April 2024 Auction Ends Thursday, April 25th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/25/2024
Inspiring 20'' x 16'' photograph of Ronald Reagan delivering his famous ''Tear Down This Wall!'' speech, with a handwritten excerpt of the speech by Peter Robinson, the man who drafted the famous words. Reagan gave this speech on 12 June 1987 in front of the Bradenburg Gate in West Berlin, with a rousing delivery culminating in the exhortation to the Soviet leader, ''Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!'' Incredibly, this memorable line almost didn't make it into Reagan's speech, with many in his administration believing it was too bellicose. Reagan, however, kept putting the line back in, and it's now considered one of the greatest quotes of the Cold War, inspiring Germans to tear down the Berlin Wall two years later. Composed in fine black felt-tip, Robinson writes in full:
''Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe......Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar......As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind......
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!
Ronald Reagan
Address at the Brandenburg Gate
June 12, 1987
Peter Robinson, the White House speechwriter who drafted the 'Tear down this wall' address''. Photo is in near fine condition.
Ronald Reagan 20'' x 16'' Photo of Himself Delivering the Famous ''Tear Down This Wall!'' Speech -- With Handwritten Inscription by the Speechwriter Who Drafted the Words That Helped End the Cold War
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