Here is the key lesson found in the link Paul_B provided [emphasis added]:
The day the president arrived in Berlin, State and the NSC submitted yet another alternate draft. "They were still at it on the very morning of the speech," said Tony Dolan. "I'll never forget it." Yet in the limousine on the way to the Berlin Wall, the president told Duberstein he was determined to deliver the controversial line. Reagan smiled. "The boys at State are going to kill me," he said, "but it's the right thing to do."I would expect the Brandenburg gate to be filled with flowers and other symbols of respect. Not because of the anniversary, but rather for the passing of the man responsible for opening it. Someone, please, tell me that is what happened.There is a school of thought that Ronald Reagan only managed to look good because he had clever writers putting words in his mouth. But Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Bob Dole and Bill Clinton all had clever writers. Why was there only one Great Communicator? Because Ronald Reagan's writers were never attempting to fabricate an image, just to produce work that measured up to the standard Reagan himself had already established. His policies were plain. He had been articulating them for decades -- until he became president he wrote most of his material himself. When I heard Frau Elz say that Gorbachev should get rid of the wall, I knew instantly that the president would have responded to her remark.
PS. Peter Robinson's role is also deserving of recognition. I hope the People of Germany have honored him appropriately, too.
I also hope Reagan's passing with fill much of Europe with sympathy for the liberation of Iraq.