Podcasts about west berliners

United States President John F Kennedy gave a speech in Berlin at the height of the Cold War on 26 June 1963. It galvanised the world in support of West Berliners who had been isolated by the construction of the Berlin Wall. In 2023, Tom Wills spoke to Gisela Morel-Tiemann, who attended the speech as a student. A Whistledown production. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic' and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy's Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they've had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America's occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.(Photo: John F Kennedy making his speech in Berlin. Credit: Lehnartz/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

In this inspiring episode of "Breaking Barriers," join us as we delve into the remarkable journey of Bibi LeBlanc, a Berliner who witnessed the historic fall of the Berlin Wall. As she shares her deeply personal experience of hope, resilience, and freedom, we uncover the profound impact of this momentous event on her life and aspirations. But Bibi's story doesn't stop there. From her courageous leap into the boundless skies with over 500 skydiving jumps to her current role as the CEO of Culture to Color, Bibi's entrepreneurial spirit and passion for breaking barriers shine through. Tune in as we explore how Bibi's experiences have shaped her entrepreneurial journey, and discover the unique insights she brings to the world of adult coloring books and storytelling. Prepare to be inspired as we celebrate the power of perseverance, courage, and the pursuit of freedom in this captivating episode. Find the podcast ⁠⁠HERE⁠⁠ A ⁠⁠Pod Media Lab⁠⁠ production

