President
Hailed By Over A Million In Visit To Berlin
He Salutes the Divided City as Front Line in World's Struggle
for Freedom
Looks Over The Wall
Says Berliners' Experience Shows Hazard in Trying to Work With Communists
He Calls The City Freedom Symbol
President Moved by Warm Welcome--Visits Wall to Look Into East Zone
By ARTHUR J. OLSEN
Special to The New York Times – June 26, 1963
Berlin, June 26--
President Kennedy, inspired by a tumultuous welcome from more than a million of
the inhabitants of this isolated and divided city, declared today he was proud
to be "a Berliner."
He said his claim
to being a Berliner was based on the fact that "all free men, wherever they may
live, are citizens of Berlin."
In a rousing
speech to 150,000 West Berliners crowded before the City Hall, the President
said anyone who thought "we can work with the Communists" should come to Berlin.
However, three
hours later, in a less emotional setting, he reaffirmed his belief that the
great powers that must work together "to preserve the human race."
Warning on
Communism
His earlier
rejection of dealing with the Communists was a warning against trying to "ride
the tiger" of popular fronts that unite democratic and Communist forces, Mr.
Kennedy explained in an interpolation in a prepared speech.
The President's
City Hall speech was the emotional high point of a spectacular welcome accorded
the President by West Berlin. He saluted the city as the front line and shining
example of humanity's struggle for freedom.
Those who profess
not to understand the great issues between the free world and the Communist
world or who think Communism is the wave of the future should come to Berlin, he
said.
In his later
speech, at the Free University of Berlin, President Kennedy returned firmly to
the theme of his address at American University in Washington June 10 in which
he called for an attempt to end the cold war.
'Wounds to
Heal'
"When the
possibilities of reconciliation appear, we in the West will make it clear that
we are not hostile to any people or system, provided that they choose their own
destiny without interfering with the free choice of others," he said.
"There will be
wounds to heal and suspicions to be eased on both sides," he added. "The
difference in living standards will have to be reduced--by leveling up, not
down. Fair and effective agreements to end the arms race must be reached."
The changes might
not come tomorrow, but "our efforts for a real settlement must continue," he
said.
Then the President
introduced an extemporaneous paragraph into his prepared text.
"As I said this
morning, I am not impressed by the opportunities open to popular fronts
throughout the world," he said. "I do not believe that any democrat can
successfully ride that tiger. But I do believe in the necessity of great powers
working together to preserve the human race."
Nuances of policy,
however, were not the center of attention today in this city of at least
2,200,000 alert people. For them the only matter of importance was to give a
heartfelt and spectacular welcome to the United States President and to see a
youthful-looking smiling man obviously respond to their warmth.
Pierre Salinger,
the President's press secretary, said the reception here was "the greatest he
has had anywhere."
Along the route
from Tegel airport to the United States mission headquarters in the southwest
corner of Berlin, waving, cheering crowds lined every foot of the way.
Banners Hung at
Gate
The crowds must
have nearly equaled the population of the city, but many persons waved once and
then sped ahead to greet Mr. Kennedy again.
Only once in a
jammed eight hours, during which he was almost uninterruptedly on a television
screen, did Mr. Kennedy fail to dominate the scene.
Shortly before
noon he approached Brandenburg Gate where he caught his first view of the
Communist-built wall that partitions Berlin.
The President had
been scheduled to gaze over the wall through the gate onto Unter den Linden,
once the main avenue of the German capital. However, the five arches of the gate
were covered by huge red banners, blocking his view there of East Berlin.
The cloth barrier
was put up by East Berlin officials last night.
Just across the
wall from the podium where the President's party stood was a neatly lettered
yellow sign in English. It cited the Allied pledges at the 1945 Yalta conference
to uproot Nazism and militarism from Germany and to see it would never again
endanger world peace.
Asse [missing
text] had [missing text] in East German [missing text] on President [missing
text] see that they were [missing text] West Germany and West Berlin.
The President
appeared not to read the words, busying himself with a map indicating key points
along the wall.
Sees East
Berliners
At Checkpoint
Charlie, the United States-controlled crossing point to East Berlin on the
Friedrichstrasse, Mr. Kennedy had an unobstructed view several hundred yards
into the eastern sector.
About 300 yards
away, well beyond the 100-yard forbidden zone decreed by the Communists last
week, he glimpsed a small group of East Berliners attracted by his presence.
Though he could not hear them, they cheered.
In West Berlin
there was no Communist attempt to embarrass the President. The problem for West
Berlin's 13,500-man police force and the President's Secret Service guards was
to restrain excited crowds from rushing to the President to shake his hand or
hand him gifts.
On his arrival
this morning at Tegel airport protocol went wrong when Mr. Kennedy first grasped
the hand of Chancellor Adenauer instead of that of Gen. Eduard Toulouse, the
French commandant in West Berlin. The airport is in the French sector, and
technically under French sovereignty.
Brandt Gives
Reassurance
Mayor Willy
Brandt, greeting the President, said West Berliners did not expect constantly
renewed assertions of allied guarantees "because we trust our friends."
The President
responded by saying: "The legendary morale and spirit of the people of West
Berlin has lit a fire throughout the world. I am glad to come to this city. It
reassures us."
At the first six
stops on the tour--the modernistic Congress Hall where the West German
construction workers union was in convention, Mr. Kennedy told the union
delegates a free trade union movement was a guarantee and proof of democracy. He
urged West German unions to help newly independent countries establish a strong
free union movement.
The Presidential
motorcade arrived 15 minutes behind schedule at Sch_erger Rathaus, West Berlin's
city hall.
Mr. Kennedy's
speech was emotional and the West Berliners responded in like manner. Several
times they chanted "Kennedy! Kennedy!"
The only break in
the day of speech-making and waving to the crowds was a luncheon in the city
hall given by Mayor Brandt.
From there, the
President drove to the Free University, endowed in 1948 by the Ford Foundation,
where Mr. Kennedy was made an honorary citizen of the university. This is a
traditional form of honor, dating from the days when European universities
enjoyed autonomous political rights.
The motorcade went
next to Clay Alley, named after Gen. Lucius D. Clay, defender of West Berlin
during the blockade 15 years ago and who, as a member of the Kennedy party, won
especial cheers today. There, the United States community of 15,000 soldiers and
diplomats and members of their families greeted the President.
"No beleaguered
garrison serves in comparable conditions under conditions so dangerous and with
adversaries so numerous," the President told the soldiers.
"Your role is to
commit the United States. But you are more than hostages. Your are in a sense a
real force, for you represent the will and perseverance of your fellow
Americans."
This was the final
stop and the motorcade then sped back to the airport, where, after a brief
farewell, the President took off for Ireland.
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