The President:
 Thank you, Chancellor Merkel, 
 for your leadership,
your friendship, and the
example of your life --
from a child of the East
to the leader of a free
and united Germany.
As I've said, Angela and
I don't exactly look
like previous German
and American leaders.
But the fact that we can stand
here today, along the fault line
where a city was divided,
speaks to an eternal truth:
No wall can stand against
the yearning of justice,
the yearnings for freedom,
the yearnings for peace that
burns in the human heart.
(applause)
Mayor Wowereit,
distinguished guests,
and especially the people
of Berlin and of Germany --
thank you for this 
extraordinarily warm welcome.
In fact, it's so warm and I feel
so good that I'm actually
going to take off my jacket,
and anybody else who wants to,
feel free to.
(applause)
We can be a little more
informal among friends.
(applause)
As your Chancellor mentioned,
five years ago
I had the privilege to address
this city as senator.
Today, I'm proud to return as
President of the United States.
(applause)
And I bring with me
the enduring friendship
of the American people,
as well as my wife, Michelle,
and Malia and Sasha.
(applause)
You may notice that
they're not here.
The last thing they
want to do is to listen
to another speech from me.
(laughter)
So they're out
experiencing the beauty
and the history of Berlin.
And this history
speaks to us today.
Here, for thousands of years,
the people of this land
have journeyed from tribe to
principality to nation-state;
through Reformation
and Enlightenment,
renowned as a "land
of poets and thinkers,"
among them Immanuel Kant,
who taught us that freedom
is the "unoriginated
birthright of man,
and it belongs to him by
force of his humanity."
Here, for two centuries, this
gate stood tall as the world
around it convulsed -- through
the rise and fall of empires;
through revolutions and
republics; art and music
and science that reflected
the height of human endeavor,
but also war and carnage
that exposed the depths
of man's cruelty to man.
It was here that Berliners
carved out an island
of democracy against
the greatest of odds.
As has already been mentioned,
they were supported
by an airlift of hope, and we
are so honored to be joined
by Colonel Halvorsen,
92 years old --
the original "candy bomber."
We could not be prouder of him.
(applause)
I hope I look that good,
by the way, when I'm 92.
(laughter)
During that time, a Marshall
Plan seeded a miracle,
and a North Atlantic Alliance
protected our people.
And those in the neighborhoods
and nations to the East drew
strength from the knowledge that
freedom was possible here,
in Berlin -- that the waves
of crackdowns and suppressions
might therefore
someday be overcome.
Today, 60 years after they
rose up against oppression,
we remember the East German
heroes of June 17th.
When the wall finally came down,
it was their dreams
that were fulfilled.
Their strength and their
passion, their enduring example
remind us that for all
the power of militaries,
for all the authority
of governments,
it is citizens who choose
whether to be defined by a wall,
or whether to tear it down.
(applause)
And we're now surrounded by the
symbols of a Germany reborn.
A rebuilt Reichstag and
its glistening glass dome.
An American embassy back at its
historic home on Pariser Platz.
(applause)
And this square itself,
once a desolate no man's land,
is now open to all.
So while I am not the
first American President
to come to this gate, I am proud
to stand on its Eastern side
to pay tribute to the past.
(applause)
For throughout all this history,
the fate of this city
came down to a simple question:
Will we live free or in chains?
Under governments that uphold
our universal rights,
or regimes that suppress them?
In open societies that respect
the sanctity of the individual
and our free will,
or in closed societies
that suffocate the soul?
As free peoples, we stated
our convictions long ago.
As Americans, we believe that
"all men are created equal"
with the right
to life and liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.
And as Germans, you declared
in your Basic Law that
"the dignity of
man is inviolable."
(applause)
Around the world, nations
have pledged themselves
to a Universal Declaration
of Human Rights,
which recognizes the
inherent dignity and rights
of all members
of our human family.
And this is what was at stake
here in Berlin all those years.
And because courageous crowds
climbed atop that wall,
because corrupt dictatorships 
gave way to new democracies,
because millions
across this continent
now breathe the
fresh air of freedom,
we can say, here in
Berlin, here in Europe --
our values won.
