| Title |
Statement by Christian A. Herter on the status of Berlin (Geneva, 5 June 1959)
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| Document type |
Text
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| Source |
United States-Department of State. Documents on Germany 1944-1985. Washington: Department of State, [s.d.], pp. 651-659.
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| Keywords |
cold war, international negotiations, status of Berlin
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| Copyright |
United States of America Department of State
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| Caption |
On 5 June 1959, at the Four-Power Conference in Geneva, the US Secretary of State, Christian A. Herter, criticises Moscow's position on the settling of the question regarding the status of the City of Berlin and reaffirms the United States' support for the citizens of West Berlin.
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| Location in the digital library |
HISTORICAL EVENTS >> 1957–1968 Successes and crises >> Cold War crises >> The Berlin crisis
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| Document extract |
Statement by Secretary of State Herter regarding Berlin (Geneva, 5 June 1959)
My purpose today is to indicate to the conference my Government’s view on the Berlin issue, after having taken into account the discussions we have had during the past weeks. I shall try to explain the objections we have to the Soviet Union’s plan to impose a new status on West Berlin prior to reunification of Germany. I shall try to explain the reasons why we think that the Berlin proposal contained in the Western peace plan is a reasonable solution for the interim period prior to the reunification of Germany. Before making these points, however, I would like to suggest that, in dealing with the great political issues that concern us here, there may be a tendency to overlook the fact that the lives and liberties of more than 2 million persons are at stake in our deliberations. To keep a good sense of proportion on this score let us not forget that the population of West Berlin is greater than the population of almost 20 percent of the member nations of the United Nations. And it is estimated that the value of the goods and services produced in West Berlin last year exceed the gross national product of more than half of the members of the United Nations.
Defects in Soviet Plan for West Berlin
T (...) Read more in ENA |
| See also |
'The red bluff' from the Daily Mail (2 April 1948)
The Federal Republic of Germany’s Ostpolitik
Cartoon by Cummings on the Berlin crisis (15 June 1959)
Cartoon by Efimov on the Berlin Crisis (30 December 1958)
Cartoon on the Soviet Union’s political designs on Berlin (1 April 1950)
Cold War crises
The Berlin crisis
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