In September, Bush was in Helena, Montana, sounding the same prudent note while defendinghimself from Senate Majority Leader Mitchell, who had been making some debater's points about (^)
Bush's "timidity" and "status-quo" thinking. Bush repeated that he was in "no rush" for a summit
with Gorbachov. "I don't think there's any chance of a disconnect" in Moscow's comprehension that
"we want to see their perestroika succeed," said Bush. [fn 7]
What changed Bush's mind was the collapse of the East German communist regime, which had
been gathering speed during the summer of 1989 with the thousands of East Germans demanding
admittance to West German embassies, first in Hungary, and then in Czechoslovakia. Then, in one
of the most dramatic developments in recent decades of European history, the Berlin Wall and the
East German "shoot to kill" order along the line of demarcation in the middle of Germany weretossed into the dustbin of history. This was one of the most positive events that the generations born (^)
after 1945 had ever witnessed. But for Bush and the Anglo-Americans, it was the occasion for
public tantrums.
For Bush individually, the breaching of the Berlin Wall of 1961 wmost severe episodes thus far of public emotional disturbance. Bush had repeated Reagan's sure-fireas the detonator of one of his (^)
formula of "Mr. Gorbachov, tear this wall down," during a visit to Helmut Kohl in Mainz in late
May. "Let Berlin be next," Bush had said then. The wall "must come down." But in the midst of
Bush's throw away lines like "Let Europe be whole and free," there was no mention whatsoever of
German reunification, which was nevertheless in the air.
Thus, when the wall came down, Bush could not avoid a group of reporters in the Oval Office,
where he sat in a swivel chair in the company of James Baker. Bush told the reporters that he was
"elated" by the news, but his mood was at once funereal and testy. If he was so elated, why was he
so unhappy? Why the long face? "I'm just not an emotional kind of guy." Tof caution. "It's way too early" to speculate about German reunification, although Bushe main chord was oneh was forced (^)
to concede, throuigh clenched teeth, that the Berlin Wall "will have very little relevance" from now
on. Everything Bush said tended to mute the drama of what had happened: "I don't think any single
event is the end of what you might call the Iron Curtain. But clearly, this is a long way from the
harsh days of the --the harshest Iron Curtgive anybody a hard time," Bush went on. "We're saluting those who can move forward toain days-- a long way from that." "We are not trying to
democracy. We are encouraging the concept of a Europe whole and free. And so we just welcome
it." The East German "aspirations for freedom seem to be a little further down the road now." But
Bush was not going to "dance on the wall," that much was clear. [fn 8]
After this enraged and tongue-tied monologue with the reporters, Bush privately asked his staff:
"How about if I give them one of these?" Then he jumped in the air, waved his hands, and yelled
"Whoooopppeee!" at the top of his lungs. [fn 9] Bush's spin doctors went into action, explaining
that the president had been "restrained" because of his desire to avoid gloating or otherwise
offending Gorbachov and the Kremlin.
Bush's gagged emotional clutch attracted a great deal of attention in the press and media. "Why did
the leader of the western world look as though he had lost his last friend the day they brought him
the news of the fall of the Berlin Wall?", asked Mary McGrory. "George Bush's stricken expression
and lame words about an event that had the rest of mankind quickly singing hosannas were an awfulletdown at a high moment in history." [fn 10]
In reality, Bush's suppressed rage was another real epiphany of his character, the sort of footage
which a serious rival presidential campaign would put on television over and over to show voters
that George has no use for human freedom. Bush's family tradition was to support totalitarian rule
frankie
(Frankie)
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