Kennedy Pledge On German Issue

Press, Volume C, Issue 29599, 23 August 1961, Page 20

Kennedy Pledge On German Issue

( N XJ* A .-Reu;!«r— Cowngltt)

WASHINGTON, August 22. president Kennedy yesterday pledged a common effort for a just and peaceful settlement in Germany as Vice-President Lyndon Johnson reported on his “inspiring and unforgettable” visit to Berlin.

The President cut short his already shortened week-end at his Cape Cod summer residence to return to Washington tor a briefing by Mr Johnson on the Berlin visit. Coinciding with Mr Johnson’s return, the State Department released a message from President Kennedy to a world labour federation, in which the President said events in Berlin “strikingly underline the seriousness of the long struggle” tor the protection of freedom, human rights, and self-determination. President Kennedy said in the message that the Communist bloc had “ruthlessly assailed” human rights and dignity in the Berlin crisis. The President’s message was to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Message to President At the same time the Department released the contents of two messages sent to the American President by the ICTT.U. headquarters. The first, on August 9, expressed deep concern at renewed threats on the part of the Soviet Government to the freedom of West Berlin. The I.C.F.T.U. sent a strong protest on August 14. in the second message, against the closure by the Communists of the border between East and West Berlin. It said: “We emphatically condemn this violation of the status of Berlin, and the break of freedom of movement and freedom of employment as grave infringements of human rights and a danger to peace.” The message continued: “World free labour’s expression of solidarity with other free world elements can only strengthen our efforts to.resolve the problems related to Berlin on the basis of the principles of freedom for which so many died in World War n.

“By making free labour’s position so clearly known, I.C.F.T.U. has taken an important step towards rallying its millions of freedom-loving members throughout the world in support of our common efforts towards a Just and peaceful settlement in Germany.” U.S. Assurances Mr Kennedy sent his VicePresident to West Germany last Friday bearing personal assurances of United States determination to stand firm against threatened moves against the Allied position in Berlin. At the same time, Mr Kennedy sent 1500 American troops in to reinforce the United States garrison in Berlin, and Mr Johnson was there to help welcome them on Sunday. Reporting on this when he arrived back in Washington, Mr Johnson said the reception given the American troops was “most heartwarming.” “Our troops know,” he said, “that they carry the honour of America with them as they begin their important task of helping to protect this outpost of peace and freedom.” In a statement read beside his aircraft, Mr Johnson said he had returned from his conferences with leading German officials convinced that

ties between United States, West Berlin and West Germany “already strong, have been made even stronger and more enduring.” The Vice-President, who met the West German Chancellor (Dr. Adenauer), the West Berlin Mayor (Mr Willy Brandt) and other West German officials, praised what he termed the “distinction and responsibility of free German leadership.”

He expressed belief that he succeeded in removing “anxieties between* friends.” Mr Johnson said that in the days of crisis ahead, “communications must be kept open, we must reason together, we must build together.” “The Communist threat to Berlin is very real and is but a part of the continuing struggle between the world of freedom and the world of

coercion,” Mr Johnson warned. Tribute to Courage The Vice-President paid tribute to “the courage, and the dedication to freedom which sustain the people of West Berlin in these difficult days. "They are being tested and harassed by Communist power,” he said, “but their heroic conduct in this emergency has become one of the major assets of the free world.” At the same time, he expressed “unlimited compassion for the suffering now being endured by the people of East Berlin and East Germany and their relatives and friends in the West.”