On June 12, 1987, in one of his most famous Cold War speeches, President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet Leader Mikhail
Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the
repressive Communist era in a divided Germany.
The Berlin Wall, erected in 1961 by East Germany with Soviet
backing, physically and ideologically divided East and West
Berlin.
It was designed to prevent East Germans, particularly skilled
workers and intellectuals, from fleeing to the West, and it
became a powerful symbol of Soviet control and the broader
Cold War divide between communism and and democracy.
Two years later, on November 9, 1989, joyful East and West
Germans did break down the infamous barrier between East
and West Berlin. Germany was officially reunited on October
3, 1990.
