Kennedy and the Berlin Crisis

Kennedy seemed to inherit the rather large problem of Germany. Five months after his inauguration, he held a meeting to discuss the Berlin crisis. At the Vienna Summit he emphasised Berlin's significance and the importance of the US having free access between East and West.

 The main concern for the US was to keep West Berlin free and fair at all costs whilst also keeping tensions between the East and West to a minimum to avoid a wider conflict developing. As a divide between both sides was developing, Kennedy decided not to interfere as he saw it as the USSR exercising their rights for the land they had control over. After the wall had been constructed, the West wanted to see how far they could push the USSR. This became evident at the Check Point Charlie Stand Off. 

Check Point Charlie was a crossing which US diplomats used to cross from West to East Berlin. However, on the 27th October 1961, Red Army tanks rolled up to the boarder there and refused to allow any US citizens to enter East Berlin- going against agreements from the Yalta Conference. For the rest of the day (which ended up being a very tense 18 hours) there was a stand off between US tanks and USSR tanks across the boarder. Eventually a diplomatic agreement was made and both sides began to slowly inch away from each other. It is clear from this event, that Kennedy was not prepared to take military action whilst in the USSR's sphere of influence as this would be too risky and could have resulted in a nuclear war between the two superpowers. No attempt was made of roll back in Berlin and the East remained cut off and separate until 1989. 

Despite Kennedy making a conscious decision to directly challenge the USSR and their Berlin Wall, he continued the development of America's nuclear arsenal. Kennedy did not view this event as a total failure, despite the fact that East berlin had now become totally isolated from the West, Kennedy had managed to hang onto West Berlin, a section of land Khrushchev had expressed interest in. Kennedy referred to this as a 'propaganda victory'- he argued that if Communism was so good then why did the USSR have to resort to a barrier to keep people from leaving. The island of Capitalism (West Berlin) in a sea of Communism (West Germany) was a symbol of hope, defiance, and victory which Kennedy emphasised to the West.

 However, the wall was also a symbol of poor relations between both sides and the effects this can have on the public- it was the residents of Berlin who were suffering from the actions of these stubborn leaders and their inability to properly negotiate. America was heavily criticised by West Berliners for the actions Kennedy and his administration took in trying to resolve this crisis.