"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! ... As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind." — Ronald Reagan, Brandenburg Gate, June 12, 1987
Reagan's speech most directly reflected which late-Cold-War U.S. strategy?
- Acheck_circle
Combining military buildup with rhetorical pressure to delegitimize the Soviet system
- B
Pursuing détente through arms-control treaties exclusively
- C
Returning to a strict containment doctrine that avoided ideological challenge
- D
Reorienting U.S. foreign policy away from Europe toward Asia
Explanation
Reagan paired the largest peacetime defense buildup with rhetorical attacks on Soviet legitimacy ("evil empire," "tear down this wall"), going beyond pure containment or détente.