 Remarks at arrival of Chancellor Erhard of Germany at Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas, December 27, 1963. Mr. Chancellor, Mr. Foreign Minister, Mr. Secretary of State, it is with the greatest pleasure that I bid you welcome to the United States and to my home state of Texas. As a good friend, a great European, and as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, you have come to a part of our country where there are many Americans whose forebears came from Germany. So while all of us are your friends, there are many who feel a very personal relationship and who look forward to meeting you. We shall be working hard while you are here, but there will also be time to meet some of our neighbors to see us as we are and to join us in a Texas barbecue. It is our duty in these next two days to discuss the great tasks of the future. It is our good fortune to build on the work of great men who have gone before. To begin our labor together in a time when historic dangers have been turned back and hope for the future of freedom has been strengthened. Two years ago, President Kennedy asked me to fly to the beleaguered city of West Berlin to make plain our determination that freedom there could not be strangled by a wall. Today, the freedom of West Berlin is more secure than ever. As we meet, Mr. Chancellor, the people of West Berlin for the first time in years are able to cross the wall on errands of simple humanity. Yet the wall itself remains. The guards who man it still shoot to kill. Germany is still divided. There is work to do for freedom in your land. The United States of America remains committed to the great peaceful purpose of freedom and self-determination for all Germans and for all men everywhere. It was a threat to German freedom which took me to Berlin in 1961. It was hope and confidence in the future of German freedom that brought John Kennedy to his magnificent welcome in Berlin two years later. Germans and Americans still stand united against danger and strong in hope. So in that spirit, Mr. Chancellor, we meet today. We have much to do to strengthen the forces of freedom, to reinforce the Atlantic partnership, to increase our cooperation with all free nations, new and old, and to enlarge the prospect of peace everywhere. In all that we do, we shall act together as the leaders of two free peoples who have proved their friendship with each other in trial and in triumph. So Mr. Chancellor, once more let me tell you how happy all Americans are to have you here and what a very special pleasure it will be for Mrs. Johnson and me to have you as our guests at our home.