We ended the last episode with the Commencement Address that President Kennedy gave at American University, which marked a major thaw in the cold war, leading to a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. That was on June 10, 1963. Now let's move on to June 11th. Governor George Wallace, in defiance of federal desegregation orders, attempted to block the enrollment of two African American students at the University of Alabama. Symbolizing his resistance to federal integration efforts, he stood in the doorway and proclaimed, “Segregation Now. Segregation Forever.” It's hard to know if he thought his action was going to intimidate the President, but it did no such thing. JFK quickly federalized the Alabama National Guard, who immediately removed Wallace from the premises.   That night, the President delivered a televised address to the country announcing that he had ordered the National Guard to ensure the enrollment of the two African American students. Then, emphasizing the importance of upholding the rule of law and the Constitution, he clearly reaffirmed his administration's full support of the Civil Rights movement. It turns out that the month of June was to become a truly historic month for him because as it continued, on June 26th, he made his legendary trip to West Berlin. In his world-famous speech to 120,000 wildly admiring West Berliners, he said, “There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that Communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin.” Then, with the wit of biting sarcasm he continued, “Freedom has many difficulties and Democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.” At that point, he concluded the speech with words that went down in history, “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner.” Of course, it meant, “I am a Berliner.” At the end of the trip, he left Berlin for a four-day visit to his ancestral homeland in Ireland, a journey that can only be called a love fest. Not only was he the first US president to ever visit the emerald isle, his trip was celebrated as the return of a truly beloved native son, and wherever he went, he was mobbed by adoring Irish crowds.  He then moved on to two days spent in London consulting with Prime Minister MacMillan before returning to Washington. Following his return from the exhilarating trip abroad, it was time to begin preparing for the coming presidential election. Although it had been a promising first term, he still had a tricky path to navigate in 1964, as his political enemies were powerful and the road ahead of him had some serious obstacles. During these early, pre-elections days of October and November, there were rumored to have been two other events that may have happened which would have critically changed world history if they had come true. The first one is that Kennedy, concluding that the government of South Vietnam had become too unstable to justify further US support, had supposedly set in motion plans to terminate all US involvement in Vietnam by the end of December, 1965, He had made up his mind and we were pulling out. The second possible event is the report that Kennedy had decided to drop Lyndon Johnson from the ticket for the election of 1964 and had told him so. Now, there is no substantial proof to verify either of these claims and there never will be. Still, if you let your imagination run wild a little, you can see how the history of the coming era would have been radically different. Whatever his plans might have been, they would have had to remain top secret given the turbulent politics of the upcoming presidential election. In that regard, he began to embark on some politically-motivated trips. On November 2nd he left for Chicago, followed by a trip to Tampa, Florida on the 18th. Then, on November 21, he and the first lady departed for Texas. They went to San Antonio, then Houston, and then to Fort Worth, where they stayed overnight. The next morning, they took the short flight to Dallas and arrived at 11:38 AM. They got into the presidential limousine and left Love Field at 11:55, arriving in downtown Dallas following the short ride. The streets were lined with throngs of awestruck people, enthusiastically cheering them on, as the most recognized and charismatic couple in the entire world slowly passed by. As they basked in the warmth of the adoring crowd, the motorcade continued on, into the brilliant sunlight of what was shaping up to be an absolutely perfect day. Then, at 12:30 pm, the unthinkable happened.   ***   It's neither necessary nor possible to begin to describe the effect that it had on America, and in particular, the youth of America, as the plague of that horrible news spread like wildfire throughout the population. And it went on for the full thirty days of mourning that followed. For me, when the assassination happened, I had just begun ninth grade, my last year in junior high school and I was in the sadly unfortunate position of being just old enough and just young enough. I was old enough to understand the true gravity of the tragedy, but still young enough to have my childhood sensibilities shaken to the core. And let's not even talk about that four-day stretch of dark days. There was the assassination itself, followed by a day of absolute shock, then the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald on national TV, followed by the incredibly sad and deeply somber funeral, as the forty-six year-old, fallen hero of the republic was laid to rest. It was all so sad, but also, it was all so weird.        For the first time ever, the whole country stopped to watch television as the entire nation stood still for the six-hour funeral. Something like this had happened before, on April 14, 1945 when President Franklin Roosevelt was buried, but that was only on radio. This was completely different. It was much more graphic, as one incredibly grief-stricken image after the next was broadcast to the entire western world. And when it comes to tragic images, the spontaneous salute that John-John gave to his father's flag-draped coffin as it passed him by was seared into our collective memory. Nobody saw that heart-wrenching moment coming. It was almost as if we were being taught as a culture, a dramatic seminar on the ever-present possibility of sudden death…how everything can come to a screeching halt, no matter who you are. And subconsciously the message was clear - if instant death can happen to someone like that, who was at the absolute pinnacle of power, it can happen to any one of us. We can be gone in a flash. And then nothing is the same. In total, all three major networks suspended normal programming for four days and played seventy consecutive hours of the live coverage of the proceedings. From a mass media perspective, the only other time anything like this has ever happened was the coverage of the 911 attacks in 2001.    Again, the purpose of this series of podcasts is to focus on the mass evolution of consciousness that happened during this formative era, as well as to examine my own story as I went through it all. At this point, to put it simply, we all had the wind completely taken out of our sails. Our daily lives continued, but again, it was all so sad and it was all so weird, like we were painfully groping our way through the shadows of a slowly unfolding nightmare that never seemed to end.  And then, suddenly, something completely different happened.   ***   Exactly eighty days after the assassination, on the night of February 9, 1964, variety TV show host Ed Sullivan walked onto the stage of his Sunday night program and with five words, spoke a phrase that absolutely changed everything - “Ladies and Gentleman – The Beatles.” Seventy-Seven million people were watching and for the youth of the country, it was like a magic spell had been cast, designed to dissipate the suffering and the pain that had enveloped us. In an instant, one phase of our life ended and another began. The mourning period was over and suddenly, it was time to sing and dance again. And boy, did we! Once more, it is neither necessary nor possible to begin to describe what happened. Suffice it to say that everything changed for us almost overnight, as this thing called Beatlemania set it. We had four new heroes, these guys named John, Paul, George and Ringo and they were so cool, yet so incredibly upbeat at the same time. Their music was truly amazing but there was also something else about them, something intangible. They seemed to be happily above the toils of life, like they had just arrived from another planet that ran on nothing but pure fun. And on top of it all, their haircuts were like nothing we'd ever seen before. It seemed a little strange at first, but within a few months, all the guys were copying them. I know I went from the standard buzz-cut to the new mop top as soon as my hair would grow out. If it sounds like we were completely awestruck, we were, but don't forget what we'd just been through, not to mention our age – I was just a month shy of turning fifteen. Amazingly, it ended up that the Beatles were just the first wave of what became known as the British Invasion as the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, the Who, the Hollies, the Zombies, the Kinks, Herman's Hermits and God knows how many others came cascading into the country. It seemed like every day, wave after wave of new songs washed up onto the shores of our AM radios, which we had blasting all the time. And that's not to mention all of the new remarkable American music that helped launched us into hyper-space, as well. Of course, we were still going to school and studying, as normal life continued, But, a massive new party had obviously begun, with the Beatles leading the way.   Things went on like that for about six months. Then the Beatles hit an unexpected, little turn in the road, when on the night of August 28, 1964, they finally got to spend an evening with one of their primary musical heroes, the enigmatic Bob Dylan. Now this was another one of those events that was only a very quick couple of hours, and it was largely unnoticed at the time. On one level, it was just your standard meeting of two major musical superstar acts. At the time, the Beatles were enjoying a level of fame that had never been seen before. And along with also being extremely famous, Dylan was the most influential musician of his time. It started out with a lot of goofing around, a lot of partying, you know the standard kind of things that can happen in a glitzy high-end hotel room in New York City when the absolute pinnacle of rock and roll gets together to relax and have a good time. But it ended up being quite a bit more than that. Even though it was extremely subtle, again, those subterranean Teutonic plates were set in motion and a major earthquake was looming, just over the horizon. Well, this is a perfect place for us to stop, so as always, keep your eyes, mind and heart open, and let's get together in the next one.  

