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Millions who were enslaved by the USSR look to Ronald Reagan as their liberator.
'It is due to him that we are free'
William J. Kole, Associated Press June 6, 2004 COLD0606
VIENNA, AUSTRIA -- Leaders, former dissidents and ordinary citizens across
Eastern Europe expressed gratitude to Ronald Reagan for helping to end decades
of "evil empire" communism and Cold War-era oppression.
Most of the region threw off Communist rule in 1989, the year Reagan retired
from a presidency marked by determination to loosen the grip of the Soviet
Union through diplomacy and unrelenting appeals to the masses via Radio Free
Europe.
As the world paused to remember the sacrifices of Allied troops 60 years ago
on D-Day, leaders such as former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
reflected on Reagan's influence in bringing democracy to those starved for it
behind
the Iron Curtain.
"Hungary and Europe do not forget Ronald Reagan's help and his support for
the former Communist countries," Orban, said.
In 1983, Reagan stunned the world by denouncing the Kremlin as an "evil
empire" whose nuclear arsenal threatened the globe.
In 1987, in a speech at the Berlin Wall, he challenged Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev: "If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization ... tear down this wall."
Throughout, the Reagan administration devoted manpower and cash to quietly
expanding its contacts in East bloc countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia.
"He is the one who allowed the breakup of the Soviet Union. May God rest his
soul," said Bogdan Chireac, a foreign affairs analyst for the Romanian
newspaper Adevarul.
Reagan appointed a deputy secretary of state to shuttle into and out of the
region.
Using the airwaves
He poured millions of dollars into programming by Voice of America and
Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, using the airwaves to encourage
fledgling pro-democracy movements such as Poland's Solidarity.
"During his administration, U.S. citizens at all levels and of all walks of
life -- politicians, senators, journalists, academics -- systematically and
repeatedly were visiting Czechoslovakia and other Communist countries, meeting
the dissidents and the opposition," former Czech dissident Jiri Dienstbier said.
"Their open support was very important for our safety and for our position in
society," he said.
As his presidency wound down, Reagan lashed out at communism in Eastern
Europe as "an artificial economic and political system, long imposed on these
people against their will."
Within a year, the Berlin Wall had fallen. "Mr. Reagan, along with Pope John
Paul II, was one of the architects who dismantled communism in Eastern Europe
and stopped the expansion of the Soviet Union," said Ivo Samson, an analyst
with the Slovak Foreign Policy Association.
Said Petko Bocharov, a prominent Bulgarian journalist: "The fact that today
Bulgaria is a member of NATO could happen only after the efforts of this great
American president. His name will forever remain in history."
There were some bumps on the road to freedom.
In 1984, while testing a microphone, Reagan cracked a joke that didn't set
well with the Soviets at the height of the nuclear arms race. Reagan quipped:
"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation
that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
His administration was criticized by human rights activists for waiting until
early 1989, the year the brutal Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was
toppled and executed, to withdraw that country's "most favored nation" trade
status.
But his speeches, which so often sought to encourage the oppressed while
taking aim at their oppressors, stirred a generation. "For us, Reagan was
important because we knew he was really anti-Communist, emotionally
anti-Communist,"
said Zdenek Kosina, 65, a Czech computer specialist.
"For us, he was a symbol of the United States' genuine determination to bring
communism to an end."
Laurentiu Ivan, 35, a customs officer in the Romanian capital, struggled to
describe Reagan's legacy and then said: "It is due to him that we are free."
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