In this speech, delivered in West Berlin in 1963, American president John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) declared the United States’ support for West Germany. The Berlin Wall, constructed by the Soviet Union two years previously, symbolized the Iron Curtain that separated democratic western Europe from the Soviet bloc. Western countries such as the United States were accused of not responding forcefully enough to the wall’s construction. Kennedy’s iconic speech denounced the oppression East Berliners faced; as Kennedy said, “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.” Praising “the fighting spirit of West Berlin,” Kennedy famously declared, “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 (I am a Berliner)!'” The speech was a key moment in the Cold War, providing a morale boost to West Berliners, sending a strong message to the Soviet Union and making it clear that the West stood united with West Berlin.
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