Question

Passage: "Reagan speech from the Brandenburg Gate"
by Ronald Reagan

In the 1950's, Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you." But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind—too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity.  

Question
Use the passage to answer the question.

Conclusion: Freedom results in prosperity.
What premise does the speechwriter use to support this conclusion?

Responses
East Berlin has the largest industrial output of any German city.  

Soviet leaders have stopped jamming certain foreign news broadcasts.  

Restrictions due to Communist policies reduced the economic potential of the people.  

The release of political prisoners is a token action by Khrushchev.

Answer 1

"Restrictions due to Communist policies reduced the economic potential of the people."

Explanation: Reagan contrasts prosperity in the free West with failure and want in the Communist world, implying that Communist restrictions (lack of freedom) caused poor economic outcomes, so freedom produces prosperity.