Foreign Relations: Bobby in Berlin

Beleaguered, bothered and often bewildered by the pressures of the cold war, West Berliners were ready and waiting for Bobby Kennedy. They wanted to hear some tough talk from a top U.S. official who is a notoriously tough talker and, up to a point, they got it.

Bobby and Ethel arrived at Tempelhof Airport in the midst of a cold, stinging snowstorm. Yet more than 100,000 West Berliners lined the streets, repeatedly holding up the motorcade by the sheer press of their numbers. At Potsdamer Platz, Bobby glared through the strands of barbed wire that are part of the Wall in that section of divided Berlin. On the East Berlin side, a few Vopos scuttled out of sight. Otherwise, East Berlin appeared empty—and dead. “This,” said Bobby, echoing the reaction of every first visitor, “is even more shocking than I imagined it would be. Unbelievable.” Driving on to City Hall Plaza, Bobby spoke to another 100,000 West Berliners. He gave them plenty of assurance. “An armed attack on West Berlin,” he cried, “is the same thing as an armed attack on Chicago, New York, London or Paris. You are our brothers, and we will stand by you.”

Kennedy’s most prestigious appearance in West Berlin should have been his speech to the Ernst Reuter Society at Berlin’s Free University. It had been billed as a major U.S. policy address; some 1,600 West Berliners managed to cram themselves into space designed for only 1,200. But Bobby’s speech had been edited to death. Work on it had begun a month before. President Kennedy had expressed a deep interest in it—and insisted on approving it before delivery. Even as Bobby flew from Rome (where he and Ethel had a cordial 25-minute audience with Pope John XXIII), White House Adviser Arthur Schlesinger Jr. was laboring away on a final draft. That draft was cabled to Washington for the President’s final approval. It returned in drastically modified form.

Washington’s concern about the speech was based on the discussions over what form the forthcoming 18-nation disarmament conference in Geneva should take (see THE WORLD). At this point, truly tough talk might not be wise. As a result, about the most stirring thing Kennedy was permitted to say was: “We do not feel that the maintenance of the integrity of West Berlin threatens any legitimate interests of the Soviet Union, and we remain confident that in due course this problem will be solved through the processes of peaceful negotiation.” Many West Berliners left the auditorium still feeling bothered and bewildered.