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History stories. In 1995, the collapse of the Sampoong Department Store in the South Korean capital, Seoul, killed and injured hundreds of people. Explaining the impact it had on urban planning is Dr Youngmi Kim, senior lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Also, the speech President John F Kennedy made at the height of the Cold War on 26 June 1963. It galvanised the world in support of West Berliners who had been isolated by the construction of the Berlin Wall. From the archive, Dr Jean Jacques Mueyembe and Dr David Heymann worked to bring the first documented outbreak of Ebola under control in 1976. Plus, Budapest's communist statue 'graveyard' which opened in 1993. Finally, when Lady Gaga accepted an MTV Video Music Award in a dress made entirely out of beef. Contributors: Sun Minh Lee on the Sampoong Department Store disaster Dr Youngmi Kim, senior lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Edinburgh Gisela Morel-Tiemann on the Ich Bin Ein Berliner speech Dr Jean Jacques Mueyembe and Dr David Heymann on Ebola Judit Holp on Memento Park Franc Fernandez on Lady Gaga's meat dress (Photo: US military troops and South Korean army soldiers look for survivors in the rubble of the collapsed Sampoong Department Store. Credit: Getty Images)

West Berliners cheer President Kennedy; N.J. Governor Hughes scores a major coup; the Mississippi D.A. seeks the death penalty for Byron De La Beckwith; the Viet Cong set booby traps; Malcolm X speaks out; Sonny Liston bites back at Cassius Clay. Newscaster: Joe Rubenstein.  Please subscribe to this podcast, and thanks for your support! 

United States President John F Kennedy gave a speech in Berlin at the height of the Cold War on 26 June 1963. It galvanised the world in support of West Berliners who had been isolated by the construction of the Berlin Wall. Tom Wills speaks to Gisela Morel-Tiemann, who attended the speech as a student. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service. (Photo: John F Kennedy making his speech in Berlin. Credit: Lehnartz/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Historian, author and Heritage Foundation Distinguished Fellow Lee Edwards joins Tim to talk about the Berlin Wall, the world that created it, the Cold War that fostered it, and the free world that brought it down. This episode was originally released April 1, 2019. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Encore_-_Belin_Wall.mp3 The Berlin Wall was as much a symbol for communist oppression as it was a barrier created to contain citizens of communist East Germany. At the end of World War II, the allies held two peace conferences in Yalta and Potsdam to determine the postwar map of the world. The key figures at those conferences were Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union and Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States. Tensions were already rising between the West and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the USSR. In this context, the allies decided to split Germany into four “allied zones” to weaken the threat of that country re-emerging as a threat to world peace. The Eastern part of the country would be controlled by the Soviet Union, and the western part would fall under the control of the United States, Britain and later France would join. While Berlin is located in the eastern part of Germany, at Yalta and Potsdam, it was determined that as the capitol city, it had such significance that it, too, should be divided. Going forward, West Berlin became a thriving westernized city and enjoyed postwar prosperity, even though it was located deep inside communist East Germany.  East Berlin, on the other hand, remained in dire straits under the tight grip of communism. The Soviets decided to drive the West out of West Berlin. In 1948 they initiated a Soviet blockade of West Berlin to starve the Western Allies out of the city. The U.S. and its allies decided to conduct airlifts of humanitarian aid to West Berliners. Eventually the blockade ended, but tensions continued as the Soviets and the U.S. as super powers engaged in a nuclear arms race for global domination. The threat of World War III was ever-present. By 1958, the Soviets lost large numbers of skilled workers to the West as more and more of East Germans sought freedom in the West. By June 1961, roughly 19,000 people left East Germany through Berlin. On August 12, 1961, roughly 2,400 refugees defected to Berlin in a single day. This was the largest number of people to leave East Germany in one day. That night, Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev approved East Germany's plans to stop to flow of refugees by closing its border. In one night, part of the Berlin Wall was built.  This did not defuse tensions but had the opposite effect. While it slowed the flood of refugees going from communism to freedom, it only exacerbated Cold War tensions. This did not stop captive East Germans from trying to escape communist oppression. 171 people died trying to defect, while another 5,000 East Germans found a way to successfully reach freedom in the West. Ronald Reagan's Speech On Friday, June 12th 1987, President Ronald Reagan gave a historic speech of his own at the Berlin Wall. In it, he stepped up his pressure on the Soviet Union, reinforcing his strong positions against the oppression of communism, and then he delivered the now famous line when he called for Soviet leader Mikhail Gobachev to “Tear down this wall.” The Fall November 9, 1989 0 East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in its travel ban with the West. They said East German citizens were now free to cross the city's borders. Both East and West Berliners descended on the wall and celebrated. Guards opened the checkpoints and 2 million people from both East and West joined together to celebrate. Then they physically started to tear it down. Links The Heritage Foundation A Brief History of the Cold War, by Lee Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards Spalding (Amazon)

