The Last Hero of the Cold War … Lech Walesa Survives
There were seven. Seven figures above all, with varying influences, some more intentional than others, who brought down the Berlin Wall, freed Eastern Europe from communism, took down the Soviet Union, and peacefully ended the Cold War. They were Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, Vaclav Havel, and Lech Walesa.
They’re all gone, except for one: Lech Walesa.
And yet, Walesa could’ve been the first to go, if the communists had their way. They certainly wanted him dead.
From January 15-19, 1981, Lech Walesa, the brave leader of the Polish Solidarity movement, was in Rome. He had a special audience with another anti-communist Pole that the communists badly wanted dead: Pope John Paul II.
Walesa visited with the Polish pontiff the morning of January 19, which just happened to be the eve of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as president of the United States. He had no idea that communist agents were watching his every move. They knew every detail of his schedule. They had even made note of the color of the paint on the walls of the Hotel Victoria where he was staying. Their ringleader was a hit man working for a Bulgarian spy ring that reported to the Kremlin. His name was Mehmet Ali Agca.
The same Agca who a few months later would try to assassinate the pope.
