Experts

Fellow

Courtney Spivey Urschel

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Human Rights Middle East

Fellow

Priya Pillai

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Africa Conflict

Fellow

Joshua Hotvet

Veterans Advanced Energy Fellow

Global Energy Center

Energy & Environment United States and Canada

Fellow

Rolando Mattar

Veterans Advanced Energy Fellow

Global Energy Center

Energy & Environment United States and Canada

Fellow

Tom Wotka

Veterans Advanced Energy Fellow

Global Energy Center

Energy & Environment United States and Canada

Fellow

Kalle Meehan

Women Leader in Energy and Climate Fellow

Global Energy Center

Energy & Environment
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Content

Thinking Global

May 18, 2011

Berlin 1961: Soviet Humor

By Frederick Kempe

 Some of the best political humor grew out of Eastern Europe during the Cold War, when tens of millions of oppressed people let off steam through laughter.   The Soviet public’s growing awareness of their country’s failings in 1961 had produced a bumper crop of jokes, told in the growing food lines as Soviet leader […]

Thinking Global

May 17, 2011

Berlin 1961: Khrushchev to Kennedy: You Can’t Escape Berlin

By Frederick Kempe

America’s ambassador to Moscow had never seen Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev so fixated on the Berlin issue nor so determined to bring the crisis to a head. Khrushchev was already in foul temper when he reluctantly consented to receive President Kennedy’s first letter to him, which contained his long-sought invitation to a summit meeting in […]

Thinking Global

May 17, 2011

Why Berlin Fascinates

By Frederick Kempe

In the days of German unification two decades ago, when I was serving as the Wall Street Journal’s Berlin bureau chief, I marveled at the speed with which the locals bulldozed and then extracted almost every remnant of the Berlin Wall.  I was tempted, in an act of civil disobedience, to stand before one of […]

Thinking Global

May 16, 2011

Berlin 1961: Snubbed Soviet Strikes Back

By Frederick Kempe

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was still waiting for John F. Kennedy’s answer to his multiple pleas for an early summit when the U.S. president delivered his apocalyptic State of the Union address, which spoke of the Soviet and Chinese quest for world domination, as the first of several perceived indignities.  The shock waves of Kennedy’s […]

Thinking Global

May 13, 2011

Berlin 1961: Reuters Interview

By Frederick Kempe

A great interview with Jim Ledbetter of Reuters on my new book, Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth. (I have mentioned that I have a book out, right?) It runs 8 minutes, 18 seconds and is set, appropriately enough, in front of the Berlin Wall—or, at least, the parts of […]

Thinking Global

May 12, 2011

Berlin 1961: Kennedy’s First Mistake

By Frederick Kempe

It was the first, live televised press conference in U.S. history, and President John F. Kennedy beamed his 200-watt smile as he looked across the assembled media gathered in the cavernous, newly opened State Department auditorium.  He had real news for them: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had released two captured American airmen, which Kennedy could […]

Thinking Global

May 12, 2011

Berlin 1961 on Fox News “Sean Hannity Show”

By Frederick Kempe

I was on Fox News’ Sean Hannity Show last night to talk about Berlin 1961. We talked about almost everything but!

Thinking Global

May 11, 2011

Berlin 1961: Leonard Lopate Show

By Frederick Kempe

Great interview today with Leonard Lopate of WNYC.

Thinking Global

May 10, 2011

Berlin 1961: Konrad Adenauer, Suspicious Ally

By Frederick Kempe

Friends speculated that it had been his inconsolable concerns over President Kennedy’s fitness for office that had worsened Konrad Adenauer’s illness; a cold he had contracted before the U.S. elections deepened to bronchitis and then pneumonia. On the occasion of the West German chancellor’s 85th birthday, others attributed his fragility to age. Whatever the truth, […]

Thinking Global

May 9, 2011

Berlin 1961: Khruschev a Communist in a Hurry

By Frederick Kempe

It was just minutes before midnight, and Nikita Khrushchev had reason to be relieved 1960 was nearly over. He had even greater cause for concern about the year ahead as he surveyed his two thousand New Year’s guests under the towering, vaulted ceiling of St. George’s Hall at the Kremlin. As the storm outside deposited […]

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