Openness won.
Tolerance won.
And freedom won here in Berlin.
(applause)
And yet, more than two
decades after that triumph,
we must acknowledge
that there can, at times,
be a complacency among
our Western democracies.
Today, people often come
together in places like this
to remember history --
not to make it.
After all, we face no concrete
walls, no barbed wire.
There are no tanks
poised across a border.
There are no visits
to fallout shelters.
And so sometimes
there can be a sense
that the great challenges
have somehow passed.
And that brings with it a
temptation to turn inward --
to think of our own pursuits, 
and not the sweep of history;
to believe that we've 
settled history's accounts,
that we can simply enjoy 
the fruits won by our forebears.
But I come here today, Berlin,
to say complacency is not
the character of great nations.
Today's threats are not as stark
as they were half a century ago,
but the struggle for freedom and
security and human dignity --
that struggle goes on.
And I've come here, to this city
of hope, because the tests
of our time demand the same
fighting spirit that defined
Berlin a half-century ago.
Chancellor Merkel mentioned
that we mark the anniversary
of President John F. Kennedy's 
stirring defense of freedom,
embodied in the people
of this great city.
His pledge of solidarity --
"Ich bin ein Berliner" --
(applause)
-- echoes through the ages.
But that's not all
that he said that day.
Less remembered is the challenge
that he issued to the crowd
before him: "Let me ask you,"
he said to those Berliners,
"let me ask you
to lift your eyes
beyond the dangers of today"
and "beyond the freedom
of merely this city."
Look, he said, "to the day
of peace with justice,
beyond yourselves and
ourselves to all mankind."
President Kennedy was taken
from us less than six months
after he spoke those words.
And like so many who died in
those decades of division,
he did not live to see
Berlin united and free.
Instead, he lives forever as
a young man in our memory.
But his words are timeless
because they call upon us
to care more about things
than just our own self-comfort,
about our own city,
about our own country.
They demand that we embrace the
common endeavor of all humanity.
And if we lift our eyes,
as President Kennedy called us
to do, then we'll recognize
that our work is not yet done.
For we are not only citizens
of America or Germany --
we are also citizens
of the world.
And our fates and fortunes
are linked like never before.
We may no longer live in fear
of global annihilation,
but so long as nuclear weapons
exist, we are not truly safe.
(applause)
We may strike blows
against terrorist networks,
but if we ignore the
instability and intolerance
that fuels extremism,
our own freedom will
eventually be endangered.
We may enjoy a
standard of living
that is the envy of the world,
but so long as hundreds
of millions endure the agony
of an empty stomach or the
anguish of unemployment,
we're not truly prosperous.
(applause)
I say all this here,
in the heart of Europe,
because our shared past shows
that none of these challenges
can be met unless we see
ourselves as part of something
bigger than our own experience.
Our alliance is the
foundation of global security.
Our trade and our commerce
is the engine of
our global economy.
Our values call upon us
to care about the lives
of people we will never meet.
When Europe and America
lead with our hopes
instead of our fears,
we do things that no
other nations can do,
no other nations will do.
So we have to lift up our eyes
today and consider the day
of peace with justice that our
generation wants for this world.
I'd suggest that peace with
justice begins with the example
we set here at home, for we
know from our own histories
that intolerance
breeds injustice.
Whether it's based
on race, or religion,
gender or sexual orientation,
we are stronger
when all our people --
no matter who they are
or what they look like --
are granted opportunity,
and when our wives
and our daughters
have the same opportunities
as our husbands and our sons.
(applause)
When we respect the faiths
practiced in our churches
and synagogues, our mosques and
our temples, we're more secure.
When we welcome the immigrant
with his talents or her dreams,
we are renewed.
(applause)
When we stand up for
our gay and lesbian brothers
and sisters and treat their
love and their rights equally
under the law, we defend
our own liberty as well.
We are more free when all people
can pursue their own happiness.
(applause)
And as long as walls exist
in our hearts to separate us
from those who don't look
like us, or think like us,
or worship as we do,
then we're going to have
to work harder, together,
to bring those walls
of division down.
