Epoch Times - Behind Reagan’s Famous Lines ‘Tear Down This Wall’

Jan. 13, 2026 - Epoch Times

02:03

Behind Reagan’s Famous Lines ‘Tear Down This Wall’ | Mark Joseph

🔴 WATCH THE FULL EPISODE: https://ept.ms/49iEmRAShow more In 1978, nine years before his speech at the Brandenburg Gate, Ronald Reagan stood before the Berlin Wall for the first time. He turned to his aides and said: "We’ve got to find a way to bring this down,” recounted Reagan aide Richard Allen to producer Mark Joseph. To the political establishment, it sounded like a delusion. Joseph said: “They and we all at the time thought…it's not going to happen in our lifetime, but he believed it. The rest of us all thought maybe he was a crazy old man, but I think he really believed that it could be achieved.” That belief faced fierce internal resistance. Secretary of State George Shultz reportedly pleaded with Reagan to delete the iconic line, fearing it would sabotage diplomacy. Reagan refused, with the support of younger aides who sensed the power of these words. The impact was more than diplomatic—it was psychological. Joseph recounts a story of a drunk Russian general who admitted: "Reagan was the first person who told us what we already knew about ourselves, that we were an evil empire." I sat down with Mark Joseph to discuss the 20-year journey to bring the “Reagan” biopic to the big screen. “All the diplomatic niceties would keep people from being honest, and Reagan calling them the evil empire, was a psychological blow to their psyches,” Joseph said. Show less
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Time	Text
Reagan's Bold Statement 00:02:03
	One of his aides, Dick Allen, told me that in 1979, eight or nine, they toured the wall in West Berlin.
	And Reagan said to his aides, we've got to find a way to bring this down.
	And, you know, they, and we all at the time thought, wasn't that nice?
	And I would like, you know, I'd like to ask Santa Claus for this for Christmas.
	And even when he said, tear down this wall in 87, I remember watching him, and I wasn't a critic, but I saw that and said, well, isn't that a nice thought?
	It's not going to happen in our lifetime.
	But he believed it.
	The rest of us all thought maybe he was a crazy old man, but I think he really believed that it could be achieved.
	Well, you know, there's, I don't know if it's famous, but there's the whole, apparently they tried to remove that line from the speech multiple times, right?
	They have it in the movie.
	Exactly.
	The State Department folks, you know, people like Trump and Reagan with all their statements, they're not, the folks, they don't like, they don't like that kind of stuff, the State Department.
	So they tried to take it out.
	And we have George, I met with George Schultz twice, and definitely he was trying to get it out.
	And he begged President Reagan, please don't say this.
	This is not helpful to us.
	But Reagan felt like it was important.
	And these younger aides kind of egged him on.
	And so he kept it in the speech.
	Of course, it's a central moment in the film and a central moment in history, actually.
	Yeah, I think in our film, Gorbachev is watching that scene and he sort of, in real life, I heard from somebody that worked with him that he was sort of, well, there he goes again, that crazy Reagan.
	He's sort of making fun of it.
	But I think it had an impact on the leadership.
	There was a Russian general who got drunk and told somebody I spoke to as they were drinking in their drunken state.
	He said, you know, Reagan was the first person who told us what we already knew about ourselves, that we were an evil empire.
	But I think it's a psychological blow that somebody would say that to you because all the diplomatic niceties would keep people from being honest.

Time

Text

Reagan's Bold Statement 00:02:03

One of his aides, Dick Allen, told me that in 1979, eight or nine, they toured the wall in West Berlin.

And Reagan said to his aides, we've got to find a way to bring this down.

And, you know, they, and we all at the time thought, wasn't that nice?

And I would like, you know, I'd like to ask Santa Claus for this for Christmas.

And even when he said, tear down this wall in 87, I remember watching him, and I wasn't a critic, but I saw that and said, well, isn't that a nice thought?

It's not going to happen in our lifetime.

But he believed it.

The rest of us all thought maybe he was a crazy old man, but I think he really believed that it could be achieved.

Well, you know, there's, I don't know if it's famous, but there's the whole, apparently they tried to remove that line from the speech multiple times, right?

They have it in the movie.

Exactly.

The State Department folks, you know, people like Trump and Reagan with all their statements, they're not, the folks, they don't like, they don't like that kind of stuff, the State Department.

So they tried to take it out.

And we have George, I met with George Schultz twice, and definitely he was trying to get it out.

And he begged President Reagan, please don't say this.

This is not helpful to us.

But Reagan felt like it was important.

And these younger aides kind of egged him on.

And so he kept it in the speech.

Of course, it's a central moment in the film and a central moment in history, actually.

Yeah, I think in our film, Gorbachev is watching that scene and he sort of, in real life, I heard from somebody that worked with him that he was sort of, well, there he goes again, that crazy Reagan.

He's sort of making fun of it.

But I think it had an impact on the leadership.

There was a Russian general who got drunk and told somebody I spoke to as they were drinking in their drunken state.

He said, you know, Reagan was the first person who told us what we already knew about ourselves, that we were an evil empire.

But I think it's a psychological blow that somebody would say that to you because all the diplomatic niceties would keep people from being honest.