J's Cafe Nette

Time does fly. It seems impossible that it was 20 years ago today when Ronald Reagan gave what is remembered as one of the speeches which defined his Presidency.

Power Line has an interview posted this morning with Peter Robinson, the author of the famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate.

In April 1987, when I was assigned to write the Brandenburg Gate address, I spent a day in Berlin with the White House advance team, the logistical experts, Secret Service agents, and press officials who went to the site of every presidential visit to make arrangements. In the evening, I broke away from the advance team to join a dozen Berliners for dinner. Our hosts were Dieter and Ingeborg Elz, who, after Dieter completed his career at the World Bank in Washington, had retired to Berlin. Although we had never met, we had friends in common, and the Elzes had offered to put on this dinner party to give me a feel for their city. They had invited Berliners of different walks of life and political outlooks—businessmen, academics, students, homemakers.

We chatted for awhile. Then I explained that, earlier in the day, the ranking American diplomat in West Berlin had told me that over the years Berliners had made a kind of accomodation with the wall. “Is it true?” I asked. “Have you gotten used to it?”

So much of what continues in this piece we have heard or read before, yet if feels as though you are discovering the information for the first time. I think it is that way with monumental moments in history.

Well worth a read and a quick look at the video.

Rick Moran. with his literary flair also offers a great read.

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