Peace with justice means free
enterprise that unleashes
the talents and creativity
that reside in each of us;
in other models, direct economic 
growth from the top down
or relies solely
on the resources
extracted from the earth.
But we believe
that real prosperity
comes from our most 
precious resource -- our people.
And that's why we choose
to invest in education,
and science and research.
(applause)
And now, as we
emerge from recession,
we must not avert our eyes
from the insult
of widening inequality,
or the pain of youth
who are unemployed.
We have to build new ladders of
opportunity in our own societies
that -- even as we pursue
new trade and investment
that fuels growth
across the Atlantic.
America will stand with Europe
as you strengthen your union.
And we want to work with you
to make sure that every person
can enjoy the dignity
that comes from work --
whether they live in Chicago 
or Cleveland or Belfast or Berlin,
in Athens or Madrid,
everybody deserves opportunity.
We have to have economies that
are working for all people,
not just those at the very top.
(applause)
Peace with justice means
extending a hand to those
who reach for freedom,
wherever they live.
Different peoples and cultures
will follow their own path,
but we must reject the lie that
those who live in distant places
don't yearn for freedom
and self-determination
just like we do;
that they don't somehow yearn
for dignity and rule of law
just like we do.
We cannot dictate
the pace of change
in places like the Arab world,
but we must reject the excuse
that we can do nothing
to support it.
(applause)
We cannot shrink from our role
of advancing the values
we believe in -- whether it's
supporting Afghans as they take
responsibility for their
future, or working for an
Israeli-Palestinian peace --
(applause)
-- or engaging as
we've done in Burma
to help create space
for brave people
to emerge from decades
of dictatorship.
In this century, these
are the citizens
who long to join the free world.
They are who you were.
They deserve our support, for
they too, in their own way,
are citizens of Berlin.
And we have to help
them every day.
(applause)
Peace with justice means
pursuing the security of a world
without nuclear weapons --
no matter how distant
that dream may be.
And so, as President, I've
strengthened our efforts
to stop the spread
of nuclear weapons,
and reduced the number and role 
of America's nuclear weapons.
Because of the New START Treaty,
we're on track to cut American
and Russian deployed nuclear
warheads to their lowest levels
since the 1950s.
(applause)
But we have more work to do.
So today, I'm announcing
additional steps forward.
After a comprehensive review,
I've determined that we can
ensure the security of America
and our allies, and maintain
a strong and credible strategic
deterrent, while reducing our
deployed strategic nuclear
weapons by up to one-third.
And I intend to seek negotiated
cuts with Russia to move beyond
Cold War nuclear postures.
(applause)
At the same time, we'll work
with our NATO allies to seek
bold reductions in U.S. 
and Russian tactical weapons
in Europe.
And we can forge a new
international framework
for peaceful nuclear power, and
reject the nuclear weaponization
that North Korea and
Iran may be seeking.
America will host a summit in
2016 to continue our efforts to
secure nuclear materials around
the world, and we will work
to build support in the
United States to ratify the
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty, and call on all nations
to begin negotiations on a
treaty that ends the production
of fissile materials
for nuclear weapons.
These are steps we can take
to create a world
of peace with justice.
(applause)
Peace with justice means
refusing to condemn our children
to a harsher, less
hospitable planet.
The effort to slow climate
change requires bold action.
And on this, Germany
and Europe have led.
In the United States, we have
recently doubled our renewable
energy from clean sources
like wind and solar power.
We're doubling fuel
efficiency on our cars.
Our dangerous carbon
emissions have come down.
But we know we have to do
more -- and we will do more.
(applause)
With a global middle class
consuming more energy every day,
this must now be an effort of
all nations, not just some.
For the grim alternative affects
all nations -- more severe
storms, more famine and
floods, new waves of refugees,
coastlines that vanish,
oceans that rise.
This is the future
we must avert.
This is the global
threat of our time.
And for the sake of future
generations, our generation must
move toward a global compact
to confront a changing climate
before it is too late.
That is our job.
That is our task.
We have to get to work.
(applause)
Peace with justice means
meeting our moral obligations.
And we have a moral obligation
and a profound interest
in helping lift the impoverished
corners of the world.
