US-WESTERN EUROPE: REACTIONS TO WESTERN BERLIN VIST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89B00224R001103730003-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2011
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 18, 1987
• Content Type: MEMO

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CONFaruENT IAL
Central intelligence Agency
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
18 JUNE 1987
US-Western Europe: Reactions to West Berlin Visit
Summary
West European reactions to President Reagan's speech at the
Brandenburg Gate have been muted, except in West Germany, where
press and official public comment generally divided along
predictable lines between left and right. Although reactions
have been mixed, there has been significant emphasis on the
positive aspects of what some have termed "Reagan's Berlin
Initiative," particularly the call for East-West cooperation on
Berlin and the Olympics idea. Critical comment--generally by
those predisposed to dislike the President--focused on the stage-
managed ambiance of the event and on unfavorable comparisons with
performances by previous US presidents.
This memorandum was prepared byl lof the Office
of European Analysis. It is based almost entirely on press
reports and ublic statements of officials, largely because
embassies have not yet reported on reactions
to the Berlin visit. Questions are welcome and may be addressed
to the Chief, Issues and Applications Division, Office of
European Analysis,
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CONFIDENTIALI
Positive Reactions
Most West European media covered the speech with
straightforward rapportage (often on inside or back pages,
especially in Britain, where elections dominated public interest)
or--as in numerous West German reports--with generally positive
accounts. For example, Le Monde, The Times of London, and the
conservative West German weekly Welt Am Sonntag (Hamburg)
reported the events without commentary. Their accounts
emphasized the uniformly favorable comments of Chancellor Kohl,
Berlin Mayor Diepgen, and others who hailed the visit as a
reaffirmation of US-German friendship and the n
articulate offer of cooperation to the East. 17 _J
The independent and conservative press--notably Die Welt and
the Frankfurter Allgemeine in West Germany--applaudeT the
substance of Reagan's speech as a genuine "Berlin initiative"
that aimed to define a basis for joint East-West efforts to find
solutions to the German question. In yet another account the
Frankfurter Allgemeine applauded the President's announcement of
"an active Berlin policy," while even a generally critical
leftist daily, the Frankfurter Rundschau, admitted that "all
told, despite his criticism of the wall and lack of freedom [in
the Eastern Bloc], Reagan's speech was a signal to Gorbachev to
work jointly with him for a more peaceful world." One of West
Germany's most respected conservative dailies, in an oblique
reference to strains in US-West German relations over the current
INF negotiations, even touted the visit and speech as a lift "for
the whole Western Alliance" which it said was "seriously harmed
in recent months."
President Reagan's "tear down this wall" message struck a
responsive cord in Western Europe and especially in West Germany,
but the idea of a Berlin Olympics appears to have stirred an even
more positive reaction among West Germans. Much of the media
reported Interior Minister Zimmermann's assessment that the
proposal was a "fascinating idea." Zimmermann told Die Welt that
Bonn was waiting for positive echos from East Berlin and Moscow,
and Willi Daume, president of West Germany's national olympic
committee, suQpested that Berlin games would be "possible" by the
year 2000.
Those who praised the President's visit and speech also
lamented the riots in Berlin's Kreuzberg district the night
before and the violent protests that followed his departure.
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CONFIDENTIALI
Even leftist media that often sympathize with even violent
protests labelled it a "disaster" for West Germany "that the US
President's appearance had to take place behind barriers."
Negative Reactions
Left-of-center West European media have struck a number of
familiar anti-Reagan themes, but in a more subdued way than
usual. For example, the most prominent leftist West German
daily* emphasized the stage-managed quality of the visit--notably
the Hollywood set quality of the Brandenburg Gate location for
the speech, the "emotionalized" character of other stops during
the visit, and the timing of key events to meet the requirements
of "extremely popular US breakfast TV shows." Several critical
commentaries noted the crowd was hand-picked; one emphasized
that, of the 35,000 tickets issued to Americans, German
policemen, reliable civil servants, etc., only about 20,000 were
used.
Critics attacked the speech itself from several perspectives.
Some leftist media echoed the sentiments of Berlin's SPD Chairman
Walter Momper, who charged that it was characteristically
"contradictory" in that it mixed stern criticism of the Soviet
Union and offers of East/West cooperation. One respected British
daily described the speech as "partly couched in melodramatic
Cold-War language," which it charged gave the address an "oddly
outdated sound."** Few media could resist making negative
comparisons with John Kennedy's speech to throngs of several
hundred thousand in 1963, but the Frankfurter Rundschau's
editorialist went further and claimed the address "lacked the
spiritual dimensions" that "Richard Nixon ... (and) Jimmy Carter"
achieved in similar efforts.
*The Frankfurter Rundschau, although the same notes were
struck in The Guardian, the Financial Times, and the independent
Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Munich).
**This was the moderate Independent, which also quipped that
the President failed to draw as large a crowd on the other side
of the wall as had two British rock groups earlier in the week.
More important, both East German and Soviet media (Moscow
Television Service and East Berlin ADN International Service)
blasted the speech as rhetoric "right from the Cold-war era" and
as a "provocative . . . violation of the Quadripartite Agreement
on Berlin."
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CONFIDENTIAL
Conclusion
Based on evidence from press commentaries and statements by
public officials, we believe that President Reagan's West German
visit made a generally favorable impression on West Europeans and
may even have marginally improved recently strained relations
speech.
and about the prospects for the ideas advanced in hi
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