The Fall of the Berlin Wall – I

                Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

                Content: Through the choppy waters off Hyannis Port, Massachusetts the yacht Marlin carried John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his family on a day cruise. It was a warm August afternoon in 1961 and the President was looking forward one of his favorite dishes, fish chowder. Instead, he got some disturbing news. The Soviets were building a wall along the line that separated their sector of Berlin from that of the western allies. Kennedy felt there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Knock it down and the Soviets would just drop back 100 yards and build it again. Knock that one down and there would be war. Recent evidence seems to indicate that Kennedy could have called the Soviet bluff, but at the time for whatever reason, he let it stand.