Reagan to Visit Berlin for Its 750th Birthday
West Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen said that President Reagan today accepted an invitation to visit West Berlin on June 12 to help the divided city celebrate its 750th anniversary.
At the start of Diepgen’s 20-minute meeting with Reagan in the White House, reporters heard the two leaders say the President would make a speech in West Berlin.
Questioned by reporters after the meeting, Diepgen said Reagan will visit Berlin before flying home from the seven-nation economic summit meeting in June in Venice, Italy.
White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, asked about Diepgen’s remarks, said the White House would announce plans for the trip later in the day.
“I discussed with the President his visit to Berlin, the philosophy of the visit to Berlin--that’s the philosophy of cooperation and . . . freedom,” Diepgen told reporters. “We discussed the new developments in the dialogue between East and West and the hopes of the people in Europe, East and West, and in the United States of America.”
He said he and Reagan did not discuss the Iran- contra scandal that has mired the White House in controversy.
But he told reporters that he hoped Reagan would solve his problems, saying a strong American government was needed during the current phase of East-West dialogue and arms negotiations.
Also attending Diepgen’s meeting were the President’s new chief of staff, Howard H. Baker Jr., and his new national security adviser, Frank Carlucci.
Diepgen met for an additional 25 minutes with Vice President George Bush.
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