In recognition of President Ronald Reagan’s

seminal speech and its importance to human freedom.

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    In March, 1983, during a speech in Orlando, President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” President Reagan knew that victory against Soviet communism had as much to do with words as weapons. President Ronald Reagan’s aim in the Cold War was simple: “We win, and they lose.” So he made his case for freedom with a moral clarity that galvanized free men and women everywhere. Less than a decade after President Reagan boldly called evil by its name on March 8, 1983, his crusade for liberty over. We won. And they lost. Learn more.

  • Support the Foundation

    Hard as it is to believe, there is no memorial commemorating President Reagan’s Evil Empire Speech. So we’re going to build it. The Evil Empire Speech marked a defining moment in President Reagan’s presidency. Less than a decade later, Soviet communism was in the ash heap of history, and the Cold War had not simply ended – it had been won. Please support the Foundation in this important cause.


Latest News

U.S. News: Reagan's 'Evil Empire' Speech to Be Memorialized

Washington Post: Original Evil Empire Speech with Reagan's handwritten notes to be displayed at National Archives

Roll Call: Berke: ‘Evil Empire’ a Poor Choice of Words for GOP Fundraising

Orlando Sentinel: Good man, evil empire: Ronald Reagan made history 25 years ago in Orlando

Morning Call: “New Word Order: Seventeen years ago this week, Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union the focus of evil in the modern world. The 'Evil Empire' speech disturbed the political universe, but the critical words almost went unsaid.”

About

The Evil Empire Speech Memorial Foundation was launched in 2010 to finally commemorate the Evil Empire Speech, to recognize its importance to human freedom, and to honor international victims of communism. In the years that followed the speech, the Soviets came to the negotiating table, the Berlin Wall came down, the Iron Curtain fell, and the Soviet Empire crumbled. Today, millions of people who once lived under the tyranny of the Soviet Evil Empire live in freedom. But there are millions more who still suffer at the hands of tyranny and who are denied the basic human freedoms of speech, religion, self-determination. This project is therefore designed not just to remember the past but to also bring attention to the injustices of today.

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Quoteworthy

The great brilliant moment when we learned that Ronald Reagan had proclaimed the Soviet Union as an Evil Empire before the entire world…It was the brightest, most glorious day…the beginning of a new revolution, a freedom revolution – Reagan’s Revolution."

- Natan Sharansky, 2004