“Tear Down This Wall!” An Analysis of the Brandenburg Gate Address

by Alex Cannon and Carly Callahan

Historical Context

When?: June 12, 1987

Where?: Brandenburg Gate

Trademark of Berlin

The Cold War & Post-WWII Berlin

G-7 Summit

1987 Europe

Speaker

Ronald Reagan

Former Actor

Gifted Public Speaker

Speechwriter

Peter Robinson

Occasion & Audience

Occasion: Berlin’s 750th Anniversary

Audience:

Primary: West Berliners, German Government

Secondary: Western Europe, United States, Communist Countries, The World

Purpose

Purpose:

To bring an end to Communism and the Cold War

Communist vs. Free Countries

Uniting Berlin

Overview

Themes

Freedom vs. Oppression

Structures

Historical Narrative

Compare/Contrast

Process

Rhetorical Devices

Personal Anecdote

Citing Authority

Flattery

“Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner Schnauze”

“Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin”

“Es gibt nur ein Berlin”

“Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.”

Rhetorical Devices (cont.)

“East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed; we are armed because we mistrust each other.”

Comparison

Metaphor

Tone

Steadfast

Heartfelt

Straightforward

Emphatic

Significance

Then:

Little Attention

Controversial

Later:

Fall of the Berlin Wall

Now:

Definition of an Era

War in Iraq

“This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.”

Favorite Lines

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

“Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German separated from his fellow men.”

The End

Works Cited

Boyd, Gerald M. "Raze Berlin Wall, Reagan Urges Soviet." New York Times 13 June 1987: 13. NYTimes.com. New York Times. Web. 8 Feb. 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/13/world/raze-berlin-wall-reagan-urges-soviet.html>.

"Brandenburger Tor." Berlin.de. Senate Department for Urban Development. Web. 8 Feb. 2010. <http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/denkmal/denkmale_in_berlin/en/unter_den_linden/brandenburger_tor.shtml>.

"Richard von Weizsacker." Wikipedia. Web. 8 Feb. 2010. <http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_von_Weizsäcker>.

"Ronald Reagan: 1911, 2004." NPR.com. National Public Radio, 12 June 2004. Web. 8 Feb. 2010. <http://www.npr.org/news/specials/obits/reagan/>.