The celebrations last week marking the tenth anniversary of the Berlin Wall's collapse were marred by what seemed at times a willful refusal to give Ronald Reagan proper credit for his contribution to the triumph of freedom in Europe.
A Washington Post editorial, written in an oddly dispirited and passive voice, was sadly typical: "The American side," said the Post, by way of explaining our historic victory in the Cold War, "had come to be widely seen as a society of values honorable and serviceable for challenge. Ronald Reagan by intuition and Mikhail Gorbachev by logic set the dissolution on course."
But intuition had nothing to do with it. Throughout his presidency, Ronald Reagan offered a sustained and ultimately successful political argument against Communist tyranny. It was a feat of high statesmanship much derided at the time, even reviled as warmongering in many quarters. The rhetorical high point of his campaign came in Berlin, before the Brandenburg Gate, on June 12, 1987. Here is part of what he said that day: "After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.
"Now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. . . . We welcome change and openness, for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
"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."
The official festivities in Berlin last week consisted mainly of effusions of gratitude to Mikhail Gorbachev from former president George Bush and former chancellor Helmut Kohl, for Gorbachev's having refrained from ordering a massacre as the Wall fell. Ronald Reagan, who was obviously unable to be there, deserved better than to be the ghost at the banquet. Here, then, is how he prophetically concluded his famous 1987 speech:
"As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, 'This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.' Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith. It cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom."