Germans rejoiced on the 20-year anniversary of the Berlin Wall's collapse Monday, while College Station saluted the then-leader of the free world, President George H. W. Bush.
Bush, whose presidential library is at Texas A&M where he often spends time at his on-campus apartment, had been president just 10 months on Nov. 9, 1989.
The former president refused to gloat when the wall fell, aware of the potential political fallout facing his counterpart, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and the fear of response by nearby Soviet tanks.
"The whole idea tonight is to say, 'Mr. President, we understand we couldn't celebrate then, but we can celebrate now,'" said Charles Hermann, a professor in the Bush School of Government and Public Service.
A crowd of about 400 poured into the plaza next to the George Bush Presidential Library, in front of a seven-ton sculpture of a stallion and four mares trampling over the wall's rubble.
They partied like it was 1989.
The Aggie Band played Noble Men of Kyle. The choirs from Rudder, Bryan and A&M Consolidated high schools performed "unified for the first time," an official announced.
A large screen on loan from the athletic department towered over the 12-foot-tall statue of the horses called The Day the Wall Came Down. It lit the darkness with streamed images of East Germans breaching the wall in glee.
Bush, wearing a maroon coat, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who had spoken to a packed crowd at the library the hour prior, were the honored guests.
The tearing down of the 100-mile wall symbolized the Soviet Empire's impending doom and the reunification of Germany, which had been divided since after World War II.
World leaders at the time -- British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President Francois Mitterrand -- opposed German unification, fearful of memories of a powerful Germany.
"The skill of Bush was to turn them all around, and persuade them that this is a different Germany, and that it's in our collective interest to have Germany united and free," Hermann said.
Both Bryan and College Station's rotary clubs helped organize the event, which also served as a "thank you" from a community grateful that an American president chose to embrace it.
The cold warriors gloated Monday, finally. But the former president once again wasn't big on celebrating, or bringing attention to himself, Hermann said.
"It's just the man's nature," he said. "He is very uncomfortable having people sing his praises. He's a little ouchy about all this."
Bush in 1989 didn't want to "dance on the wall." But Bush on Monday said it still was out of the question.
"I'm lucky enough to stand up next to the damned thing," the 85-year-old joked.
RSS
Mobile
Daily Emails
Twitter
Facebook
