Description:

Ronald Reagan
n.p., n.d.
Ronald Reagan Signed "Tear Down This Wall!" Speech PSA MINT 9! Iconic!
DS
Souvenir Typescript of an excerpt of Ronald Reagan's iconic "Tear down this wall" speech, printed later on official light blue White House letterhead. Boldly signed at top as "Ronald Reagan." Measures 5.75" x 8". PSA/DNA encapsulated and graded MINT 9. Overall measurements are 9.75" x 13".

The excerpt reads:

"…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!"

"Tear down this wall!" was the challenge issued by Reagan to Mikhail Gorbachev, delivered in a speech before the Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin's founding. Reagan challenged Gorbachev, who was then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, open the wall as an symbol of Gorbachev's desire to increase freedom in the Eastern Bloc through "glasnost" (transparency) and "perestroika" (restructuring).

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Provenance: PSA/DNA MINT 9
    #85432582
  • Dimensions: 9.75" x 13"
  • Medium: DS

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March 12, 2025 10:00 AM EDT
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