On the recordFebruary 9, 2011
I thank the gentleman from California for giving me this opportunity. ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.'' Mr. Speaker, perhaps those were Ronald Reagan's most famous words, words which meant a great deal to millions of people. But his speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin that June afternoon touched me and my family personally. As many of you may know, my immigrant parents were victims of communist regimes in Eastern Europe. My Hungarian father served 2 years in a Siberian gulag for his anticommunist views, and my Ukrainian mother fled just before the Red Army seized control of her native country. They, like Ronald Reagan, understood that communism, especially the Soviet brand of communism, meant a life of restriction, oppression, and in many cases violence or cold-blooded murder. {time} 1520 While some derided President Reagan when he took on the USSR to win the Cold War, it was a point of inspiration for the Harris family. His courage and unwavering belief that freedom must always conquer evil has forever immortalized him to those who witnessed and lived through one of the most despicable and deadly regimes in the history of mankind. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Harris family, I want to thank President Reagan. May his legacy always remain a beacon for those around the world who seek the asylum of freedom and liberty.
