“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall", also known as the Berlin Wall Speech, was a speech delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987. Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. The name is derived from a key line in the middle of the speech: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Though it received relatively little media coverage at the time, it became widely known in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Speech: Arriving in Berlin on Friday, June 12, 1987, President and Mrs. Reagan were taken to the Reichstag, where they viewed the wall from a balcony. Reagan then made his speech at the Brandenburg Gate at 2:00 pm, in front of two panes of bulletproof glass. Among the spectators were West German President Richard von Weizsäcker, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and West Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen. That afternoon, Reagan said, We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. 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...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! Later on in his speech, President Reagan said, "As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, 'This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.' Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom." Another highlight of the speech was Reagan's call to end the arms race with his reference to the Soviets' SS-20 nuclear weapons, and the possibility "not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth."
The Confederates are essentially called "rebels" by the fact that they broke away from the union to make their own Sovereign state, namely the Confederate States of America. So during the talks of surrender, Grant made a generous offer. He offered that Lee and his men would NOT be tried for treason under the condition that they turn in their arms. He also allowed them to keep their personal belongings which in a situation such as this, a betrayal of a Union, is almost unheard of. This allowed Lee's men to return home and work on the rebuilding of the South without any fear of repraisal.
Ghana was a dominion within the Commonwealth of Nations between 6 March 1957 and 1 July 1960, before it became the Republic of Ghana. It was the first western African country to achieve independence.
British rule ended in 1957, when the Ghana Independence Act 1957 transformed the British Crown Colony of the Gold Coast into the independent Dominion of Ghana.[1][2] The British monarch remained head of state, and Ghana shared its Sovereign with the other Commonwealth realms. The monarch's constitutional roles were mostly delegated to the Governor-General of Ghana. The following governors-general held office:
Charles Noble Arden-Clarke (6 March – 24 June 1957)
William Francis Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel (24 June 1957 – 1 July 1960)
Kwame Nkrumah held office as prime minister (and head of government). Following the abolition of the monarchy after the 1960 Ghanaian constitutional referendum, Nkrumah won a presidential election and became the first President of Ghana.
