"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" announced President Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall, JUNE 12, 1987.
Begun after Lenin's Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the
Soviet Union existed from 1922 to 1991.
With its motto 'Workers of the world, unite!' the
Soviet Union had totalitarian control over an estimated 293 million people spread across 11 time zones.
In the
Soviet Union:
-privacy was nonexistent;
-healthcare was rationed;
-economy was regulated;
-private industry was collectivized;
-press was censored;
-political dissent was punished;
-media and entertainment was propagandized;
-education became indoctrination;
-religion was suppressed; and
-human life was valued only by its usefulness to the government.
President Franklin Roosevelt told the Delegates of the American Youth Congress, February 10, 1940:
"I disliked the regimentation under
Communism. I abhorred the indiscriminate killings of thousands of innocent victims.
I
heartily deprecated the banishment of religion though I knew that some
day Russia would return to religion for the simple reason that four or
five thousand years of recorded history have proven that mankind has
always believed in God in spite of many abortive attempts to exile
God...
The
Soviet Union,
as everybody who has the courage to face the fact knows, is run by a
dictatorship as absolute as any other dictatorship in the world...
Some of you are
Communists... You have no American right, by act or deed of any kind, to subvert the Government and the Constitution of this Nation."
President Harry S Truman stated January 20, 1949:
"
Communism
is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is
unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong
masters.
Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the
moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to
govern himself with reason and justice.
Communism subjects the individual to arrest without lawful cause, punishment without trial, and forced labor as a chattel of the state.
It
decrees what information he shall receive, what art he shall produce,
what leaders he shall follow, and what thoughts he shall think.
Democracy
maintains that government is established for the benefit of the
individual, and is charged with the responsibility of protecting the
rights of the individual and his freedom...
These differences between
Communism and Democracy do not concern the United States alone.
People
everywhere are coming to realize that what is involved is material
well-being, human dignity, and the right to believe in and worship God."
President Ronald Reagan began his address at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, JUNE 12, 1987:
"Twenty-four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, speaking to the people of this city and the world...
Behind
me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a
vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe.
From the Baltic, south, those barriers cut across Germany in a gash...
There
remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same - still a restriction
on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men
and women the will of a
totalitarian state..."
Reagan continued:
"Just
as truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of
speech, so prosperity can come about only when the farmer and
businessman enjoy economic freedom...
There stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity...
General
Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization:
Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate!
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Reagan concluded:
"Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental distinction of all between East and West.
The
totalitarian world
produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit,
thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship.
The
totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront..."
Reagan added:
"Years ago...the East Germans...erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz.
Virtually
ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view
as the tower's one major flaw, treating the glass sphere at the top
with paints and chemicals of every kind.
Yet
even today when the sun strikes that sphere - that sphere that towers
over all Berlin - the light makes the sign of the cross.
There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed."
Get the book, Prayers and Presidents-Inspiring Faith from Leaders of the Past
President Reagan's Vice-President was
George H.W. Bush, born JUNE 12, 1924.
George H.W. Bush received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his WWII service in the Pacific.
He studied at Yale, was a Congressman, Ambassador to the U.N., CIA director before becoming the 41st U.S. President.
George H.W. Bush told Amish and Mennonite leaders in Lancaster, PA, March 22, 1989:
"Barbara and I went to China as your emissary...in 1974, and we had wondered about the family in China -
Communist country, totalitarian...
We
knew that there had been almost entire banning on practicing and
teaching Christianity... This was right after the Cultural Revolution."
President George H.W. Bush stated in his Inaugural Address, January 20, 1989:
"I
have just repeated word for word the oath taken by George Washington
200 years ago, and the Bible on which I place my hand is the Bible on
which he placed his...
And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your heads..."
On February 22, 1990,
President George H.W. Bush signed Joint Resolution 164 declaring 1990 the International Year of Bible Reading:
"Among the great books produced throughout the history of mankind, the Bible has been prized above all others...
The Bible has had a critical impact upon the development of Western civilization...
Get the book, Prayers and Presidents-Inspiring Faith from Leaders of the Past
It
was a biblical view of man - one affirming the dignity and worth of
the human person, made in the image of our Creator - that inspired the
principles upon which the United States is founded...
The
historic speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
provide compelling evidence of the role Scripture played in shaping the
struggle against slavery and discrimination...
We recall the
words of the prophet Isaiah, who declared, 'The grass withereth, the
flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever.'...
When you have read the Bible you will know that it is the Word of God...
NOW,
THEREFORE, I, GEORGE BUSH, President of the United States of America,
do hereby proclaim the year 1990 as the International Year of Bible
Reading.
I invite all Americans to discover the great inspiration
and knowledge that can be obtained through thoughtful reading of the
Bible."
On May 3, 1990,
President George H.W. Bush declared a National Day of Prayer:
"The
great faith that led our Nation's Founding Fathers to pursue this bold
experience in self-government has sustained us in uncertain and
perilous times...
Like them, we do very well to recall our 'firm
reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,'...and to pray for
continued help and guidance from our wise and loving Creator."
In his 1992 National Day of Prayer Proclamation,
President George H.W. Bush stated:
"Whatever our individual religious convictions may be, each of us is invited to join in this National Day of Prayer...
Each of us can echo this timeless prayer of Solomon, the ancient king who prayed for, and received, the gift of wisdom:
'The
Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave
us or forsake us; so that He may incline our hearts to Him, to walk in
all His ways...that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord
is God; there is no other.'"
President George H.W. Bush stated in his Christmas Message, December 8, 1992:
"As
we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, whose life offers us a model
of dignity, compassion, and justice, we renew our commitment to
peace...
Christ made clear the redemptive value of giving of oneself for others...
The
heroic actions of our veterans, the lifesaving work of our scientists
and physicians, and generosity of countless individuals who voluntarily
give of their time, talents, and energy to help others - all have
enriched humankind and affirmed the importance of our Judeo-Christian
heritage in shaping our government and values."
America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations
No comments:
Post a Comment