Author James Mann disagreed with both critics like Hoare , who saw Reagan 's speech as having no real effect , and those who praised the speech as key to shaking Soviet confidence . In a 2007 opinion article in '' The New York Times '' , he put the speech in the context of previous Reagan overtures to the Soviet Union , such as the Reykjavik summit of the previous year , which had very nearly resulted in an agreement to eliminate American and Soviet nuclear weapons entirely . He characterized the speech as a way for Reagan to assuage his right-wing critics that he was still tough on communism , while also extending a renewed invitation to Gorbachev to work together to create " the vastly more relaxed climate in which the Soviets sat on their hands when the wall came down . " Reagan , claimed Mann , " was n't trying to land a knockout blow on the Soviet regime , nor was he engaging in mere political theater . He was instead doing something else on that damp day in Berlin 20 years before Mann 's article – he was helping to set the terms for the end of the cold war . "
Reykjavik summit
Reykjavík Summit
Tear down this wall!