What is true of this city is true of Germany-real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice.

I want to express my warm thanks to Mayor Brandt for his generous welcome.

So I am glad and proud to come here today.

While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an…

There is work to be done and obligations to be met--obligations to truth, to justice, and to liberty.

This process can only be helped by the growing unity of the West, and we must all work towards that unity, for in unity there is strength.

In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people.

We come to a city which is 3,500 miles from the United States, but we come to a city which we feel to be part of us.

For 18 years this has been done, and it will be done in the future.

Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.

No one can tell in the future whether there is a storm coming for all of us, but what we can be sure of is that no matter what happens, we believe in God and we are ready.

Coming as I do from the oldest major city in the United States, I am proud to come to this city.

In these days we depend upon God and we also depend upon our soldiers.

Your ability to sustain yourselves insures the peace.

We thank you especially for undertaking the burdensome tasks that sometimes go with peacetime military service.

Never in history has a country had so many of its sons serving so far away from their own land in a time of danger, not for the purpose of conquest but for the purpose of freedom.

I first of all want to express my strong appreciation to our allies in NATO who participated in the honor guard this morning.

I think the people of this city have proved not only their character and their courage, but also their commitment to freedom and opportunity to live together with their fellow Germans in a free and peaceful society.

What I hope remains between the United States and Germany is not only a strong feeling of sympathy and friendship, but also a recognition in this great struggle in which we now exist, this great struggle to which we have devoted our lives…

Political leaders come and go.

We take the greatest pride in this record.

Even though I have been here for almost 3 days, I am yet unable to make the distinction or see the difference.

It is my hope that this country and my own will work in partnership and harmony in the years ahead.

So I am proud to be in this very ancient city, in this hall, which is connected with so much that was distinguished in history many years ago with lost causes like the one in 1848.

My grandfather was Mayor of the city of Boston.