Today I talked to Ulrich Gutmair about his book The First Days of Berlin: The Sound of Change (John Wiley and Sons, 2021). Berlin in the early 1990s, right after the fall of the Berlin Wall: this is the place to be. Berlin-Mitte, the central district of the city, with its wastelands and decaying houses, has become the centre of a new movement. Artists, musicians, squatters, club owners, DJs and ravers are reclaiming the old city centre and bringing it back to life. This interregnum between two systems – the collapse of the old East Germany, the gentrification of the new Berlin – lasts only a few years. West Berliners, East Berliners and new residents from abroad join together to create music, art and fashion, to open bars and clubs and galleries, even if only for a few weeks. In the months following the fall of the Wall, there is a feeling of new beginnings and immense possibilities: life is now, and to be in the here and now feels endless. The phrase ‘temporary autonomous zone' is circulating, it describes the idea – romantic and naive but, in the circumstances, not absurd – that, at a certain moment in history, you can actually do whatever you want. Ulrich Gutmair moved to West Berlin as a student in autumn 1989: two weeks later the Wall came down. He spent the next few years studying during the day in the West and exploring the squats, bars and techno clubs in the East at night. He fell in love with House and Techno and raved at Tresor, Elektro, Bunker and many other places that in the meantime have almost disappeared from collective memory. Ten years later he decided to write a book about that period in between, when one regime was brought down and a new one wasn't yet established. When utopia was actually a place to inhabit for a moment. Craig Sorvillo is a PhD Candidate at the University of Florida. He can been contacted on twitter @craig_sorvillo or via email at craig.sorvillo@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Today I talked to Ulrich Gutmair about his book The First Days of Berlin: The Sound of Change (John Wiley and Sons, 2021). Berlin in the early 1990s, right after the fall of the Berlin Wall: this is the place to be. Berlin-Mitte, the central district of the city, with its wastelands and decaying houses, has become the centre of a new movement. Artists, musicians, squatters, club owners, DJs and ravers are reclaiming the old city centre and bringing it back to life. This interregnum between two systems – the collapse of the old East Germany, the gentrification of the new Berlin – lasts only a few years. West Berliners, East Berliners and new residents from abroad join together to create music, art and fashion, to open bars and clubs and galleries, even if only for a few weeks. In the months following the fall of the Wall, there is a feeling of new beginnings and immense possibilities: life is now, and to be in the here and now feels endless. The phrase ‘temporary autonomous zone' is circulating, it describes the idea – romantic and naive but, in the circumstances, not absurd – that, at a certain moment in history, you can actually do whatever you want. Ulrich Gutmair moved to West Berlin as a student in autumn 1989: two weeks later the Wall came down. He spent the next few years studying during the day in the West and exploring the squats, bars and techno clubs in the East at night. He fell in love with House and Techno and raved at Tresor, Elektro, Bunker and many other places that in the meantime have almost disappeared from collective memory. Ten years later he decided to write a book about that period in between, when one regime was brought down and a new one wasn't yet established. When utopia was actually a place to inhabit for a moment. Craig Sorvillo is a PhD Candidate at the University of Florida. He can been contacted on twitter @craig_sorvillo or via email at craig.sorvillo@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Today I talked to Ulrich Gutmair about his book The First Days of Berlin: The Sound of Change (Polity Press, 2021). Berlin in the early 1990s, right after the fall of the Berlin Wall: this is the place to be. Berlin-Mitte, the central district of the city, with its wastelands and decaying houses, has become the centre of a new movement. Artists, musicians, squatters, club owners, DJs and ravers are reclaiming the old city centre and bringing it back to life. This interregnum between two systems – the collapse of the old East Germany, the gentrification of the new Berlin – lasts only a few years. West Berliners, East Berliners and new residents from abroad join together to create music, art and fashion, to open bars and clubs and galleries, even if only for a few weeks. In the months following the fall of the Wall, there is a feeling of new beginnings and immense possibilities: life is now, and to be in the here and now feels endless. The phrase ‘temporary autonomous zone' is circulating, it describes the idea – romantic and naive but, in the circumstances, not absurd – that, at a certain moment in history, you can actually do whatever you want. Ulrich Gutmair moved to West Berlin as a student in autumn 1989: two weeks later the Wall came down. He spent the next few years studying during the day in the West and exploring the squats, bars and techno clubs in the East at night. He fell in love with House and Techno and raved at Tresor, Elektro, Bunker and many other places that in the meantime have almost disappeared from collective memory. Ten years later he decided to write a book about that period in between, when one regime was brought down and a new one wasn't yet established. When utopia was actually a place to inhabit for a moment. Craig Sorvillo is a PhD Candidate at the University of Florida. He can been contacted on twitter @craig_sorvillo or via email at craig.sorvillo@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/german-studies