By promoting growth so we spare
a child born today a lifetime
of extreme poverty.
By investing in agriculture,
so we aren't just sending food,
but also teaching
farmers to grow food.
By strengthening public health,
so we're not just sending
medicine, but training doctors
and nurses who will help end
the outrage of children dying
from preventable diseases.
Making sure that we do
everything we can to realize
the promise --
an achievable promise --
of the first
AIDS-free generation.
That is something that is
possible if we feel
a sufficient sense of urgency.
(applause)
Our efforts have to be about
more than just charity.
They're about new models of
empowering people -- to build
institutions; to abandon the rot
of corruption; to create ties of
trade, not just aid, both with
the West and among the nations
that are seeking to rise and
increase their capacity.
Because when they succeed, we
will be more successful as well.
Our fates are linked, and we
cannot ignore those
who are yearning not only for
freedom but also prosperity.
And finally, let's remember that
peace with justice depends
on our ability to sustain both
the security of our societies
and the openness
that defines them.
Threats to freedom don't
merely come from the outside.
They can emerge from within --
from our own fears,
from the disengagement
of our citizens.
For over a decade,
America has been at war.
Yet much has now changed
over the five years
since I last
spoke here in Berlin.
The Iraq war is now over.
The Afghan war is
coming to an end.
Osama bin Laden is no more.
Our efforts against
al Qaeda are evolving.
And given these changes, last
month, I spoke about America's
efforts against terrorism.
And I drew inspiration from
one of our founding fathers,
James Madison, who wrote,
"No nation could preserve
its freedom in the midst
of continual warfare."
James Madison is right --
which is why, even as we remain
vigilant about the
threat of terrorism,
we must move beyond a
mindset of perpetual war.
And in America, that
means redoubling our efforts
to close the
prison at Guantanamo.
(applause)
It means tightly controlling
our use of new technologies
like drones.
It means balancing
the pursuit of security
with the protection of privacy.
(applause)
And I'm confident that
that balance can be struck.
I'm confident of that, and I'm
confident that working with
Germany, we can keep each other
safe while at the same time
maintaining those essential
values for which we fought for.
Our current programs
are bound by the rule of law,
and they're focused on
threats to our security --
not the communications
of ordinary persons.
They help confront real dangers,
and they keep people safe here
in the United States
and here in Europe.
But we must accept the challenge
that all of us in democratic
governments face: to listen to
the voices who disagree with us;
to have an open debate about
how we use our powers and how
we must constrain them; and to
always remember that government
exists to serve the
power of the individual,
and not the other way around.
That's what makes us who we
are, and that's what makes us
different from those on
the other side of the wall.
(applause)
That is how we'll stay true
to our better history while
reaching for the day of peace
and justice that is to come.
These are the beliefs that guide
us, the values that inspire us,
the principles that bind us
together as free peoples
who still believe the words of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. --
that "injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere."
(applause)
And we should ask, should
anyone ask if our generation
has the courage
to meet these tests?
If anybody asks if President
Kennedy's words ring true today,
let them come to Berlin, for
here they will find the people
who emerged from
the ruins of war
to reap the blessings of peace;
from the pain of division
to the joy of reunification.
And here, they will recall how
people trapped behind a wall
braved bullets,
and jumped barbed wire,
and dashed across minefields,
and dug through tunnels,
and leapt from buildings,
and swam across the Spree
to claim their most
basic right of freedom.
(applause)
The wall belongs to history.
But we have history
to make as well.
And the heroes that came before
us now call to us to live up
to those highest ideals --
to care for the young
people who can't find a job
in our own countries,
and the girls who aren't allowed
to go to school overseas; to be
vigilant in safeguarding our own
freedoms, but also to extend a
hand to those who are reaching
for freedom abroad.
This is the lesson of the ages.
This is the spirit of Berlin.
And the greatest
tribute that we can pay
to those who came before us
is by carrying on their work
to pursue peace and justice
not only in our countries
but for all mankind.
Vielen Dank.
(applause)
God bless you.
God bless the
peoples of Germany.
And God bless the United
States of America.
Thank you very much.
(applause)
