Speech #870109097

Mr. President. think of the millions of dollars which have been poured into this Agency. The exodus of pitiful refugees has been going on for years. Not once has It occurred to the Agency to make a documentary filmor. if it occurred to them. they never made it. But the world must be told. with all the energy and emphasis at our command. about what is going on in Berlin. I believe that we should immediately. within a matter of days. organize a massive airlift of newspapermen and journalists from all over the world to beleaguered Berlin. so that Latin Americans and Africans and Asians and newspapermen from other areas can see with their own eyes the difference between freedom and communism within the confines of a single city. so that they can see the barbed wire and the tanks and all the instruments of terror which the Communists must use to prevent their people from seeking freedom. so that they can speak to the scores of thousands of refugees still in Berlin and get from them the story of Communist tyranny. What a wonderful blow we could strike for the free world. at an infinitesimal fraction of the cost of our foreignaid program. I believe we should offer these trips to Berlin to correspondents of all the nonCommunist countries. on an expenses paid basis. telling them that they will be free to go where they will and speak to whom they will in West Berlin. and encouraging them to seek entry into East Berlin so that they can report firsthand on both sides.