Pretty much no one in the West thought the Berlin Wall was all that cool. (And a lot of folks in the East tended to agree.) But man, if ever there were a symbol for the division between the democratic capitalist West and the communist East, that wall is it.

It's perfect, isn't it? A big honkin' wall put up right through the middle of a city, with commies on one side and fascists/democrats (depending on who you're asking, of course) on the other.

On the West side of the wall, all is glorious, the economy is thriving, the birds are singing, the sun is shining. On the East side of the wall, not so much. Reagan didn't put the wall there, but he's sure as heck going to use its existence to his advantage during this speech.

Symbolism is easy when the symbol actually exists in real life and is right behind us when we're talking.