Reagan

I'd like to pause and pray for Ronald Reagan, his family and his friends.

After seeing John McCain, my boss at work, and so many other figures comment about Reagan and communism I'd like to fill in the "details" that a time-constrained press hasn't yet touched upon. McCain said that a lot of historians might disagree with him, but his opinion, and it's only his opinion as he said twice, was that the wall wouldn't have fallen if not for Reagan. This views has been repeated countless times, although I have not seen one historian comment on any of this. Well, I should say I haven't seen one historian comment on this in the news, luckily for everyone reading this I happen to know a historian who in East Germany during the 1980s, he might tell a different story:

Figures that ended communism besides Reagan:
1. Vaclav Havel- Playwright who spent the 1980s in soviet prison for his views. Became the first Czech President when it gained independence from the USSR.
2. The protestors at Leipzig. Every monday, thousands of people gathered at the formerly state-owned prodestant to protest the Berlin Wall and other infringements on freedoms. In the final weeks of the church meetings the Soviet government ordered the meetings illegal, sent tanks and troops to stop the post-service protests. This was very soon after Tiananmen square massacre and the Soviet government planned similar brutally violent responses. Despite the ban, 50,000 people stared down the barrels of tanks and guns and attended the meeting and then did a peaceful march. To this day, historians are trying to discover whether the order to kill the protestors was not given, given and not obeyed, or given and lost in transmission.
3. Reformist politicians in the Duma (parliament). I don't think anyone can argue that somehow Reagan proposed and got Perestroika and Glasnost (openness, reforms, the movement for an honest society) passed or was able to get more moderate leaders into power.
4. The sytem itself. The system had been falling apart for years. If you could simply lie and say you did a great job and then slack off, why do a good job? Pretty simple idea here that points out what led to Perestroika and the internal falling apart of the communist system. Totalitarinism and militarism had also been taking it's toll (I.E. the expensive Afghan war).
Faithfully,
Rob