THE VICE PRESIDENT has given me a report on his remarkably successful and important trip to West Germany and West Berlin. His report emphasizes the confidence and trust which the people of West Berlin have in this country and in its commitments, and it places a heavy responsibility upon all of us to meet that responsibility.
I want to express my thanks to him for this most important service he has rendered to our country, and to General Clay who accompanied him, who was the Commandant in Berlin during the airlift in the late forties--and to Mr. Bohlen from the State Department.
The Secretary of State, Mr. Rusk, and I are most gratified by their visit, and we are aware--and the Vice President has emphasized this--that we are going to pass through difficult weeks and months in the time ahead in maintaining the freedom of West Berlin, but maintain it we will.
Note: The President spoke in the Fish Room at the White House. The Vice President responded as follows:
"I feel very fortunate that the President should have asked me to undertake this assignment in company with such distinguished Americans as General Clay and Ambassador Bohlen. It was a most stimulating and inspiring experience.
"We first went to Bonn and discussed with Chancellor Adenauer the President's views and the views of this Government, and also received suggestions from him. Later we went to Berlin and delivered the President's reply to Mayor Brandt's letter, and further details and views of this Government to Mayor Brandt. The exchanges were useful and fruitful, and I think will be productive.
"No person can see what we saw without deeply feeling the great responsibilities that America has to the people of West Berlin, and to humanity. They look to us for encouragement, for hope, and for leadership--and together we are going to continue to march shoulder to shoulder to the end that freedom is preserved in the world."
In his remarks the President referred to General Lucius D. Clay, his personal representative in Berlin, and to Charles E. Bohlen, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State.
John F. Kennedy, Remarks Following the Vice President's Report on the Berlin Situation. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/235397
