Another Summer’s Speech In Berlin...
I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished
Mayor, who has symbolised 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 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 the 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 18 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 offence
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”.
John F. Kennedy
26 June 1963:
There persists to this day some controversy over whether or
not Kennedy’s “Ich Bein...” bit was gramatically
correct or defined him as a donut. But no matter. History treats
great orators well...
