In the late 1980s, a wave of revolutions across Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere brought an end to communist rule during a period of what was called the Fall of Nations. The cold war between the Soviet Union and the Unites States was ending and the Berlin Wall was coming down. The death of socialism was at hand, and America's light of liberty was shining throughout the world. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush described it as "the beginning of a new era in the world's affairs."
By 1991, the retreat of socialism had become so pronounced that The Jordan Times reported that "the epic struggle between capitalism and socialism is over, and capitalism has won", author David Marquaad explained that the "socialist vision of a world remade" that inspired so many had now dimmed, and in most places of the world socialism was in full retreat. Marquarard argued, that socialism as it were in postwar era as "all. or nearly all. over. No one. not even the Chinese and
certainly not the Russians, still accepts the economic theory of socialism". Marquaard was not celebrating this loss but questioning whether or not ethics and insight may also die with socialism. Nevertheless, there was no denying that the revolutions of 1989 brought down not only communist rule, but socialism with it.
In President Bush's first State of the Union, he opened with not only the state of our union at home, but the state of our world and what it meant for America. President Bush described the revolutions that were occurring as singular moment in history that "divide all that goes before from all that comes after". It was a singular moment like that of 1945. He described the events of 1989 as "chain reaction" with "changes so striking that it marks the beginning of a new era in the world's affairs". In his address, Bush recalled 4 remarkable events that illustrated the change. The Invasion of Panama, Polish Solidarity, election of Vaclav Havel, and the Fall of the Iron Curtain.
Invasion of Panama - In December of 1989, the U.S. invaded Panama to depose General Manuael Noriega a dictator for racketeering and drug trafficking. Noriega was the de facto ruler of Panama since 1983 who had longstanding ties to the United States intelligence agencies and was one of the primary conduits for illicit weapons, military equipment and cash destined for U.S. backed counter-insurgency forces throughout Latin America. Noriega may be most well-known for his role in the Iran-Contra affair. Noriega was a military dictator who amassed a personal fortune through illicit drug trafficking operations. The invasion was successful, and Noriega was deposed. Panama was once again free and American troops were to come back home.
Polish Solidarity - After a wave of strikes in Poland during the spring and summer of 1988, Lech Walesa the leader of Solidarity was invited to Warsaw by the communist authorities to have talks. On April 4, 1989 Solidarity was legalized and free parliamentary elections were held on June 4. It was a political earthquake with Solidary candidates capturing all the seats they were allowed to compete for in the Sejm and 99 out of 100 available seats in the Senate. Then on August 19, 1989 Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a devout Catholic Solidarity supporter was nominated as Prime Minister of Poland with no protest from the Soviet Union. After more than 40 years of one-party communist rule, Mazowiecki became the country's first non-Communist Prime minister in decades. On December 29, 1989 the official name of the country changed from the People's Republic of Poland to the Republic of Poland.
Election of Vaclav Havel - Vaclav Havel was an anti-communist playwright who founded and led a political movement known as Civic Forum to unite the dissident forces in Czechoslovakia and overthrow the communist regime. In November of 1989 after only 10 days of protest, they succeeded and Havel and on December 29, 1989 was elected to President of Czechoslovakia by a unanimous vote of the Federal Assembly.
Fall of the Iron Curtain - On November 9, 1989 the Iron Curtain separating the countries that made up the USSR from the NATO member countries including Poland and East Germany. The Iron Curtain was a 4,300-mile-long physical barrier of fences, walls, minefield and watchtowers including the Berlin Wall. Historically, it has become the event that marked the start of the fall of communism.
Here is an excerpt from President Bush's 1990 State of the Union Address concerning the Revolutions of 1989 and the death of socialism. President Bush ended this section by describing a picture of a "worker, dressed in grimy overall" reciting America's declaration of independence at a worker's rally in a town outside of Prague.
"There are singular moments in history, dates that divide all that goes before from all that comes after. And many of us in this Chamber have lived much of our lives in a world whose fundamental features were defined in 1945; and the events of that year decreed the shape of nations, the pace of progress, freedom or oppression for millions of people around the world.
Nineteen forty-five provided the common frame of reference, the compass points of the postwar era we've relied upon to understand ourselves. And that was our world, until now. The events of the year just ended, the Revolution of '89, have been a chain reaction, changes so striking that it marks the beginning of a new era in the world's affairs.
Think back -- think back just 12 short months ago to the world we knew as 1989 began.
One year -- one year ago, the people of Panama lived in fear, under the thumb of a dictator. Today democracy is restored; Panama is free. Operation Just Cause has achieved its objective. The number of military personnel in Panama is now very close to what it was before the operation began. And tonight I am announcing that well before the end of February, the additional numbers of American troops, the brave men and women of our Armed Forces who made this mission a success, will be back home.
A year ago in Poland, Lech Walesa declared that he was ready to open a dialog with the Communist rulers of that country; and today, with the future of a free Poland in their own hands, members of Solidarity lead the Polish Government.
A year ago, freedom's playwright, Vaclav Havel, languished as a prisoner in Prague. And today it's Vaclav Havel, President of Czechoslovakia.
And 1 year ago, Erich Honecker of East Germany claimed history as his guide, and he predicted the Berlin Wall would last another hundred years. And today, less than 1 year later, it's the Wall that's history.
Remarkable events -- events that fulfill the long-held hopes of the American people; events that validate the longstanding goals of American policy, a policy based on a single, shining principle: the cause of freedom.
America, not just the nation but an idea, alive in the minds of people everywhere. As this new world takes shape, America stands at the center of a widening circle of freedom -- today, tomorrow, and into the next century. Our nation is the enduring dream of every immigrant who ever set foot on these shores, and the millions still struggling to be free. This nation, this idea called America, was and always will be a new world -- our new world.
At a workers' rally, in a place called Branik on the outskirts of Prague, the idea called America is alive. A worker, dressed in grimy overalls, rises to speak at the factory gates. He begins his speech to his fellow citizens with these words, words of a distant revolution: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2020). Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-before-joint-session-the-congress-the-state-the-union-2 [Accessed 12 Jan. 2020].
Marquaard, D. (1991). Life after the death of Socialism. Jordan Times. [online] Available at: https://archive.org/stream/JordanTimes1991JordanEnglish/Jun%2016%201991%2C%20Jordan%20Times%2C%20%234727%2C%20Jordan%20%28en%29_djvu.tx [Accessed 12 Jan. 2020].
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