Obama to speak at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin

U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin on ties with Germany during his June 18-19 visit, the White House said Wednesday. The speech, slated for June 19, will focus on the "deep and enduring bonds" between the two countries, "the vital importance" of the Transatlantic alliance and the values "that bind us together," spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. "The president looks forward to meeting with Chancellor (Angela) Merkel, and speaking directly to the German people," Carney said. The visit will be Obama's first official trip to Berlin as U.S. president after delivering a foreign policy speech in the German capital in 2008 as a presidential candidate. The trip also takes place on the 50th anniversary of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy's famous speech in West Berlin in 1963, when he said "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berliner.) In June 1987, then president Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" in his speech at the Brandenburg Gate in what was then the Berlin Wall.