1963: West Berlin is my country - President John F. Kennedy attends the Trade Union Congress of German Construction Workers in the Congress Hall

Episode 1963

West Berlin is my country

President John F. Kennedy attends the Trade Union Congress of German Construction Workers in the Congress Hall

“Berlin has never seen such huge crowds

and such enthusiastic pushing and shoving.

All the best, Mr. Kennedy.”

Thus the West Berlin Telegraf, perfectly capturing the mood of the moment. On this particular 26 June, the kids have the day off school, and the dustmen take a break. A number of companies close down for the day, and the authorities only work if they have no other choice. Thickly lining the streets, the West Berliners form a huge guard of honour. Sellers of the appropriately named “Neue Welt” (New World) magazine, go through the crowd handing out little flags displaying the stars and stripes. Later, some put the turn-out at 1.5 million: throngs of people – excited and grateful for the visit following the construction of the Wall, and xxxxx the Cuban crisis – are curious to see the glamorous young president. It goes without saying that a lightning street poll conducted on the streets by the West Berlin broadcaster Sender Freies Berlin echoes the unanimous opinion: Kennedy’s visit to Berlin – extremely important!

The visit is scheduled as follows: 9.45 landing at Tegel military airport; 11.10 arrival at the Congress Hall. It is quite striking that the schedule is published, down to the very last detail, in the newspapers. A gesture unthinkable forty-three years on.

Kennedy’s ghost-writers really know their stuff: It is not only his famous announcement: “Ich bin ein Berliner!” which delights everyone, or the phrase: “Kölle alaaf!” (Hooray for Cologne) with which he concludes his speech in the city on the Rhine. Here in the Congress Hall, the president expands upon the Benjamin Franklin quotation in the foyer: "God grant that not only the love of liberty, but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say 'This is my country.'” Kennedy responds with the simple and moving words: “West Berlin is my country.” And he emphasises the role of the trade unions in constructing a free society and the importance of freedom in the struggle for a good life. But Kennedy’s claim that the USA is involved in South America, Africa and Asia in order to help establish free trade unions is not so readily believed. It is a different matter, however, when he emphasises that peace and freedom are the precondition for German reunification. With these words, he reveals an important change of course in the wake of the Bay of Pigs misadventure in 1961 (the counter-revolutionary intervention in Cuba supported by the USA) and the nuclear crisis of 1962. In this changed perspective, German unity is no longer seen as a precondition for the peaceful co-existence of the two systems, but rather as the result – possibly occurring some time in the future – of that co-existence. The fact that Kennedy is outlining the embryonic policy of détente is lost on both the leaders of the construction workers union and the millions of Berliners. During the years to come, however, its full significance will become apparent.

For the moment, Kennedy is greeted with flowers and cheers not only at the Congress Hall but also at the Brandenburg Gate, at Checkpoint Charlie in Kochstrasse, and at Schöneberg Town Hall. It is here that Kennedy declares famously that he is a Berliner and duly wins the hearts of the West Berliners. 20,000 students cheer when he speaks at the Free University – a far cry indeed from the reaction that will greet later visits to the city by an American President.

When one sees the pictures of John F. Kennedy waving from his open black presidential limousine in front of the Congress Hall, later events naturally also spring to mind. At this moment in time, he has less than five months to live. After the shots fall in Dallas, hundreds of thousands of Berliners will once again gather in front of Schöneberg Town Hall: this time, for a funeral service. And in the Congress Hall, a memorial service will be held on the first anniversary of his assassination.

A.B.

Der Tagesspiegel 25 June 63

New York Times, 25 June 63

Telegraf 26 + 17 June 63

Los Angeles Times 27 June 63

New York Times, 27 June 63

Los Angeles Times 22 Nov. 64

Der Tagespiegel 26 June 2003

John F. Kennedy: Remarks in Berlin to the Trade Union Congress of German Construction Workers, June 26th, 1963, published at The American Presidency Project

Congress Hall Berlin: Fifty Years – Fifty Episodes a selection

1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1960 | 1961 | 1963 | 1970

• The book accompanying the 50th anniversary
  "The House. The Cultures. The World."
  more
• The Congress Hall at 50 - Do You Remember?
  Your stories and photos on fifty years of history
  more