And tom brokaw former nbc news anchor who reported from berlin at the time. Other speakers include former speechwriter for president reagan peter robinson. We talked about the internal debate in adding the famous mr. Gorbachev tear down that wall line to the speech. This is just over two hours. [silence] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome former abc news anchor Sam Donaldson. [applause] thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this mornings program. There are dates that all of us have a very personal. There are dates that we have as a country that we all share. In my lifetime december 7, 1941 november 22, 1953, 911, these are three terrible dates of the country. Then there is november 9 1989 good news, the fall of the berlin wall. Presaging the end of the soviet union. Its a subject that we are going to discuss today. How did it happen . What are the consequences . Who did this . Who for a look at whats in store for us this morning its a pleasure to welcome andrew card. Who served in three administrations with the Ronald Reagan as Deputy Assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs. With George Herbert walker bush the treasury secretary abnot treasury, secretary of transportation. And with george w. Bush he was the white house chief of staff. Andrew card. [applause] thank you very much sam. Im honored to be here. We are very grateful for Georgetown University and the school of Foreign Service for helping to hostess the Atlantic Council. We are grateful for the ragan foundation and their institute for helping to host this event. We have many people here who should be introduced and im not going to ask everyone to stand who is important. [laughter] and im not going to ask everyone to sit who is important so that other more important people can stand. [laughter] i am here to say that we are proud to have dorothy bush kluck here, the president s daughter. And ellie ahis granddaughter. [applause] we also have folks from the elected council here. [applause] british robinson is here from the barbara bush literacy foundation. [applause] we also have the eu deputy head of delegation Michael Curtis here. [applause] in the german deputy chief of missions abis here. [applause] this is a remarkable day because we are remembering a truly more remarkable event. Im about to introduce someone who i have the greatest respect for. Above all i know three absolutes about the speaker that i will introduce. First the world changed profoundly when he was secretary of state under president George Hw Bush. As freedom and democracy began to spread around the globe the cold war ended peacefully. Germany was united as a member of the north atlantic to organization and the soviet union imploded. At the same time, todays speaker assembled the International Coalition that ejected saddam husseins troops from kuwait, orchestrated the madrid conference where israel and its arab neighbors discuss peace for the very first time. A negotiated Nuclear Arms Reduction treaties with the soviet union and russia. All that happened after he had served president Ronald Reagan as one of our nations best secretaries of the treasury and before then as white house chief of staff. The position for which he is still considered to be the Gold Standard. Reciting his many achievements could take a long time but i mindful of the speaker second absolute, he always asks that his introductions of him be short. Which leads me to the third absolute, which is of course that when this gentleman asks you to do something, its best that you do it. [laughter] i was honored to be asked by him and to do something and serve abserved president ragan. Im honored to introduce a great american, one of americas most markable leaders and i would like you to welcome the 61st u. S. Secretary of state the honorable James A Baker the third. [applause] [applause] thank you ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much. Thank you andy for that over the top introduction. Thank you as well andy for your many many contributions to this nation. You have been an exemplary Public Servant and the country appreciates it. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first collaboration between four institutions that i greatly admire for their excellence in preserving the past and in advancing public policy. The george and Barbara Bush Foundation, the Ronald Reagan foundation, the Atlantic Council and Georgetown University all represent the very best in their respective fields. Im confident that todays lessons from the fall of the berlin wall will be an informative and useful examination of an historic event that led to the peaceful conclusion of the cold war. What happened three decades ago this week fundamentally change the world. Since then, when im asked which american president was responsible for the end of the cold war, i typically have replied that it was all of those american president s. Democrats and republicans alike from harry truman through george w. Bush each of them was firmly committed to a free and undivided europe but as someone who served in one capacity or another for four of those president s i hope you can understand why today i want to add that some cold war president s were more directly involved than others. Ronald reagan soaring rhetoric became etched in the hearts and minds of people around the world who desired freedom. Who after all can forget that picture of the gipper at the Brandenburg Gate when he said mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall. Two years after that historic speech the wall did come down. On november 9, 1989. As momentous as that occasion was, president bush 41 understood that the soviet union remained a distinct and potent Global Security threat. Rather than stick it in the eye of his soviet counterparts president bush steered triumphalism in favor