In 1946as time extended its reach overseas, and the despotic dreams of Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito lay in ashesa nascent alliance of free peoples spanning the North Atlantic was just starting to coalesce against the gathering storm of imperial communism.
What would follow would be a decades-long struggle to turn back this tide of tyranny. In my estimation, no European leader contributed more to this noble cause than Chancellor Kohl. Our relationship was forged in the fires of political controversy. When Helmut became German Chancellor in 1982, the Atlantic alliance faced one of its gravest challenges of the cold war over our decision to deploy the Pershing II missiles. Shortly thereafter, I traveled to Germany as Vice President, and witnessed firsthand the intensity of public opinion against it.
It has been said that "hope is putting faith to work when doubting would be easier." At that time it would have been easy to doubt Germany's ability to stay with the U.S. and
Later, in 1989 and 1990, Helmut showed great vision when he immediately seized on the fall of the Berlin Wall to press for German unification. Again, many cast doubt on the idea. The rapidity with which unification subsequently took place may mislead some today to mistake the events of that period as preordained. Not true. In my view, it would not have happened as quickly as it did without Helmut's superlative leadership. In 1999, a prominent American think tank issued a report that asserted: "Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's legacy is truly remarkableso much so that history will likely regard him as one of the most influential figures of modern Europe." For my part, I view him as the greatest European leader of the second half of the 20th century.
Politics aside, I treasure my personal friendship with this remarkable man. I treasure the wurst and beers we shared. I will never forget a visit to Krefeld where we tried to outwit an angry mob of protesters with a decoy motorcadea maneuver which met with a spectacular lack of success.
Most of all, I treasure the memory of our many meetings. A historic visit to Camp David with his beloved Hannelore in February of 1990 stands out. Between our sessions we went out for a walk. When we reached a fairly steep hill, it was not clear that the Chancellorwho was suffering from a mild case of jet lagwould make it to the top. We immediately dubbed it Helmut Kohl Memorial Hill because, as he always seemed to do, the Chancellor proved his doubters wrong.
was the 41st President of the United States of America