Peter Robinson was a speechwriter for US President Ronald Reagan who authored the sentence, "Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!" in a speech delivered in West Berlin. On arrival in Berlin he was warned by US diplomats to avoid cold war rhetoric in Reagan's speech and that Berliners had adjusted to the presence of the Berlin Wall. On consultation with local Berliners he, however, found them deeply wounded and concerned about the wall, which in many instances had separated families and represented an intrusion of a police state into daily life. A speechwriter is a person who composes speeches that will be read by another person. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan, GCB, (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... Boroughs of West Berlin West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ... Berlin Wall on November 16, 1989 The Berlin Wall (German: Die Berliner Mauer) was a long barrier separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the surrounding territory of East Germany. ... A police state is a political condition where the government maintains strict control over society, particularly through suspension of civil rights and often with the use of a force of secret police. ...

On return to Washington while working on the speech the phrase became controversial, although Reagan liked it, with the State Department, and other experts and repeated attempts were made to delete it from the speech. Reagan overruled them, wishing to communicate not only with Berliners but with East Germans on the other side of the wall. The United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States government, equivalent to foreign ministries in other countries. ... The German Democratic Republic (GDR) (German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik), also commonly known as East Germany, was a communist state that existed from 1949 to 1990 in the former Soviet occupation zone of Germany. ...

The speech was delivered by President Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, on June 12, 1987. Mr. Peter Robinson authored more than 300 speeches for the President of the United States during his tenure at the White House. June 12 is the 163rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (164th in leap years), with 202 days remaining. ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The President of the United States (often abbreviated POTUS) is the head of state of the United States. ... The southern side of the White House The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. ...

Mr. Robinson graduated from Dartmouth College summa cum laude majoring in English. He continued his studies in Oxford University pursuing his second bachelors degree majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics graduating in 1981.

After serving in the Reagan Administration for nearly five years, Mr. Robinson decided to attend Business School at Stanford University. He graduated in 1990 with an MBA and later published his best-sellers book "Snapshots from Hell:The Making of an MBA" where he writes about his experience attending Business School. For other meanings of Stanford, see Stanford (disambiguation). ... Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a tertiary degree in business management. ...

On May 12, 2005, Robinson was elected to the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College. He is currently working on his next book which will be about Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years). ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses of the name Dartmouth, see Dartmouth Dartmouth College is a small private university in Hanover, New Hampshire, and a member of the Ivy League. ... The Right Honourable Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born October 13, 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England), is a British stateswoman and was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, also Leader of the Opposition from 1975, and the only woman...

Robinson also hosts the PBS program, Uncommon Knowledge. PBS re-directs here; for alternate uses see PBS (disambiguation) PBS logo The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television service with 349 member TV stations in the United States. ... Uncommon Knowledge is a weekly 30-minute current affairs show hosted by Peter Robinson and that airs on San Jose, California, PBS affiliate KTEH. It is distributed by American Public Television stations throughout the United States and internationally by NPR Worldwide. ...

External links

• Full text of the speech on Reaganfoundation.org
• Internet-Encyclopedia article on Peter Robinson
• Uncommon Knowledge

Further reading

• Peter Robinson, How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life, Regan Books, an imprint of HarperTrade, 2003, hardcover, 304 pages, ISBN 0060558148, also ISBN 0060523999