The Fall of the Berlin Wall - After twenty years, isn't it time to dispel the myth of Reagan?
posted by: Aaron Pendell 19 days ago
History, unlike photography, does not work well in black and white. The past is an abstract jungle of color that spills over neat lines of political thought. - Gerard DeGroot
As the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall fast approaches, I find myself suffering a mild internal conflict. I welcome the opportunity to revisit the Nov. 9, 1989 occasion, particularly because viewing the images and newsreels of that day - the mass of humanity gleefully celebrating, chipping away at the Cold War barrier - inspire in me the same optimism I felt as an American teenager watching it on television.
Twenty years later, I'm also feeling some apprehension as the world prepares to mark the occasion. As I still reside within the U.S., I'm presently dreading the fact that as America celebrates, it will do so with a spoonful of Reagan mythology.
Too often, Americans mistakenly trace a direct line of causation between President Ronald Reagan's leadership and the Berlin Wall's breach. If you count yourself among those whom subscribe to this historical revisionism, don't feel bad. As Gerard DeGroot, professor of history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, illustrates within his Oct. 30 Washington Post book review, even historians are capable of the same error.
DeGroot succinctly describes the source of the confusion:
People are, however, messy. They clutter up the precise narratives imposed upon the past. Now, 20 years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, historians are competing to offer an explanation for the demise of communism. For some, it's easier to think of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria as a bloc, manipulated and exploited by the Soviet Union and ultimately freed by the United States. That conception delights neoconservatives eager to extract parables to illuminate the present.
He reminded me of Goldilocks in his comparative review of three new books on the collapse of communism. One treatment gives Reagan too much credit, another none at all, but the third - Professor Constantine Pleshakov's "There is Freedom Without Bread!" - gets it just right. (Emphasis Added)
His explanation of the 1989 collapse respects the complexity of Eastern Europe, yet his account is both clear and beautifully lyrical. His greatest strength lies in not being burdened by doctrine; he finds worth in communists and in Reagan. Of all the books that mark this anniversary, his is one that must be read.
According to DeGroot, Pleshakov's treatment effectively avoids the mistakes of other historians by accurately describing the Eastern bloc. His analysis rightly takes into account the vast differences between states formerly dominated by the Soviet Union.
In a separate DeGroot review, posted Sept. 27 at DenverPost.com, he praises the myth busting of Michael Meyer, author of "The Year that Changed the World - The Untold Story of the Fall of the Berlin Wall." Again the myth of Reagan's impact is dispelled along with the persistent American notion that "…dictatorial regimes crumble when confronted by righteous indignation."
The real story, Meyer says... is more complicated — and interesting. Reagan still plays a role, but as diplomat, not Rambo. His contribution came in accommodation; his willingness to talk to Gorbachev gave the Soviet leader the confidence to break molds.
Gorbachev, furthermore, did not tear down the wall; he merely suggested that change would be tolerated. The events themselves were played out by a cast of thousands in Budapest, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw and Bucharest. There was no script; this was an improvisational drama conceived by Camus, with help from Kafka and Moliere.
The Soviet Union came to the realization that its empire was no longer affordable. Like other imperial powers, it cut and ran, leaving colonial subjects to sort things out for themselves. Chaos naturally resulted.
DeGroot's review of Meyer's book gets to the crux of my own frustration. My apprehension in regards to Berlin Wall anniversary doesn't stem so much from those who cling to a skewed view of history; one in which Reagan brazenly challenged, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," followed by the wall magically obeying the American president's command.
Rather, what I find disheartening is what Americans have selectively eliminated from their collective memory; that is, diplomatic engagement was Reagan's contribution to the Berlin Wall's demise. His was a significant role, but it shouldn't be propped up as a primary cause.
Further, I don't think it's a stretch to see this historical misconception visited upon the present when conservative pundits declare President Obama's and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emphasis on engagement in foreign policy as a sign of weakness. They, as so many Westerners do, ignore Reagan's real success by parroting an invented one.
It is my hope, as the world honors the twentieth anniversary of the fall, that Westerners remember the importance of diplomacy in international relations. I'd like them to view the anticipated ubiquitous 1989 newsreel replays of the joyous occasion - of which, you'll find one embedded below - and resist the inclination to pat themselves on the back for their nations' contributions to the Berlin Wall's collapse.
Instead, they should offer congratulations to millions of participants whose celebration, twenty years ago this Nov. 9, provided us with the uplifting spectacle of people emerging from oppression, welcoming and embracing their previously stifled potential. They should, however, consider that once the iron curtain was lifted, opening the Eastern bloc nations to the West, that lacking the forced collectivism of the Soviet Union was no guarantee of success.
From DeGroot's WaPo review:
"Free elections," Pleshakov concludes, "do not necessarily lead to more freedom. . . . The free market can impoverish a nation as effectively as central planning." How true.
See Also:
Will Bunch, "Why Reagan Still Matters Today." Huffington Post, 29 January 2009. - Bunch- author, journalist & political blogger at Attytood.com - provides an excerpt from his 2009 book, "Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future."
Andreas Ramos, "The Fall of the Berlin Wall - A Personal Account." Andreas.com, 2009.
Image Archive, "Berlin Wall Group Pool." Flickr.com - Over 3,000 images of and pertaining to the Berlin Wall.
