Bill Text: TX HR2257 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commemorating the 30th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's speech at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-05-30 - Reported enrolled [HR2257 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HR2257-Enrolled.html
H.R. No. 2257 |
|
||
WHEREAS, June 12, 2017, marks the 30th anniversary of | ||
President Ronald Reagan's historic speech at the Berlin Wall, in | ||
which he boldly challenged the Communist rulers of the Soviet Union | ||
to tear down the wall and reunify East and West Berlin; and | ||
WHEREAS, In one of the darkest episodes of the Cold War, the | ||
Communist government of East Germany began building on August 13, | ||
1961, what they called an "Antifaschistischer Schutzwall," or | ||
"antifascist bulwark," across the center of the divided city of | ||
Berlin; the government claimed the wall was to keep Westerners from | ||
entering and undermining the Socialist state, but in reality, it | ||
was intended to keep East Berlin's disillusioned residents from | ||
escaping to the West; and | ||
WHEREAS, A makeshift wall was completed in two weeks, but it | ||
was eventually replaced by a structure of reinforced concrete, 12 | ||
feet tall, 4 feet wide, and topped by an enormous pipe that made it | ||
almost impossible to climb over; behind the wall, East German | ||
officials created a floodlit no-man's-land called the "Death | ||
Strip," which was guarded by attack dogs, trip-wire machine guns, | ||
and soldiers with orders to shoot on sight; and | ||
WHEREAS, Over the years, many desperate East Germans tried to | ||
get over, under, or around this terrifying barrier; at least 171 | ||
people were killed in the attempt, but somehow more than 5,000 East | ||
Germans, including 600 border guards, managed to escape; these | ||
brave individuals employed such extreme methods as jumping out of | ||
windows next to the wall, climbing over barbed wire, crawling | ||
through sewers, driving at high speed through unfortified | ||
checkpoints, or even floating over the boundary in hot air | ||
balloons; and | ||
WHEREAS, By the 1980s, the Berlin Wall was firmly fixed in the | ||
public imagination as a symbol of the failure of Communism and the | ||
desperate attempt of a foundering state to imprison its own | ||
citizens; the wall and the ideology it represented were roundly | ||
condemned by many world leaders, including Pope John Paul II, | ||
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Polish Solidarity leader | ||
Lech Walesa, and the Czech writer and dissident Vaclav Havel, all of | ||
whom denounced Communism and the abuse of fundamental human rights | ||
taking place in the countries behind the Iron Curtain; and | ||
WHEREAS, Towering among these champions of liberty was | ||
President Ronald Reagan, who helped lead the effort to defeat | ||
Communism, and in June 1987, he traveled to Germany in order to | ||
speak at the Brandenburg Gate, only 100 yards from the wall itself; | ||
in his preparations for this monumental event, White House | ||
speechwriter Peter Robinson visited Berlin and spoke with Germans | ||
whose families had been torn apart by the wall, and he was inspired | ||
to include a line addressed directly to the general secretary of the | ||
Soviet Union, demanding the destruction of the wall; and | ||
WHEREAS, This appeal was controversial even within the Reagan | ||
administration, particularly among the staff of the State | ||
Department; in the final moments before the speech, as he was riding | ||
in his limousine to the wall, President Reagan told his deputy chief | ||
of staff Kenneth Duberstein that he was going to deliver the line | ||
anyway, saying with a smile, "The boys at State are going to kill | ||
me, but it's the right thing to do"; shortly thereafter, he spoke | ||
before a large assembly of Germans, and the crowd roared its | ||
appreciation when he reached the now-famous line, "Mr. Gorbachev, | ||
tear down this wall!"; and | ||
WHEREAS, A spark was lit, and only a few years later, the | ||
world saw the rapid collapse of Communism, not only in Germany and | ||
Eastern Europe, but eventually in the Soviet Union itself; at | ||
midnight on November 9, 1989, the East German authorities finally | ||
threw open the checkpoints along the wall, and millions of | ||
Berliners from both sides came together in what one historian | ||
called "the greatest street party in the history of the world"; | ||
enthusiastic Germans climbed the wall and danced on top of it or | ||
attacked it with hammers and pickaxes; over the coming months, this | ||
symbol of tyranny was reduced to rubble, signaling the defeat of | ||
Communism and oppression and the triumph of democracy and | ||
independence; and | ||
WHEREAS, In the relentless march of human events, there are | ||
rare moments in which a single man's eloquence and moral conviction | ||
can inspire millions and embody a new spirit of liberty, and Ronald | ||
Reagan's daring address in Berlin was one such moment, worthy of | ||
remembrance by people around the world for as long as the love of | ||
freedom endures; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas | ||
Legislature hereby commemorate the 30th anniversary of President | ||
Reagan's speech at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987. | ||
Price | ||
______________________________ | ||
Speaker of the House | ||
I certify that H.R. No. 2257 was adopted by the House on May | ||
25, 2017, by a non-record vote. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||