TJ Walker breaks down Reagan's "tear down this wall" speech to show why it worked: short, emotional, visual, memorable. His point: sometimes bold, concise statements beat careful hedging when you know you're right.
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I was told by my staff, I was told by my advisors, don't say it. Don't say it. Mr. President, it's going to cause trouble. It's going to harm relations. There'll be a little bit of an international incident. Don't say it. I listened to my advisors, as I always did, but then I had to make a decision. I decided they were wrong, and I was right. So I said it. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. And you know what? It wasn't long after that, shortly after I left office, that wall did, in fact, come tumbling down. My name is Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan is a great example of someone. Even though he didn't use classic rhetorical devices, he was great with the sound bite. He had fantastic instincts, a good ear. He was a great editor. For what will make a great sound bite, really crystallize an issue, something that people can understand, remember, pass on, talk about, and that can stand the test of time. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. It's short, it's brief, it would fit in a tweet, even though Twitter didn't exist back then. It was absolute. It was emotional, it was attacking, it was forceful, it was visual. And that's why it was so compelling. It was in your face, basically, and that's why it was compelling. That's why it was talked about. That's why it was memorable. But Reagan understood that the wall was a huge, huge symbol. It wasn't just a symbol. It literally did keep people behind a wall. And forced to live in a system of communism, you tear the wall down and you could unite east and West Germany into one country again. So he made the right call. History gives him a lot of credit. But from a rhetorical standpoint, the real lesson here is sometimes you can't play it safe. Sometimes you can't. Just focus on not hurting someone's feelings or avoiding controversy. Sometimes you have to pick your battles. Don't be afraid to break a few eggshells or bother a few people. If you believe you're right and you want people to focus on what you really think needs to be done, you have to state it in simple terms, short terms, but with emotion and force and conviction.
