John F. Kennedy gave young Berliners hope, despite their divided world
All universities are Free Universities, he said — or should be.
BERLIN (June 24, 2024) — There are still Berliners who remember that June day in 1963 when John F. Kennedy stood before 20,000 specatators and guests at the Free University (Freie Universität). Here, he pledged scholarly commitment to the eventual reunification of Germany — and of East- and Western Europe, as well.
This is a different “Kennedy speech,” from the one he gave earlier the same day, before a much larger crowd at Rathaus Schöneberg. The earlier one was the one in which — two years after the Cold War barrier had gone up — Kennedy famously compared being a citizen of Berlin to being a citizen of Rome, and then told thousands of dispirited Germans, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” At Freie Universität, Kennedy more openly predicted the fall of the wall, the eventual re-unification of Berlin, Germany, and (indeed!) the pulling-together of disunited Europe, East and West, as well. Here, the American president called upon all Germans (and everyone else), to work toward the “reconstitution of …a larger Europe, on both sides of the harsh line which now divides it.”
The task of unifying Europeans, East and West, would be difficult, Kennedy said, requiring a courageous, multi-lateral allegiance “to Truth, to Justice, and to Liberty.”
‘All of us, who have come here, know…that this is not merely an isolated outpost, cut off from the world, cut off from the West. Students come here from many countries, and I hope more will come, especially from Africa and Asia….’
— John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy’s less-well-known address at Freie Universität that day was a remarkable speech, beautifully crafted and delivered. Naturally, he started with a joke, drawn from something he’d read about German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898).
“Prince Bismarck once said that one-third of students at German universities broke down from overwork,” Kennedy noted. “Another third broke down from (self-indulgence), and the other third ruled Germany. …I do not know which third of the student body is here today. (Laughter) But I am confident that I am talking to the future rulers of this country, and also (to leaders) of other free countries, stretching around the world….”
Very much in the spirit of “Ask not what your country can do for you….,” Kennedy challenged university students in Berlin (and around the globe) to think bigger, urging them to begin the work of building a shared, new world and making that world a better place than what’s come before. This was the tone — the magic of American positive-thinking — that kicked-off the student optimism and social engagement of the 1960s, as well as the radical activism of that time.
“(T)he duty of the scholar — or the educated man or woman…is to help build the society which had made their own advancement possible,” Kennedy said. “This school (Freie Universität) is not interested in turning out merely corporation lawyers or skilled accountants. Rather, it is — as it must be — interested in turning out citizens of the world….”
The audience gave its first applause for Kennedy’s speech only tentatively, politely. As people understood more of what he was saying, however, the clapping grew more frequent — and, finally, was embellished by a brief but full-throated shout or two.
Whether they knew it or not, Berlin students — including a fair complement of immigrants — were working toward “the advancement of a free society,” Kennedy told them. The graduating scholars of Berlin’s Free University — and all universities should be free, he noted — were being taught to understand and empathize with neighboring peoples; to be able to share others’ “troubles and well-being” alike, he said. Students of the world should be trained to tackle the “difficult (and) sensitive tasks that lie before us, as free men and women,” Kennedy intoned. “That’s why you’re here, and that’s why this school was founded (in 1948). And all of us benefit from it.”
Noting his country’s military commitment to a free, liberal-minded West Berlin — a commitment he expressed to Berliners within hours before this appearance — Kennedy reminded students that they had been able to pick up their studies despite the surrounding turmoil of difficult political and social change. (The world had witnessed the physical sectioning-off of East- from West Berlin and East- from West Germany just two years before, followed by the American-Soviet stand-off over missiles in Cuba and Turkey.)
“It is not enough to mark time; (nor) to adhere to a status-quo while awaiting a change for the better,” Kennedy said. “In a situation fraught with change and challenge, in an era of this kind, every resident of West Berlin has the duty to consider where he is, where his city is going, and how best he can get there. The scholar, the teacher, (and) the intellectual have a higher duty than any of the others for a society that trains you to think, as well as (to) do. This community has committed itself to that objective. And you have a special obligation to think, and to help forge the future of this city in terms of Truth, and Justice, and Liberty.”
