Mark offers the contours of a fascinating chapter in presidential speechwriting history.  But where Mark was diplomatic and restrained, I’m going for the big reveal, and assuming that the story to which he alludes is Peter Robinson’s experience writing President Reagan’s celebrated remarks in Berlin — “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

Here’s Peter’s article — and it’s a wonderful story, not only as a peek behind the scenes of one of the most memorable speeches of the age, but also as a reminder of the sometimes pivotal role speechwriters play in the policy process.

For those who don’t have time to read the whole thing, here’s the crucial excerpt:

The work I did on the speech was the most notable of my professional life. It proved a monumental struggle to get to the point at which President Reagan could speak those words that seemed fanciful even at the time I wrote them–words that would come gloriously true two and a half years later (even if it wasn’t Mikhail Gorbachev doing the tearing down). The Berlin Wall address is merely one of half a dozen or more Reagan speeches that even now remain important–the Westminster address, the “evil empire” speech, the address at Moscow State University. But historians will have difficulty getting the story of the Berlin Wall address right, and not only because documents have disappeared. Ever since the Wall came down, people in and around the government in those days have sought credit in part or full for the speech. In Europe, recent articles have attributed it to John Kornblum, a career foreign service officer, now ambassador designate to Germany, who actually fought it tooth and nail.

Kornblum didn’t write it. And, in some very important ways, I didn’t write it either. The key phrase came from a woman I met at a dinner party, and the phrase remained in the speech solely because of Ronald Reagan.