[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.

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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.