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 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 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."