Aug. 21, 1961 - President Kennedy said today that "difficult weeks and months" lay ahead in maintaining the freedom of West Berlin. But, he said, "maintain it we will." The President spoke briefly of the Berlin crisis as he stood with Vice President Johnson in a reception room of the White House. He had received a report on the Vice President's weekend mission to Germany, undertaken as a symbol of the United States' determination to oppose Communist pressures on West Berlin.
