US Presidency
1988

But it could not have happened if the West had not maintained indeed, strengthened its will, its commitment to world freedom. So, there was nothing inevitable about all of this. Human actions made the difference. Mr. Gorbachev has taken some daring steps. As I've said before, this is the first Soviet leader not to make world revolution a priority. Well, let us credit those steps. Let us credit him. And let us remember, too, that the democracies, with their strength and resolve and candor, have also made a difference. And this is the heart of my point: What happens in the next few years, whether all this progress is continued or ended this is, in large part, up to us. It's why now, more then ever, we must not falter. American power must be exercised morally, of course, but it must also be exercised, and exercised effectively. For the cause of peace and freedom in the eighties, that power made all the difference. The nineties will prove no different.