of clear diplomacy. As a result, 11 months after the wall came down germany was reunited peacefully as a member of the nato. Over the objections, i might add, of some of our allies and of course the soviet union. Shortly thereafter, the 45 year cold war ended with a whimper rather than with a nuclear bang that we had all feared. As the soviet union itself was dissolved. So today our nations leaders confront their own unique set of International Challenges and as we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall i think it is instructive to recall three factors that both president s reagan and bush kept in mind as seismic changes were underway in europe and around the world. First, both understood that Domestic Support is critical for the successful implementation, i would say formulation and implementation of Foreign Policy. A Foreign Policy that does not have domestic Political Support will not last very long. Unless americans back the decisions of their president s, those policies are doomed to weather and eventually fail. President s reagan and bush both knew that they would be more successful if they have the broad backing of the American People and they both crafted bipartisan foreign policies accordingly. Secondly, International Support is also critical. Both president reagan and president bush realized that a large component of american strength was that we were there promoter and champion of a liberal world order. That revolved around open markets, multilateral institutions and liberal democracy. Allies mattered. They still do. And pack americana in those days with their norstar. And third, both of those president s understood the importance of sustained diplomacy. Both developed strong relations with other foreign leaders but particularly soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. German chancellor home and call, british Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher, canadian Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney and others. Those relationships nurtured trust between countries. And help them reach pragmatic solutions. In the end of course, no one individual was responsible for the fall of the berlin wall and the end of the cold war. Every american president since truman played indispensable roles but above all else it was the enduring spirit of this citizens of the captive nations that finally tipped the scales toward freedom. The lessons that president reagan and bush provided during that critical window of history remain as pertinent today as they were back then. So as our nation continues to confront many daunting challenges, the foreign policies of Ronald Reagan and george w. Bush remain models that all american president s would do well to follow as they seek to promote americas interest and values around the world. Thank you all very much. [applause] [applause] thank you very much secretary baker. Im delighted that youve agreed to spend a few more minutes with us. If youll just have a seat i will call you back shortly. Wait for the call. Reporters want to be where the action is. For a good story is there for the telling. Sometimes careful preparation brings out about. Other times it just happens unexpectedly. As on the day that Ronald Reagan gave a humdrum speech at the washington hilton came out past the rope line and suddenly was met with a spray of bullets from a young man who was standing 5. 5 feet away from me. I would rather not have a good story. When it comes to this great story that we are really visiting today, there was one, only one American Television journalist on the scene when the berlin wall began to crumble. Tom brokaw, yunker and managing editor of the nbc nightly news he was in berlin on a different assignment as he tells it, just fell into one of the biggest arrays of the world, which he own committee here is some of brokaws reporting that night from the berlin wall. It was a night when the world changed right before our eyes. Good evening live from the berlin wall on the most historic night in the worlds history. The berlin wall is a big part of our lives. It was such a physically imposing barricade. It was so much uglier and so much more oppressive than people realize than just seeing it on television. Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall. Even with all the turmoil going on it seemed unlikely that that wall, which was at once such a solid image of oppression would come down in some fashion. And then in a heartbeat it did. I was only journalist on air the night the berlin wall came down. I own that story and that was the end of the soviet empire and we got a i would like to tell you i knew the walls come down, unfortunately i cannot. I didnt know but it did come down on my watch and i will never forget it. East germany remains a country in turmoil tonight. At arrived in berlin two days before the wall came down because there was so much going on in the eastern sector i was able to get into the east for the first time and do some reporting from there. He will represent the best of east germany. Late that afternoon there was a famous News Conference in which a was the propaganda chief screwed up. He was handed a slip of paper the very end and said the bureau has decided all citizens of the gdr can leave the gdr and come back through at any of the transit points. I looked at my German National cameraman and soundman and i said, did he say what he thought we thought he said. They were astonished. They said he did. That means you can go out of the wall and come back anytime you want to. The man gets up and leaves the room. I have an interview arranged with him right after that News Conference and went up and i read it back to him. Ask do i understand correctly citizens of the gdr can lead to any checkpoint they choose for personal reasons . It is ago to the border. I went down and shared