OPINION:
President Ronald Reagan had a simple plan for winning the Cold War: We win, they lose. He knew that putting an end to communism in Europe was a moral and economic imperative for America and for free people around the world.
In World War II, Soviet troops invaded Nazi Germany from the east. American, British and French forces advanced from the west. Eventually, the superpowers divided Germany and its capital city, Berlin.
West Berlin, isolated in the heart of communist East Germany, became an island of liberty behind what became known as the “iron curtain.” The city became a gateway for people fleeing communism.
In 1961, that door slammed shut. Literally overnight, a 12-foot-tall concrete barrier known as the Berlin Wall was raised around West Berlin.
The wall was not constructed to protect East Germany. It was to keep people from leaving one of the most oppressive regimes in the history of the world. A regime that, as Reagan said, “purposely starved, murdered, and brutalized its own people.” In 1975, the former California governor said that “totalitarian communism is an absolute enemy of human freedom.” He later called the Soviet Union an “Evil Empire.”
In the 40th president’s inaugural address, Reagan declared that “the West will not contain communism, it will transcend communism.” He felt so strongly about this that he walked out of a 1986 summit in Iceland with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev because he could not get agreement on his Strategic Defense Initiative, which he believed would end the threat of mutually assured destruction between the two superpowers.
Then, on June 12, 1987, Reagan stood in front of the Berlin Wall at Brandenburg Gate and spoke these historic words: “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!”
It was a transformational moment.
Through the remainder of his presidency, Reagan kept up the pressure on his counterpart. By November 1989, the Berlin Wall had come down.
It was a potent symbol of Soviet domination in the world. Its demise signaled the end of that era. People got a taste of freedom, and they liked it. The collapse of the Soviet Union came soon after, and with it, the end of the Cold War.
As former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, Reagan won the Cold War without ever firing a shot. He understood that “no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.”
It was a moral victory as well as an economic one.
The Reagan Doctrine had kept the United States out of war. It also created a peace dividend. This relieved pressure on the federal budget to raise defense spending after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Reagan’s leadership left us in a stronger position internationally and at home economically.
What can we learn from the past that is applicable today? Peace through strength works. Communism always fails the masses. Americans must be free to prosper. Leadership requires bold actions.
Reagan did not seek war, but he was prepared for it. A strong military and solid leadership are clear deterrents to war. Conversely, weakness opens the door to evil. Sadly, we saw a prime example of that after the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan by the Biden administration.
The Soviet Union and its empire are major examples of the failures of communism. A system that promised power to the people was filled with oppression and human rights abuses. Beyond that, they took away the incentive to be productive and prosper. A frequent line in communist countries is that the government pretends to pay the people, and they pretend to work. We see it in places like Cuba and Venezuela today.
Adopting communist and socialist policies will make the people of our country less free. Investment and job growth tend to decline under these circumstances and that makes it harder for people to prosper.
Most of the top states in America for business and jobs are led by Republican governors. Before I held office, Wisconsin was in the bottom 10 states for business, according to Chief Executive magazine. After a few years of our commonsense, conservative policies, Wisconsin was in the top 10, and more people were working in the state than ever before at the time. More freedom leads to more prosperity for more people.
President Reagan knew what needed to be done to make America great again (he had the slogan first). Limited government, lower taxes and a strong national defense. It worked then, and it can work again.
• Scott Walker is president of Young America’s Foundation and served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019.
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