and many liberals remember him as an amiable dunce in clark clifford's infamous phrase who blew a hole in the deficit and was manipulateed by his advisers if not his astrologers. now, there is some basis in reality for both of these caricature, but as i try to show in this book i believe both are also incomplete, inaccurate and misleading. during his presidency, reagan was far more adaptable politically shrewd and open to compromise than either his champions or critics prefer to admit. he believed particularly after he survived an assassination attempt against him in 1981 he a special mission to spread freedom and fight oppression but he sought to do that not through the use of force but through dialogue, diplomacy and sir situatio persuasion. those the qualitieses that is what reagan was trying to accomplish with his famous speech in berlin and why he ultimately succeeded in helping to end the cold war. before discussing the tear down this wall speech itself and the background of reagan's visit to berb berlin i want to challenge and dispel three misconceptions that has arisen over the