ronald reagan: remarks at the brandenburg gate
thank you. thank you, very much.
chancellor kohl, governing mayor diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: twenty four years ago, president john f. kennedy visited berlin, and speaking to the people of this city and the world at the city hall. well since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn to berlin. and today, i, myself, make my second visit to your city.
we come to berlin, we american presidents, because it's our duty to speak in this place of freedom. but i must confess, we’re drawn here by other things as well; by the feeling of history in this city -- more than 500 years older than our own nation; by the beauty of the grunewald and the teirgarten; most of all, by your courage and determination. perhaps the composer, paul linke, understood something about american presidents. you see, like so many presidents before me, i come here today because wherever i go, whatever i do: “ich hab noch einen hoffer in berlin”
our gathering today is being broadcast throughout western europe and north america. i understand that it is being seen and heard as well in the east. to those listening throughout eastern europe, i extend my warmest greetings and the good will of the american people. to those listening in east berlin, a special word: although i cannot be with you, i address my remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me. for i join you, as i join your fellow countrymen in the west, in this firm, this unalterable belief: es gibt nur ein berlin.
behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of europe. from the baltic south. those barriers cut across germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers. farther south, there may be no visible, no obvious wall. but there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same -- still a restriction on the