Today I talked to Ulrich Gutmair about his book The First Days of Berlin: The Sound of Change (John Wiley and Sons, 2021). Berlin in the early 1990s, right after the fall of the Berlin Wall: this is the place to be. Berlin-Mitte, the central district of the city, with its wastelands and decaying houses, has become the centre of a new movement. Artists, musicians, squatters, club owners, DJs and ravers are reclaiming the old city centre and bringing it back to life. This interregnum between two systems – the collapse of the old East Germany, the gentrification of the new Berlin – lasts only a few years. West Berliners, East Berliners and new residents from abroad join together to create music, art and fashion, to open bars and clubs and galleries, even if only for a few weeks. In the months following the fall of the Wall, there is a feeling of new beginnings and immense possibilities: life is now, and to be in the here and now feels endless. The phrase ‘temporary autonomous zone' is circulating, it describes the idea – romantic and naive but, in the circumstances, not absurd – that, at a certain moment in history, you can actually do whatever you want. Ulrich Gutmair moved to West Berlin as a student in autumn 1989: two weeks later the Wall came down. He spent the next few years studying during the day in the West and exploring the squats, bars and techno clubs in the East at night. He fell in love with House and Techno and raved at Tresor, Elektro, Bunker and many other places that in the meantime have almost disappeared from collective memory. Ten years later he decided to write a book about that period in between, when one regime was brought down and a new one wasn't yet established. When utopia was actually a place to inhabit for a moment. Craig Sorvillo is a PhD Candidate at the University of Florida. He can been contacted on twitter @craig_sorvillo or via email at craig.sorvillo@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

Jared talks about spores (and other flora and fungi of our underground networks). Cara geeks out on the complicated transportation options in Cold War Berlin. And we both talk about the food at Ikea WAY more than one would expect for a podcast about trains. Cara's sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Berlin_S-Bahn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Berlin_U-Bahn https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2012-05-21/friedrichstrasse-railway-station-berlin-maphead-ken-jennings https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-18044695 https://www.quora.com/How-did-West-Berliners-travel-to-West-Germany Jared's sources: https://interestingengineering.com/11-of-the-most-beautiful-metro-stations-across-the-world http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Society/view?articleId=180632 https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2017/06/05/theres-a-garden-inside-a-tube-station-ticket-office/ https://ny.curbed.com/2020/2/19/21143608/lowline-underground-park-lower-east-side-is-dead http://thelowline.org/about/project/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowline_(park) https://wamu.org/story/15/10/09/in_damp_metro_tunnels_prehistoric_plants_thrive/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/please-dont-kill-the-sunflowers-the-phantom-planter-says-metro-destroyed-more-than-100-sunflowers-at-the-dupont-circle-station/2019/06/19/1cf3e5de-929e-11e9-aadb-74e6b2b46f6a_story.html

