The Berlin Wall Falls 1989 NBC Coverage Pt1

So, around the time of the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, I began to watch programs and videos and read online articles of the event like never before, including some of the numerous conspiracy theory videos. If you have never done that before, I have to warn you: it is addictive. It was a crime, and largely remains unresolved. Yes, there is the official story. We all understand that. And we also all understand that this leaves a lot to be desired. I mean, a lot. When you examine the evidence, it just does not seem to add up. So, before you know it, you are listening to what other people are saying, seeing what other theories are out there, and which seem to make the most sense.

It's amazing that a single event that occurred more than one decade before I was born, and which killed one man, and one man only, would have the power to do that.

But it does.

Now, September 11th was a different story. I was more hesitant to watch the videos for that, because I remember it perfectly well from the day it happened, while it was happening. It was not strictly history, it was something that I remember. All the uncertainty, that sense that whatever this thing was that was happening was so huge, it would literally change the world  -and probably not for the better.

Still, I watched the original broadcast again. Back then, we did not have cable, and if memory serves me correctly, it was CBS that we still got a reception for. Remember the antenna from the Twin Towers was not there just to make it look taller, it actually served a purpose, and that apparently meant television reception for us. We've all been forced to get cable since then, so it is almost hard to remember it now, let alone imagine how it was for those who never had to do without.

Conspiracy theories surrounding September 11th make me a lot less comfortable. With JFK, the evidence is mounting, and it seems quite clear that the official story leaves a lot of gaps, enough to make the thing not stand on it's own. But the conspiracy theories surrounding September 11th, such as that there were bombs in the building, or a US military missile was what struck the Pentagon? Well, honestly, those are the ones with little evidence in point of fact, and which would have a hard time standing up. The events that day were shocking, but the various interpretations and conspiracy theories sometimes rival it for shock value. We Americans live in a country obsessed with conspiracy theories, it seems.

So, I did not delve as deeply into conspiracy theories there, even if there are some mysteries, like that third tower going down.

But there were other events, huge and very memorable, even world changing events, that have happened in recent memory, and it seemed to me altogether very appropriate to dwell on these, even if they are not exclusively on American soil, like those other two.

What are they? Well, there are quite a few, actually. Some good, and some bad.

One did not happen strictly in the United States, or perhaps, on any national boundaries. I am talking about the space shuttle Challenger blowing up in 1986. I was in sixth grade, and I remember watching that in class as it happened.

One that comes to mind right away was the Tiananmen Square massacre in China back in 1989. It seemed like the beginning of a true revolution there, but quickly deteriorated into a disaster, something that we want to forget about. But you can't forget it. It was real, and it was shocking.

Not all the huge events were so bad, though, even in 1989. Perhaps especially in 1989, and particularly if we include the first few months of 1990 into the equation, for that was a great time of change.

The Berlin Wall coming down, and then the revolutions in Eastern Europe. Nelson Mandela's release from prison in Cape Town just a few months later, and the beginning of the dismantling of the legal edifice of apartheid in South Africa. Then, the end of the Soviet Union, when it dissolved itself. And a number of countries in Eastern Europe and Asia that had been under the sway of the Soviets for decades.


The Berlin Wall Falls 1989 NBC Coverage Pt1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK1MwhEDjHg



Greatest News Broadcasts on TV Ever No. 5 - Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbI0Q4X0Rxo


TV AM - Good Morning Britain : Berlin Wall Report - Part 2 (1989)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpEG0DaZCi8



Nelson Mandela Released 1990

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s8xkjG8bx4


Mandela's First Press Conference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80OtEvNZzAM

Nelson Mandela interview on TV-am, 8 days after his release in February 1990

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIV3kV4aQxA



Nelson Mandela's arrival at JFK

Nelson Mandela's first arrival on US soil at JFK, June 20th, 1990.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJTmJASA2Pg


Nelson Mandela at the JFK Library

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVTfrUbI6G8



F.W. de Klerk discusses friendship with Nelson Mandela

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-qwSVTpiMM


Stabbing the Empire: Last Day of Soviet Union

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvoa25IiUEo