In 1987 Ronald Reagan gave his famous speech at Brandenburg Gate calling for the freedom of a people controlled by tyrannical government. Today we celebrate World Freedom Day and the 22nd anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a time in history when the shackles of communism were finally broken.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
As someone who has family in Croatia, formally known as communist Yugoslavia, I have a deep appreciation for Reagan's courage. Without his calls for freedom, my family, whose country after a war and huge sacrifices now has a constitution modeled after the United States Constitution and public buses adorned with the phrase, "Libertas," may not be free.
