “Tear down this wall” speech at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987. The U.S. president delivered the address in West Berlin on 12 June 1987, calling on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to open the Berlin Wall.

Reagan’s challenge came during the wall’s 25th anniversary period and addressed the wider division of Europe. Standing near the Brandenburg Gate, he argued that genuine reform in the Soviet Union should be matched by freedom of movement and greater openness in Berlin.

The speech was controversial inside Reagan’s administration. Some advisers feared the wording would provoke Moscow or undermine relations with Gorbachev, but speechwriter Peter Robinson and other officials supported keeping the memorable line. It later became one of the defining public statements of the late Cold War.

The wall opened on 9 November 1989, more than two years after Reagan’s speech. The speech did not itself cause the collapse, but it became a lasting symbol of the political pressure and popular movements that preceded German reunification.