British House of Commons Speech
Reagan's chief speechwriter at the time, Anthony R. Dolan, reportedly coined the phrase for Reagan's use. Some sources incorrectly refer to the June 1982 speech before the British House of Commons as the "Evil Empire" speech, but while Reagan referred twice to totalitarianism in his London speech, the exact phrase "evil empire" did not appear in any speech until later in his Presidency. Rather, the phrase "ash heap of history" appeared in this speech, used by Reagan to predict what he saw as the inevitable failure and collapse of global communism. Ironically, this latter phrase was coined by Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky in November 1917, using it against his opponents (the Mensheviks) and suggesting that communism was the future; the irony may not have been lost on Reagan's speech writers.
Read more about this topic: Evil Empire
Famous quotes containing the words british, house, commons and/or speech:
“You British plundered half the world for your own profit. Let’s not pass it off as the Age of Enlightenment.”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)
“Instinct.—When our house burns down, we even forget our lunch.—Yes, but we go back to it later in the ashes.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“I am really sorry to see my countrymen trouble themselves about politics. If men were wise, the most arbitrary princes could not hurt them. If they are not wise, the freest government is compelled to be a tyranny. Princes appear to me to be fools. Houses of Commons & Houses of Lords appear to me to be fools; they seem to me to be something else besides human life.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“U.S.A. is the speech of the people.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)