June 25, 1964 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy arrived in West Germany today to retrace his brother’s footsteps of a year ago.
His two-day visit to Bonn and West Berlin began at Frankfurt Airport. He will unveil a plaque tomorrow in City Hall Square in West Berlin, where President Kennedy captured German hearts with the cry, “I am a Berliner!”
Welcomed by Lieutenant General Creighton Abrams, Commander of the United States V Corps, and a crowd of cheering Americans, Mr. Kennedy said his visit was intended to “strengthen our ties of friendship with the German people.”
The Attorney General delivered the same message in greater detail in calls on President Heinrich Lübke (left), Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, and former Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
He spent an hour with Dr. Erhard in the Parliament building, where the Chancellor had just lectured his countrymen on the dangers of letting prosperity get out of hand. Mr. Kennedy gave Dr. Erhard a bound volume of President Kennedy’s major speeches.
Immediately after his arrival by helicopter from Frankfurt, Mr. Kennedy drove to the home of Foreign Minister Gerhard Schröder for luncheon. Informed sources said that one topic of discussion was the parallel efforts of Bonn and Washington to improve relations with eastern European countries.
Mr. Kennedy will go on to Poland Saturday for a two-day visit.
At a brief news conference in Frankfurt, Mr. Kennedy said his trip to Warsaw and Cracow was “part of the efforts of the American Government to improve relations with countries behind the Iron Curtain and to advance our policy of relaxing tension.”
Mr. Kennedy was greeted by his wife, Ethel, and three of their children upon his arrival in Bonn.
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