By the 1980s, communism was bankrupt. In East Germany, wages were low. Homes bombed during World War II were still unrepaired. Citizens lived in poverty; communist leaders lived in luxury.
 
"The Berlin Wall," said East German leader Erich Honecker, "will still exist in 50 and in 100 years, unless the reasons for its existence are eliminated."
 
But the end was near. The Soviet Union no longer could afford the Cold War - decades of military, political, and economic rivalry with the United States. Two U.S. presidents who visited the wall made strong statements in support of West Berlin and democracy. In 1963, John F. Kennedy visited. In 1987, Ronald Reagan visited Berlin and demanded: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
 
Earlier in the 1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had introduced the policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (democratic reform). Slowly, Eastern Europeans began to test their new freedoms. Mass protests in Dresden, Leipzig and Potsdam demanded freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom to travel.
 
On Friday, Nov. 9, 1989, the people won. That weekend, the East German government opened its borders, allowing its citizens to visit the West. The world watched the celebrations on television. After 28 years, the Berlin Wall had fallen.