Reagan in Berlin

After World War II, Soviet Russia took control of much of eastern Europe. Germany was split in half, free in the western half and under communist control in the east. Though the capitol, Berlin, was fully in the eastern half, it too was split so that the western half could belong to West Germany.

A wall was built in 1961 by East Germany along the Berlin division to keep citizens of East Berlin from fleeing to the West. Before the wall was built, 3.5 million people defected to West Berlin. From 1961 til 1989, the wall and its "death strip" prevented nearly all defections.

American President Ronald Reagan made his famous Berlin Wall speech in 1987, thirty-one years ago yesterday. In the name of freedom, he passionately challenged the Russian communist leader: 

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"