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To: presidio9

Were you in Berlin for Kennedy's? How are you qualified to make that comparison? Kennedy's speech was: "This sucks and it needs to change." Reagan's was: "This sucks. Change it." History has shown who got the desired response.

No I was not in Berlin during JFK's speech, but I know plenty of Berliners who heard both and said the same thing. I value their opinions.

Again, I don't know why it is necessary to diminish JFK because he is given a compliment. You don't know your history if you think the fall of the Berlin Wall was solely due to Reagan or Bush who was President at the time it fell. It was the culmination of events began over 40 years prior to that. Our foreign policy of Containment started under Truman and Acheson. The formation of NATO and other alliances prevented the military expansion of the USSR. The Soviet Union crumbled from within, victims of a poor economy and vast expenditures of resources on maintaining its hegemony over its empire. It was a long drawnout process. Reagan put the final nail in the coffin by upping the ante on military expenditures and encouraging movements like Solidarnosc (along with the influence of the Pope).

145 posted on 11/21/2003 10:48:39 AM PST by kabar
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To: kabar
I'll let the speeches and the photo speak for themselves. Note the bald-headed guy seated behind Reagan.
148 posted on 11/21/2003 10:50:30 AM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does)
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