Remarks by President Nixon at the Siemens Factory, West Berlin, 27 February 1969

I first apologize for the fact that we have kept you waiting. But as we came through the city, the crowds were so large that we were unable to keep on our schedule.

So the reason we are here is a demonstration of the truth of what the Mayor has just said: that the people of Berlin are free and that, despite a wall, this is one city and one people and one nation.

I saw many signs as we came through the streets of the city – some were in English, most were in German. The ones in German, of course, I could not understand. But there was one sign that was a combination that made me feel very much at home.

I first came to this city 22 years ago. At that time most of those that I see here – or many of those – were not yet born; and to many who came here then, Berlin seemed to be city without hope and without a future. But the pessimists at that period, over 20 years ago, did not know the people of Berlin.

There is no more remarkable story in human history than the creation of this island of freedom and prosperity, of courage and determination, in the center of postwar Europe.

And it is you who have done it.