The Roller Back

ON March 8, 1983, President Reagan famously identified the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” and the “focus of evil in the modern world.” The reaction of the sophisticates was swift: “primitive,” huffed both TRB in The New Republic and Anthony Lewis in the New York Times. Other commentators were convinced that all negotiations with the Soviet Union would be undermined. No such thing happened. On the contrary, Reagan was later to engage in a quite productive series of negotiations with a reformist Soviet leadership.

On June 12, 1987, Reagan gave an equally memorable address at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, calling out dramatically to Mikhail Gorbachev, “Tear down this wall!” I served in the White House then, and found myself caught between the president’s speechwriters, who defended the strong language that he wanted, and the State Department and NSC experts, who had a battery of arguments why it was “inappropriate.” The president’s speech said exactly what he wanted it to say.

PW

About the Author

Peter W. Rodman

ON March 8, 1983, President Reagan famously identified the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” and the “focus of evil in the modern world.” The reaction of the sophisticates was swift: “primitive,” huffed both TRB in The New Republic and Anthony Lewis in the New York Times. Other commentators were convinced that all negotiations with the Soviet Union would be undermined. No such thing happened. On the contrary, Reagan was later to engage in a quite productive series of negotiations with a reformist Soviet leadership.

On June 12, 1987, Reagan gave an equally memorable address at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, calling out dramatically to Mikhail Gorbachev, “Tear down this wall!” I served in the White House then, and found myself caught between the president’s speechwriters, who defended the strong language that he wanted, and the State Department and NSC experts, who had a battery of arguments why it was “inappropriate.” The president’s speech said exactly what he wanted it to say.