Len wrote:

I differ with your statement: "Whatever president of the US, Eastern Europe
would have changed like it did."

My sources are the news, opinions and comments by america-
watchers (of various bloodtypes).

In terms of who deserves the most credit it is unmistakenly
Gorbatsjov. Why is it there is such a need to blow up the part Reagan
played?

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

The beginning of the end of the Cold War

On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan spoke the people of West
Berlin at the base of the Brandenburg Gate, near the Berlin wall. Due to
the amplification system being used, the President's words could also be
heard on the Eastern (Communist-controlled) side of the wall. The
address Reagan delivered that day is considered by many to have affirmed
the beginning of the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism. On
Nov. 9-11, 1989, the people of a free Berlin tore down that wall.

Of all his speeches, Ronald Reagan's "tear down that wall," address may
well become the "Great Communicator's" best remembered. The following is
an excerpt from President Reagan's address.

"In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: 'We will bury you.' But in the West
today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and
well-being unprecedented in all human history.

In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness,
declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind--too
little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself.
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.

"And 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. Some political prisoners have been
released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed.
Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater
freedom from state control.

"Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or
are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or
to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? 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!'"

--
Skipper