The Berlin Wall toppled 35 years ago. First, the world looked on with awe, and then the disbelief gave way to jubilation. From Aug. 13, 1961, to Nov. 9, 1989, a major European city was disfigured with a concrete barrier wreathed in razor wire and punctuated by armed guard towers. It was emblematic of the state-sponsored terrorism found in East Germany, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere around the world: communism.

Today, millions of Americans remember the wall and its significance in tandem with the evocative visuals of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan speaking from West Berlin over the wall to the people of East Berlin. Their messages reverberated all the way to Moscow. Kennedy called the wall “an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.”