Tear Down This Wall (1987)

Multiple Choice

Tear Down This Wall (1987)
Ronald Reagan
Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic, south, those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guardtowers. . . .
In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you." But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind-too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor. . . .
As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.
-How did Reagan's speech foreshadow the cause of the United States' victory in the Cold War?

A) The Soviet Union could not keep up economically with the more prosperous United States and was no longer able to challenge the United States.
B) The rise of democratic movements throughout the world undermined the Soviet Union's position of power.
C) Many of the states of the Soviet Union sought change after enduring stagnant economies throughout the Cold War era.
D) Berliners tore down the wall in response to decades of oppressive rule.