    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [May 14, 1998]
    [Pages 754-756]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Berlin Airlift Remembrance Ceremony in Berlin
    May 14, 1998

        Chancellor Kohl, members of the German
    Government, Mr. Mayor, members of the
    diplomatic corps, the veterans of the Luftbrucke, and to the people of
    Germany: Fifty years ago this airstrip was a pivotal battlefield in a
    war that had not yet been named. In 1948 the world could not yet speak
    of another war.
        World War II had left Europe devastated and divided. Nowhere was the
    crisis more acute than here in Berlin. People were hungry and homeless.
    A hundred years earlier, Karl Marx had declared that a specter is
    haunting Europe, the specter of communism. In 1948 the specter's shadow
    fell across half a continent. The edge of that shadow was the runway
    here at Tempelhof Airport. The last European battlefield of World War II
    became the first battlefield of the cold war.
        On June 24, 1948, Stalin threw down a gauntlet, refusing to allow
    supplies to be sent to Berlin. It was war by starvation, with more than
    2 million lives hanging in the balance. The blockade stymied the
    British, the French, the American allies. Some saw no solution and
    reluctantly advised evacuation.
        The fate of free Berlin hung by a thread, the thread of air support.
    No one really thought it was possible to supply a city by air. A few
    visionaries, however, were convinced it could be done. They had no
    precedent, just the simple rules of conscience and ingenuity that
    determine all our best actions. And they had a President.

    [[Page 755]]

    On June 28, in a small meeting at the White House, Harry Truman said,
    ``There is no discussion on that point. We stay in Berlin, period.''
        From the moment the largest airlift in history began, the Western
    allies became protectors, instead of occupiers, of Germany. There are so
    many stories from that proud period: the leadership of General Clay and
    General Tunner; the American, British, and German casualties we must
    never forget; the countless acts of individual kindness, like Gail
    Halvorsen, the famous Rosinenbomber who
    dropped tiny parachutes of candy to Berlin's children. She is here with
    us today, and I'd like to ask her to stand. Thank you very much.
    [Applause] Thank you, sir. Thank you--he's here. Thank you, sir.
        If the Communists could fight with fear, then we would fight back
    with friendship and faith. Today I salute, along with the
    Chancellor, all the American veterans who came
    back to celebrate today. I would like to ask any of them who are here to
    please stand. [Applause] And I salute the people of Berlin. Thousands of
    Berliners from doctors to housewives rolled up their sleeves to help
    Americans expand this airfield, building Tegel Airport from scratch,
    unloading and maintaining the planes. Your fearless mayor, Ernst Reuter,
    inspired Americans and Germans alike when he stood before a rally and
    said, ``We cannot be bordered. We cannot be negotiated. We cannot be
    sold.''
        And finally, I salute the 75,000 people from all around Europe who
    helped the airlift in some capacity and made it a triumph for people who
    love freedom everywhere.
        Between June of 1948 and May of 1949, over a quarter million sorties
    were flown around the clock, day and night, in weather good and bad,
    roughly a plane every 90 seconds at its height. But the most precious
    cargo did not come in the well-named CARE packages. It was instead the
    hope created by the constant roar of the planes overhead. Berliners
    called this noise a symphony of freedom, reminding you that Berlin was
    not alone and that freedom was no flight of imagination.
        Today, a new generation must relearn the lessons of the airlift and
    bring them to bear on the challenges of this new era, for the cold war
    is history, a democratic Russia is our partner, and we have for the
    first time a chance to build a new Europe, undivided, democratic, and at
    peace. Yet we know that today's possibilities are not tomorrow's
    guarantees. For all the promise of our time, we are not free from peril.
        That is why I hope both Americans and Germans will always remember
    the lesson of what happened here 50 years ago. We cannot relinquish the
    responsibilities of leadership, for the struggle for freedom never ends.
        In the heat of the Berlin crisis, General Clay wrote, ``I believe
    the future of democracy requires us to stay.'' Well, that was the best
    investment we could have made in Germany's future. It would be difficult
    to imagine a better friend or ally than modern Germany.
        How proud those who participated in the airlift must have been when
    Germany reunified, when Germany led the effort to unify Europe, and when
    the modern equivalent of CARE packages were sent to Bosnia, Afghanistan,
    and other places ravaged by war--when the people of Germany were among
    the first to send them. It was a good investment in democracy to stay.
        Now, we must continue to build bridges between our two peoples. The
    Fulbright program between Germany and the United States is the largest
    in the world. This fall the American Academy in Berlin will open,
    bringing our leading cultural figures here. We will be working hard to
    expand our support for the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, which has
    already given more than 10,000 German and American students the chance
    to visit each other's countries. The next century of our cooperation for
    freedom has already begun in our classrooms. Let us give our young
    people the chance to build even stronger bridges for the future.
        In his ``Song of the Spirits Over the Waters,'' Gunther wrote,
    ``Man's soul is like the water. From heaven it descends, to heaven it
    rises and down again to Earth, it returns, ever repeating.'' To me,
    these lines express the heroism of the airlift, for more than food and
    supplies were dropped from the skies. As the planes came and went and
    came and went again, the airlift became a sharing of the soul, a story
    that tells people never to give up, never to lose faith. Adversity can
    be conquered. Prayers can be answered, hopes realized. Freedom is worth
    standing up for.
        My friends, today, and 100 years from today, the citizens of this
    great city and all friends of freedom everywhere will know that because
    a few stood up for freedom, now and forever, ``Berlin bleibt noch
    Berlin''--``Berlin is still Berlin.''

    [[Page 756]]

        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at approximately 11 a.m. at the Tempelhof
    Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. Lucius D. Clay, USA (d.
    1978), Commander in Chief, European Command; and Maj. Gen. William H.
    Tunner, USAF (d. 1983), Commander, Combined Airlift Task Force. The
    transcript made available by the Office of the Press Secretary also
    included the remarks of Chancellor Kohl.