Mikhail Baryshnikov

ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state.” His wording is powerful and punchy, which made it easier to access audiences. Less than three years later, the Berlin Wall was torn down due to political changes in Europe; Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev lost his control by 1990, and the Soviet Union fell apart. Many people were affected by the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The East Germans could now be free to travel west and be free. The country was in full party mode, some say…

On the 12th of June, 1987, President Ronald Reagan delivered a powerful and emotional speech in west Berlin, Germany. This speech was addressing the Berlin Wall, and all of the political issues that came with it. 26 years prior to Reagan’s speech, the Berlin wall was built to separate the communist East from the “Allied” west, this wall was extremely controversial and kept any people from leaving west Berlin without great difficulty. Reagan’s speech had immense impact on Berlin, 2 years after…

This gradual metamorphosis from a teenage pastime to a nationwide élan did not go unnoticed, as President Mikhail Gorbachev finally embraced rock and roll upon his appointment in 1985. While Gorbachev’s attempt at forging welcoming relationships with rock could be appreciated, it’s certain that he could have never prepared for the overwhelming response he would…

Ronald Reagan Before Ronald Reagan became president he was a actor and President of the Screen Actors Guild, as President of the Screen Actors Guild his political views would shift from liberal to conservative this was mostly due to the fear of communism in the Film industry. During the 50’s and early 60’s he toured the United States as television host and a spokesperson for conservatism his policies were also family oriented even though he was formerly divorced. He was then elected as governor…

Prior to Ronald Reagan taking office in 1981, the Cold War impasse felt like a victory for the American people. However, Ronald Reagan did not see victory, he saw this stalemate as weak and un-American. Reagan’s new take on dealing with the Soviet Union can be summarized in two words: God and Freedom. With these two guiding principles, Reagan ditched dètente and got fellow world leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II to join with him against the “evil empire.” With the “renewal of…

Worth-watching historical movie If anybody thinks historical films are all about boring and wasting time, this movie would change their mind. Bridge of Spy was based on a true story of U-2 incident in 1960. A Soviet spy, Rudoft Abel, was arrested, and James Donovan, an insurrance lawyer at that time, was chosen to be his defender. Francis Gary Power, a pilot of US army, was arrested by the Soviet Union after failing his misson. In the meantime, the young Frederic Pryor, an American college…

Anatomy of a Dictatorship - Fulbrook (1995) Book Review Published in the decade after reunification and forty years of Soviet led dictatorship, Fulbrook’s Anatomy of a Dictatorship was released to great anticipation. Fulbrook describes the central thesis of her book to be around the idea ‘that popular discontent alone was not sufficient enough to fell the system.’ It’s clear from the outset that Fulbrook wanted to move away from the traditional historiography around the GDR, in order to…

peacekeeping abroad is able to express the values of their country. Through the years in past recognition, Lester B. Pearson was a well-known advocator in the promotion of peace and security during the Suez Crisis in 1956. Canada’s political views were greatly dominated by Great Britain, but in the event of the Suez Crisis, Pearson allowed Canada’s views to undergo a transition that was promoting the interests of Canada and our urge to act on the international scale (Carroll, 2009). Through…

Ronald Reagan and the People Imagine living in an America in which people had safety protocols for a nuclear weapon strike. Imagine living with the thought of nuclear attack always on the back of everyone’s mind. These were the thoughts of many American’s before Ronald Reagan took office. “When Ronald Reagan took over the White House, the end of the Cold War not only seemed a very long way off—nobody in fact thought in such terms at the time—but in many respects it actually looked as if the USSR…

The Soviet Union was able to stay together for a while, functioning quite well under an oppressive dictator. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union caused a lot of things to happen. The Soviet Union collapsed because of many political, economic, and social factors. The Berlin Wall started as a barbed wire fence and grew into a 12 foot high concrete wall. Wall became a symbol of communist tyranny. For 4 weeks people came to the Berlin wall with Sledge hammers and chipped off pieces as…