Kennedy in Berlin

Kennedy in Berlin examines one of the most spectacular political events of the twentieth century. It tells the story of the enthusiastically celebrated visit that US president John F. Kennedy paid to Berlin, the ‘frontline city of the Cold War,’ in June 1963. The president’s tour resonated around the world, not least on account of Kennedy’s famous declaration – ‘Ich bin ein Berliner.’ Andreas W. Daum sets Kennedy’s visit against the background of the special relationship that had developed between the United States and West Berlin in the wake of World War II, and Kennedy in Berlin is an innovative contribution to the study of transatlantic relations, the Cold War, and the conduct of diplomacy in the age of mass media. Using a broad range of sources, this book sheds new light on the interplay between politics and culture in the modern era.

Author Biography

Andreas W. Daum is a Professor of Modern History at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has taught at the University of Munich, where he earned his doctorate, and has been a Research Fellow at the German Historical Institute, Washington, DC, and a John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellow at Harvard University. He is the author of Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert and the coeditor of America, the Vietnam War, and the World, with Lloyd C. Gardner and Wilfried Mausbach, and, with Christof Mauch, of Berlin – Washington: Capital Cities, Cultural Representations, and National Identities, both published by Cambridge University Press.