The speech that ended the Cold War

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Nov. 17, 2009

Mr. Gorbachev—! Well, you know the rest. As historians and artists around Los Angeles and the world reconstruct bits of the Berlin Wall, Time's Romesh Ratnesar commemorates and cobbles together the speech that is credited with bringing it down. At the very least, President Ronald Reagan's exhortation to the Soviet premier thawed some of the Cold War's ice floes. Ratnesar does Reagan one better in his book, "Tear Down This Wall: A City, a President, and the Speech that Ended the Cold War."

Simon & Schuster
Tear Down This Wall: A City, a President, and the Speech that Ended the Cold War

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Guest:


Romesh Ratnesar, author of "Tear Down This Wall: A City, a President, and the Speech that Ended the Cold War" (Simon & Schuster). His is deputy managing editor of Time magazine.

D Smith
3 months, 4 weeks ago

I agree with the sentiment of the callers that Ronald Reagan is given far too much credit for the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. So many people in Eastern Europe risked and gave their lives for the cause of freedom that to say Communism ended and governments fell because of one speech by an American president is arrogant and disrespectful. A few weeks ago, On Point had a show called "How the Wall Really Fell." It's worth a listen:
http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/10/how-the-wall-really-fell

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