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 were tossed 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 was the detonator of one
of his most severe episodes thus far of public emotional disturbance. Bush had repeated
Reagan's sure-fire 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." The main chord was one of caution. "It's way too early" to speculate about
German reunification, although Bush 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 Curtain days-- a long way from that." "We are not trying to
give anybody a hard time," Bush went on. "We're saluting those who can move forward
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 awful letdown at a high moment in history."
[fn 10]