Question

Washington also kept up the pressure on the Soviets by reminding them the Berlin Wall was unacceptable to the East German people and the U.S. Less than two years after the Wall was built, on June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin and, speaking to a rally of 450,000 Berliners, declared America’s solidarity with the East Germans:

“Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was ‘civis romanus sum’ [‘I am a Roman citizen’],” the president said. “Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’”

Twenty-five years later, President Ronald Reagan visited Berlin to deliver to the crumbling Soviet Union another vehement protest against the Berlin Wall. Speaking on June 12, 1988 at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the president challenged Mikhail Gorbachev, the new, more moderate leader of the Soviet Union, to open the East German border:

“There is one sign the Soviets can make that would … advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace,” the president said. “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Seventeen months later, during which tens of thousands of East Germans demonstrated against their increasingly shaky government and used the relaxed rules to flee their country, the gate was finally ordered open. On November 9, 1989, a lowly East Berlin Communist Party boss announced the lifting of the ban on travel to West Germany.

The huge crowd that promptly surged into West Berlin furiously turned on the Wall and began to destroy it, piece by piece.

The exodus of emigrants from East Germany presented two minor potential benefits: an easy opportunity to smuggle East German secret agents to West Germany, and a reduction in the number of citizens hostile to the communist regime. Neither of these perks, however, proved particularly useful.

The Berlin Wall was torn down because of...

pressure from international leaders and East Germans' frustration with their own government.

the United States' willingness to invade East Germany.

the East German government's inability to communicate with its citizens.

East German secret agents that wanted the wall destroyed.

Answer 1

pressure from international leaders and East Germans' frustration with their own government.

The passage cites sustained U.S. pressure (Kennedy, Reagan) and mass demonstrations and emigration by East Germans that forced the border to be opened.