with some of my colleagues and i said its over, the wall is over. We got out i called the office in new york and this is mid day back in the states started making preparations for going on the internet night and im practically trying to get us broadcast but together. I rushed out there there were lots of students from the west who come to the top of the wall in the east german guards were trying to hose them off. Then my heart sank thinking there is not to be anybody there they made this big deal about the wall coming down the bulb and cleared off. The people got back up on the wall and by the time we came on air it was like 30. It was chaos. A historic moment tonight. The berlin wall can no longer contain the east german people. It was a worldwide exclusive. Its a historic moment to moment that will live forever. You say the destruction of the berlin wall. Which is throughout the script. I had written this whole broadcast and i said to her producer, stay with me im going to have to ad lib. Everything. I have to go on all my experience about whats been going on in the eastern part of not just germany but the soviet union and how this is the defining moment. Now for the First Time Since the wall was directed in 1961 people will be able to move through freely. I can hear myself think. I just kept thinking, right before we went on air i used the old astronauts cleaned it up some, dont screw this up. This is a big deal. Amazing. As we were standing there somebody said, oh my god, look. They are taking down the wall. It was a guy with a mallet and a chisel beginning to hammer away at the wall. The wall effectively has come down. I mean physically as well. A chunk of the berlin wall. The reporting went on all night long as they chipped away at the wall as they danced on top of it. As they drank a lot. I thought, this is the human story. This is the story of humankind. Local tyrants can only go so far but in the end its how people respond to their captivity and how they get out of it and how they relate to one another. Thats the endurance lesson of everything ive ever seen in journalism. Its a night to remember. Indeed it is a night to remember and those of us a [applause] those of us in abc remember it from the standpoint that tom is right. He was there, he did it and when youre confronted with the real deal, just accept it. And we do and we praise him for it. Joining us now live from berlin is one of americas premier journalists still today looking at finding good stories, tom brokaw. Welcome tom. [applause] thank you. Thank you very much sam, thank you everybody. It was very exuberant. We think watching you today brings back lots of memories. What do you member today 30 years later about that night at the wall . I remember vividly, i also want to say at the outset, it was not just me, it was the whole mbc team. absuggested two days earlier to go to berlin. I said i dont know whats gonna happen is a lot of activity there. I got there and we were around for 24 hours before the memorable newscast with abwe had a cameraman at another bridge got the first film of the people coming across the bridge and crossing into east germany into west germany. It was a combo once of all those and i remember it vividly as if it were yesterday. Standing there thinking, this is one of the biggest stories of my lifetime of the 20th century. Weve got to get it right and with the help of all my colleagues, in fact, i think at the end of the night we did get right it was absolutely thrilling. I remember one of our techies going over and getting a piece of wall and shipping it off and giving it to me and thats been my personal recollection. Someone you know very where noel secretary baker is with us today here in washington and he would like to say a few words with you. Secretary baker, if youd come back up here, take whatever time you require sir. And when you are finished with tom, im going to come back to him. Tom, how are you doing . Im doing well james. Good. I have a question for you before you begin a question to me. [laughter] go ahead. We later learned that shabbat ski, we later learned that abgot it wrong. The po it bureau had not said they could leave, they were looking at a possibility that they would have a program where they could leave and had to come back abwho is a prominent historian at harvard to the whole story and shabbat ski left the News Conference went out to the compound with all of the po with members lived and they were all asleep they didnt know what was going on. My question for you is, did we have any indication from our espionage people and our intelligence people that there was a possibility that this is going to happen . Short answer is no. It came as every bit as much of a surprise to us as it did to you. I remember it very very well i was hosting a lunch for ab president of the philippines and the state permit and an aide passed me a note saying that the berlin people were allowed free transit between the gdr and the republic of germany and it looked like the wall might be coming down. I raised a toast to that prospect. Excuse myself and went over to the white house to meet with president bush and abto talk about what i a response ought to be. I think history will clearly mark the correctness of george bush moderated response to what was a cataclysmic event because he knew that we still had a lot of business to do with global job and we were going to stick it in there i but the answer to your question is, as far as i know we did not have any advance knowledge at all intelligence or otherwise. One of the things that we learned in my trips back here and since then i spent the day at the stockade headquarters that was the infamous group on the east part of germany that was arresting citizens left and right. I saw four miles of files on each german citizen and finally the oppression, tha