President Kennedy Speaks in West Berlin
"President Kennedy Speaks in West Berlin" refers to a significant speech delivered by U.S. President John F. Kennedy on June 26, 1963, during a pivotal moment in the Cold War. The context of the speech arises from the division of Berlin into East and West following World War II, with West Berlin being an isolated bastion of democracy surrounded by the communist East. Kennedy's visit was a demonstration of American solidarity with the citizens of West Berlin, who faced ongoing pressure from the Soviet Union. His iconic declaration, "Ich bin ein Berliner," symbolized a deep commitment to the values of freedom and democracy.
Kennedy's address addressed the stark contrasts between the free world and communism, emphasizing that true freedom entails the ability to make choices without oppression. He recognized the hardships faced by the people of Berlin and called for a hopeful vision of the future, advocating for unity and peace. The speech resonated beyond Berlin, reinforcing the idea that freedom is a universal right. This event is often remembered as a turning point in U.S.-German relations and a powerful moment in the broader struggle against communism. The eventual fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 would later symbolize the triumph of democratic ideals over oppressive regimes.
President Kennedy Speaks in West Berlin
President Kennedy Speaks in West Berlin
During the turbulent period of the cold war, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were usually tense and sometimes came dangerously close to open “hot” warfare. One flash point was the divided city of Berlin. After World War II, the victorious Allies divided Nazi Germany into four zones: American, British, French, and Soviet. The first three zones became West Germany, and the Soviet zone in the east became East Germany. Unfortunately, the former capital of Berlin was located entirely in the Soviet zone. It too was divided into American, British, French and Soviet zones, and again the first three zones became West Berlin and the Soviet zone became East Berlin. The two cities were separated by a fortified barrier, built by the Soviets and East Germans, known as the Berlin Wall. Isolated West Berlin was an easy target for Soviet pressure, such as by cutting off supply routes.
A series of crises in the early 1960s caused President John F. Kennedy to make a personal visit to West Berlin, where he made a famous speech reaffirming America's commitment to West Berlin. It was during this address that Kennedy used the phrase “Ich bin ein Berliner,” German for “I am a Berliner,” to express the depth of his commitment. Excerpts from the speech, given on June 26, 1963, are set forth below:
I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished mayor, who has symbolized throughout the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin. And I am proud to visit the Federal Republic with your distinguished chancellor, who for so many years has committed [West] Germany to democracy and freedom and progress, and to come here in the company of my fellow American General Clay, who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed.
Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was Civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is Ich bin ein Berliner. I appreciate my interpreter translating my German!
There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.
Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last eighteen years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin. While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.
What is true of this city is true of Germany; real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people. You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you, as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.
Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words Ich bin ein Berliner.
Mikhail Gorbachev became president of the Soviet Union in 1985, ushering in a new era in Soviet politics that opened up the country's economy to foreign investment (called perestroika) and allowing free political speech (glasnost). It was an unprecedented change that threw the union's republics into political turmoil. Some satellite states of the Soviet Union, such as Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, overthrew their communist politicians in favor of democratically elected governments. In 1989, demonstrations against the East German government led to a new regime in East Germany that allowed travel across the border from East Germany to West Germany. However, a wall thirteen feet high and ninety miles long made with concrete and barbed wire separated them from free movement across the border. The wall was a symbol of their ideological differences and a reminder of all the East Germans who had been killed or imprisoned trying to scale the wall to the other side in the past. Families had been separated for decades, and conditions in the East were difficult under the communist regime.
On November 9, 1989, Germans from both the East and West began dismantling the Berlin Wall that had separated them since the end of the war. Free elections took place in East Germany on March 18, 1990, for the first time since before World War II. The wall was completely destroyed by the summer of 1990, reuniting the two countries. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a milestone in the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, symbolizing the end of the Iron Curtain. It was a signal that the United States had won the ideological Cold War, just as many other Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe decided to abscond from the Soviet Union to form independent governments. East and West Germany formed the Federal Republic of Germany following the fall of the Berlin Wall on October 3, 1990. The Soviet Union became the Russian Federation, composed of only a few of its original republics.