It was post-World War II. The Russians had seized control of East Berlin, Germany… and were systematically trying to starve West Berliners by cutting them off from food and supplies. But the United States was not about allow the brutality of Russia to take any more West German lives, and began to fly food and supplies into West Berlin’s Tempelhoff airport. It was a daunting task, requiring round-the-clock flights. Gail Halvorsen of Garland, Utah flew many of those flights, noticing the German children waving their gratitude to the supply planes from the end of the runway. When he greeted them through the fence one day, he was impressed with how, despite their desperate circumstances, none of them had their hands out to beg, but rather, stood and smiled, thanking him profusely for bringing them what they needed to stay alive, and offering handshakes through the fence. He offered the only treats he had. Two sticks of chewing gum. They carefully received them, delicately removed the paper wrapping, and broke the sticks into as many pieces as they could to share with each child. When the gum ran out, they circulated the paper wrapper, and let each child smell the aroma of the gum. That’s when Gail Halverson knew he had to do something. And what he did has reverberated through seven decades now, touching and inspiring the lives of countless people, past and present. Bob Evans of FOX 13 News in Salt Lake City sat down in August of 2019 with the now-98 year old Gail Halvorsen for a 3 Questions interview.

On June 24, 1948, the Soviet military administration officially cut off roads and rails into West Berlin in the Berlin Blockade, isolating it from the rest of West Germany. In this episode of The Big Pond, KCRW Berlin reflects on the Berlin Airlift, a massive multinational effort to bring vital supplies to West Berliners via plane during the blockade. To tell this story, producers Monika, Nikki, and Sylvia interview some of those who experienced it firsthand.

Historian, author and Heritage Foundation Distinguished Fellow Lee Edwards joins Tim to talk about the Berlin Wall, the world that created it, the Cold War that fostered it, and the free world that brought it down. https://traffic.libsyn.com/shapingopinion/Berlin_Wall_auphonic.mp3   The Berlin Wall was as much a symbol for communist oppression as it was a barrier created to contain citizens of communist East Germany. At the end of World War II, the allies held two peace conferences in Yalta and Potsdam to determine the postwar map of the world. The key figures at those conferences were Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union and Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States. Tensions were already rising between the West and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the USSR. In this context, the allies decided to split Germany into four “allied zones” to weaken the threat of that country re-emerging as a threat to world peace. The Eastern part of the country would be controlled by the Soviet Union, and the western part would fall under the control of the United States, Britain and later France would join. While Berlin is located in the eastern part of Germany, at Yalta and Potsdam, it was determined that as the capitol city, it had such significance that it, too, should be divided. Going forward, West Berlin became a thriving westernized city and enjoyed postwar prosperity, even though it was located deep inside communist East Germany.  East Berlin, on the other hand, remained in dire straits under the tight grip of communism. The Soviets decided to drive the West out of West Berlin. In 1948 they initiated a Soviet blockade of West Berlin to starve the Western Allies out of the city. The U.S. and its allies decided to conduct airlifts of humanitarian aid to West Berliners. Eventually the blockade ended, but tensions continued as the Soviets and the U.S. as super powers engaged in a nuclear arms race for global domination. The threat of World War III was ever-present. By 1958, the Soviets lost large numbers of skilled workers to the West as more and more of East Germans sought freedom in the West. By June 1961, roughly 19,000 people left East Germany through Berlin. On August 12, 1961, roughly 2,400 refugees defected to Berlin in a single day. This was the largest number of people to leave East Germany in one day. That night, Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev approved East Germany’s plans to stop to flow of refugees by closing its border. In one night, part of the Berlin Wall was built.  This did not defuse tensions but had the opposite effect. While it slowed the flood of refugees going from communism to freedom, it only exacerbated Cold War tensions. This did not stop captive East Germans from trying to escape communist oppression. 171 people died trying to defect, while another 5,000 East Germans found a way to successfully reach freedom in the West. Ronald Reagan’s Speech On Friday, June 12th 1987, President Ronald Reagan gave a historic speech of his own at the Berlin Wall. In it, he stepped up his pressure on the Soviet Union, reinforcing his strong positions against the oppression of communism, and then he delivered the now famous line when he called for Soviet leader Mikhail Gobachev to “Tear down this wall.” The Fall November 9, 1989 0 East Berlin’s Communist Party announced a change in its travel ban with the West. They said East German citizens were now free to cross the city’s borders. Both East and West Berliners descended on the wall and celebrated. Guards opened the checkpoints and 2 million people from both East and West joined together to celebrate. Then they physically started to tear it down. Links The Heritage Foundation A Brief History of the Cold War, by Lee Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards Spalding (Amazon) The Lives of Others (Motion Picture), Amazon Photos: The Berlin Wall Through Time,

