US Presidency
1961

We must meet our oft-stated pledge to the free peoples of West Berlin and maintain our rights and their safety, even in the face of force in order to maintain the confidence of other free peoples in our word and our resolve. The strength of the alliance on which our security depends is dependent in turn on our willingness to meet our commitments to them. So long as the Communists insist that they are preparing to end by themselves unilaterally our rights in West Berlin and our commitments to its people, we must be prepared to defend those rights and those commitments. We will at all times be ready to talk, if talk will help. But we must also be ready to resist with force, if force is used upon us. Either alone would fail. Together, they can serve the cause of freedom and peace. The new preparations that we shall make to defend the peace are part of the long term build up in our strength which has been underway since January.