year's white house medal of honor series. >> the berlin mall has separated ,ast and west since august 13 1960 one. as the wall came down on november 9, 1989, senate minority leader bob dole, republican from kansas, and george mitchell, democrat for maine, took to voice their thoughts. >> according to the news reports the east german government has just announced the opening of its borders to all citizens, including the right to free practice of the berlin wall. it appears that the berlin wall all it represents is crumbling. the people of east germany sought to take their own destiny into their own hands. by the hundreds of thousands they have taken to the streets, asking only two things --

freedom and opportunity. either tens of thousands they have fled their homeland, seeking only two things -- freedom and opportunity. decades of communist rule lie in shambles. now we have today postern attic announcement. the ragtag communists trying to regain control are fighting a fight they cannot win, a fight against their own people. they are running at a pace they can't win, a race against history. that people in east germany have left them with only one reasonable choice, to go down the path that poland and hungary are already taking. people are the masters of the state cannot the service. will they stay on that path? the jury is still out. borders can be closed as well as opened. free elections can turn out to be nothing more than talk. seven of the 11 members are holdovers, and they are undoubtedly still powerful

forces which will see all the recent developments as a torrent and will continue to push a communist government. this is an extraordinary moment in the history of europe. poland and hungary have rapidly moved but only after years of economic evolution. east germany is faced with making the same kinds of changes, literally overnight. there is a misstep in east germany now and the result could be cataclysmic. hopefully the east germans' mentors will counsel common sense. we should also be clear and

prudent in our own. there is no equivocation in our goals. we want freedom for east germany and its people. we wanted a positive announcement to be the real thing. we want to the berlin wall torn down and all other barriers to the free flow of people removed. we hope that east germany's communist cleave will transform into a new form of government. we should not do anything at this point which might needlessly add fuel to the fire. the issues of the long-term future are critical issues, issues which will be affected by what will happen in these next days and weeks. issues that we must think about now. they are not issues were heated

rhetoric right now. german history is at a critical crossroads. profound changes now lie ahead. but for the moment, address first things first. the first thing -- immediate aspirations. will there be a real commitment to free elections? that is where our focus should be, the drama and the task of the moment. >> mr. president, distinguished majority leader, i commend the distinguished republican leader for his remarks, and would like now to address the same subject. early on a sunday morning, in june of 1955, i arrived in west berlin. i was a young officer in the

united states army intelligence service. it was a time of deep impression for me. just a few days before, i had flown in an airplane for the first time, traveling from the united states to west germany. just that i before, i had made a trip in an overnight sleeper on a train, traveling from frankfurt to west berlin. but by far the greatest impression made upon me then was coming face-to-face for the first time with the difference between democracy and totalitarianism. between freedom and communism.

shortly after arriving in west berlin, i went to a large refugee center operated by the united states army to receive thousands of refugees fleeing communism in east germany, poland, and czechoslovakia. during my time there, that's number reached over 3000 persons per week. those brave east germans, czechs, poles, all were demonstrating that the appeal of democracy was and is universal. in response to that human time, the east german government, with the help of the soviet allies,

built the infamous wall. i believed then and believe now that the wall is the most tangible symbol of the failure of communism that exists. for it demonstrated for the world to see, in the most stark and even barbaric way, that the only way the east german government could keep their people within their country was to prevent them from leaving their country. for nearly 30 years, the berlin wall has stood as a symbol of the failure of communism. many saw that failure occurring

over time, and now it is evident that the communists, themselves, came to the east german leaders. today's decision, not an act of democracy, not an act to please and placate the west, but a desperate act of survival by the east german government, to prevent their people to leave, represents the symbolic destruction of the berlin wall. it has been an ironic way, but serves a useful purpose, because it has reminded on a daily basis every person in this world of the vast difference between democracy and communism.

a system and a society which forces its people to remain cannot ultimately succeed. now that the berlin wall has been symbolically destroyed, all that remains is for it to be physically destroyed. i strongly urge the east german government and president gorbachev of the soviet union directly to take the final step and to tear that wall down. it is gone in substance. it should be gone in form. the east german people are demonstrating a new, as their parents and grandparents did a quarter of a century ago, that

the human longing for freedom is universal and cannot be extinguished. no wall can support a government that does not respond to the needs of its people. mr. president, this is an historic event. it can be made even more so if the east german government now acts to tear the wall down. i urge them to do so. i urge president gorbachev to encourage them to do so. only then, only then, will we know that their proposals of today have substance and meaning. mr. president, i yield the floor. >> we continue on american history television with a look

back at the fall of the berlin wall on november 9, 1989. he reacted to the news. >> good evening. representing the german democratic republic of the united states -- to the united states of america. what a surprise. it seems as though -- >> cannot hear, sir. >> so many distinguished journalists took the invitation with the german democratic