This episode of Whistlestop travels back to November 9, 1989, when East and West Berliners took sledgehammers to the Berlin Wall and President H.W. George Bush refrained from making grandiose statements about American-style Democracy. Whistlestop is Slate's podcast about presidential history. Hosted by Political Gabfest host John Dickerson, each installment will revisit memorable moments from America's presidential carnival. Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus. Email: whistlestop@slate.com.  Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research by Brian Rosenwald and Elizabeth Hinson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of Whistlestop travels back to November 9, 1989, when East and West Berliners took sledgehammers to the Berlin Wall and President H.W. George Bush refrained from making grandiose statements about American-style Democracy. Whistlestop is Slate's podcast about presidential history. Hosted by Political Gabfest host John Dickerson, each installment will revisit memorable moments from America's presidential carnival. Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus. Email: whistlestop@slate.com.  Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research by Brian Rosenwald and Elizabeth Hinson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this day in 1949, the Berlin Airlift ended after more than a year of delivering food to West Berliners.

From Wikipedia: The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948–12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutsche mark from West Berlin. The Western Allies organized the Berlin airlift (26 June 1948–30 September 1949) to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin, a difficult feat given the size of the city's population. Aircrews from the United States Air Force, the British Royal Air Force, the French Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the South African Air Force flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing to the West Berliners up to 8,893 tons of necessities each day, such as fuel and food. The Soviets did not disrupt the airlift for fear this might lead to open conflict.` By the spring of 1949, the airlift was clearly succeeding, and by April it was delivering more cargo than had previously been transported into the city by rail. On 12 May 1949, the USSR lifted the blockade of West Berlin. The Berlin Blockade served to highlight the competing ideological and economic visions for postwar Europe.

Ronald Reagen-1987-Remarks at The Brandenburg Gate www.publicaccessamerica.com The "tear down this wall" speech was not the first time Reagan had addressed the issue of the Berlin Wall. In a visit to West Berlin in June 1982, he'd stated "I'd like to ask the Soviet leaders one question. "Why is the wall there?", and in 1986, 25 years after the construction of the wall, in response to West German newspaper Bild-Zeitung asking when he thought the wall could be "torn down", Reagan said, "I call upon those responsible to dismantle it [today]". On the day before Reagan's 1987 visit, 50,000 people had demonstrated against the presence of the American president in Berlin. During the visit itself, wide swaths of Berlin were shut off hermetically from the event to suppress further anti-Reagan protests. The district of Kreuzberg, in particular, was targeted in this respect, with movement throughout this portion of the city in effect restrained completely (for instance the subway line 1 was shut down). The speech was also a source of considerable controversy within the Reagan administration itself, with several senior staffers and aides advising against the phrase, saying anything that might cause further East-West tensions or potential embarrassment to Gorbachev, with whom President Reagan had built a good relationship, should be omitted. American officials in West Germany and presidential speechwriters, including Peter Robinson, thought otherwise. Robinson traveled to West Germany to inspect potential speech venues, and gained an overall sense that the majority of West Berliners opposed the wall. Despite getting little support for suggesting Reagan demand the wall's removal, Robinson kept the phrase in the speech text. On May 18, 1987, President Reagan met with his speechwriters and responded to the speech by saying, "I thought it was a good, solid draft." White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker objected, saying it sounded "extreme" and "unpresidential," and Deputy US National Security Advisor Colin Powell agreed. Nevertheless, Reagan liked the passage, saying, "I think we'll leave it in."