Read more: history, books, president, myth, politics, communism, cold war, ronald reagan, berlin wall, fall of the berlin wall, reagan myth, 20th anniversery, gerard degroot, iron curtain, soviet union, berlin wall collapse, collapse of communism
comments
Once again the Left attempts to re-write history- To begin with what kind of defence can be made for any Nation that walls it's citizens in, shoots them if they try to escape and has neighbors spy on them for any signs of ant-Government activity and opresses them in ways we can't comprenend! Whitness Venezeuela, Cuba, Iran and North Koera today that the Left and Obama/Democrat Party ignores and at worst defends them! It was Reagan pure and simple that resisted the Left's call to not confront the Soviets but to endlessly negotiate with them and appease them- Much like today with the insane "Opology World Tour" of Obama trying to say how rotten and sorry we are for being American willing to defend our way of life! No, Reagan was responsible for the fall of the wall- He had pride in his Country and believed that we are exceptional in the World because of the freedom and representative Democracy we have- Had Obama, Jimmy Carter (worst President ever) and the Democrats been there the wall would still be up cause they don't believe this!
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Jonathan,
Thank you for your revelations. For a long time we had suspected as much and wondered that an illiterate ignorant celluloid cowboy had managed to worm his way into such a responsible position. It does not reflect well upon your system of chosing presidents. However, you have got it right this time.
Give Obama your full support; he shows more intelligance and humanity than many of his predecessors put together.
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Yes, an American President who built an arsenal that caused the Soviets to bankrupt theyselves in an attempt to build up, could not possibly have had anything to do with it. He also had nothing to do with the tax cuts that Nancy must have signed when he was in the other room and that resulted in unemployment and interest rates plummeting while the citizens of this country saw their net worths rise. He was not solely responsible, and probably not even mainly responsible, for the Berlin Wall. But, regardless of the rewrite, those who remember do not need history books to recall the great President who was Ronald Reagan.
I hope, I really do, that the same will one day be said about President Obama. Nothing would please me more, I live here after all. But a major expansion of federal spending, cap and trade, and health care, are not giving me a whole lot of optimism.
Cap and trade hasn't passed, yet, but the house was actually considering including the requirement that a home cannot be sold until an energy evaluation is complete and the home is brought to the new standards contained in the billl, at the expense of the seller. Bill is now in the Senate, wonder if it will get back in?
Fortunately, real estate is doing very well and can handle an additional selling requirement. Oh, wait a sec....
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Saint Ronnie is indeed the recipient of the myth that he brought down the wall but nothing could be further from the truth. One has only to look at his defenders on this thread alone. They are practically frothing at the idea that their great warrior hero was not solely responsible for the saving of the world from the evil empire. Mickey Mouse could have been president and the wall would have still come down. The real credit goes to Gorbachav and the tireless efforts of all the preceding presidents, intelligence people, and the average citizens of the Eastern Blocs who refused to give up the idea of freedom from communist rule.
Saint Ronnie of the Raygun was at best a figurehead who got lucky enough to be there when it all went down,...well actually Bush 1 was, but the myth lives on.
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Diana F,
I have no illusions about the world revolving around the US but to claim as you do that the we had nothing to do with the fall of the Soviet Empire is something hard to believe. Did you really say that with a straight face? Can all you revisionists have forgotten the terrible years of the Soviets and the incredible hardships of the people under its thrall? Probably so. Anyone who can say such things and act like Gorbachev was the real hero don't read history, they rewrite it.
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I worked for the State Dept. during the Reagan administration and we were continually astounded by his stubborn incompetence on international issues. His experienced cabinet officers covered for him. Our boss, Sec. State George Schultz, threatened to resign any number of times. Reagan was dragged kicking and screaming to the peace talks in Reyjkavik and Paris, and only warmed to Gorbachev after the Russians agreed to massive concessions.
He was a very nice gentleman but a nitwit on foreign policy. Also famous for making such fatuous remarks as 'ketchup is a vegetable' in response to healthier school lunch reform (he was against it) and, 'Congress has outlawed the USSR the bombs are dropping in 5 minutes' (the Russians didn't think it was funny and went to Orange level alert).
Like I said, a nice guy who got way too much credit (Carter did the hard negotiating to get our hostages out of Iran) for various things that happened during his tenure (Schultz, Gorbachev, and the State Dept. did most of the negotiating that ended the Cold War).
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Dianke,
Well said.
By 1989 the U.S.S.R., under enlightened Gorbachev, had come to realise that the Cold War was idiocy, there were far more important issues such as rescuing their own population from the dismal thrall into which the Stalinist perversion of Communism had cast them. Additionally the cost of the continuing arms race was no longer supportable; they had better uses for their resources. It was only to be expected that those nations that had been subjugated as a shield against Western capitalism should break free once Soviets' iron grip was relaxed. The fall of the Berlin Wall, though the most spectacular, was but one of a number of events that ended confrontation. The emergence of Solidarity in Poland was probably the spark that started proceedings. The West made comparatively small contribution to the occasion.
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Regan was another terrible president with failed economic policies.
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The only myth is in the minds of the revisionist left wing.
I'm also sure they feel that the 2009 Nov. election was a huge victory for them - need I say more.
Michael S.
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The difference between the 2 walls is that one was to keep people in and the other to keep others out, get it!
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