About the Program
Romesh Ratnesar, deputy managing editor of Time magazine, recalls President Ronald Reagan's speech in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, where he pronounced to a crowd of 20,000 people, "Mr. Gobrachev, tear down this Wall!" Mr. Ratnesar explores the genesis of the speech, the dismantling of the Berlin Wall two years after President Reagan's pronouncement, and the partnership between Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that the author deems brought an end to the Cold War. November 9, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Romesh Ratnesar presents his book at the Kansas City Public Library.