Editing Tear down this wall! (section)

==Background==
The "tear down this wall" speech was not the first time Reagan had addressed the issue of the [[Berlin Wall]]. In a visit to West Berlin in June 1982, he stated, "I'd like to ask the Soviet leaders one question [...] Why is the wall there?".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ronald |first=Reagan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UeTcAwAAQBAJ |title=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1982 |date=1982 |series=Remarks on Arrival in Berlin |publisher=Best Books on |isbn=978-1-62376-934-5 |language=en}}</ref> In 1986, 25 years after the construction of the wall, in response to [[West Germany|West German]] newspaper ''[[Bild|Bild-Zeitung]]'' asking when he thought the wall could be removed, Reagan said, "I call upon those responsible to dismantle it [today]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ronald |first=Reagan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EOfcAwAAQBAJ |title=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1986 |date=1988 |series=Written Responses to Questions Submitted by Bild-Zeitung of the Federal Republic of Germany |publisher=Best Books on |isbn=978-1-62376-949-9 |language=en}}</ref>

On the day before Reagan's 1987 visit, 50,000 people had demonstrated against the presence of the American president in West Berlin. The city saw the largest police deployment in its history after World War II.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daum|author-link=Andreas Daum|title=Kennedy in Berlin|pages=209‒10}}</ref>  During the visit itself, wide swaths of Berlin were closed off to prevent further anti-Reagan protests. The district of [[Kreuzberg]], in particular, was targeted in this respect, with movement throughout this portion of the city in effect restrained completely (for instance the [[U1 (Berlin U-Bahn)|U1 U-Bahn line]] was shut down).<ref name="Cowboy">{{cite web|url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/cowboy-und-indianer/867014.html|title=Cowboy und Indianer|date=June 10, 2007|access-date=January 23, 2015|work=der Tagesspiegel|last=van Bebber|first=Werner}} (in German)</ref> About those demonstrators, Reagan said at the end of his speech: "I wonder if they ever asked themselves that if they should have the kind of government they apparently seek, no one would ever be able to do what they are doing again".

[[File:Tear Down This Wall p10.jpg|Reagan's cue card with the speech's namesake line|thumb]]
The speech drew controversy within the Reagan administration, with several senior staffers and aides advising against the phrase, saying anything that might cause further East-West tensions or potential embarrassment to Gorbachev, with whom Reagan had built a good relationship, should be omitted. American officials in [[West Germany]] and presidential [[speechwriter]]s, including [[Peter Robinson (speechwriter)|Peter Robinson]], thought otherwise. According to an account by Robinson, he traveled to West Germany to inspect potential speech venues, and gained an overall sense that the majority of West Berliners opposed the wall. Despite getting little support for suggesting Reagan demand the wall's removal, Robinson kept the phrase in the speech text. On Monday, May 18, 1987, Reagan met with his speechwriters and responded to the speech by saying, "I thought it was a good, solid draft." White House Chief of Staff [[Howard Baker]] objected, saying it sounded "extreme" and "unpresidential", and Deputy U.S. National Security Advisor [[Colin Powell]] agreed. Nevertheless, Reagan liked the passage, saying, "I think we'll leave it in."<ref name="Seizing the Moment">{{cite news|url=https://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070610/18speeches.htm|last=Walsh|first=Kenneth |date=June 2007|title=Seizing the Moment|work=U.S. News & World Report|pages=39–41|access-date=June 27, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614042154/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070610/18speeches.htm|archive-date=June 14, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Chief speechwriter [[Anthony Dolan]] gives another account of the line's origins, however, attributing it directly to Reagan. In an article published in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' in November 2009, Dolan gives a detailed account of how in an Oval Office meeting that was prior to Robinson's draft Reagan came up with the line on his own.  He records impressions of his own reaction and Robinson's at the time.<ref name="Four Little Words">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704795604574522163362062796|last=Dolan|first=Anthony|date=November 2009|title=Four Little Words|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=June 10, 2012}}</ref> This led to a friendly exchange of letters between Robinson and Dolan over their differing accounts, which ''The Wall Street Journal'' published.<ref name="Robinson Letter">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704402404574527764020693266|last=Robinson|first=Peter|date=November 2009|title=Looking Again at Reagan and 'Tear Down This Wall'|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=June 10, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Dolan Letter">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704431804574538002351222272|last=Dolan|first=Anthony|date=November 2009|title=Speechwriters' Shouts of Joy in Reagan's Oval Office|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=June 10, 2012}}</ref>