Town Hall Discussion at Humboldt-University

October 5, 2009

Berlin
Ambassador Philip D. Murphy

Thank you President Markschies for your kind introduction, and thank you for welcoming me here today. I am honored to speak to you today at Humboldt University--founded by Wilhelm von Humboldt in what was for its time a radical experiment in higher education. That experiment was so successful that Humboldt University became the model of the modern research university, which was adopted throughout the United States and much of the rest of the world. President Markschies, in this storied room overlooking Bebelplatz, I congratulate you, your predecessors and the University community for making Humboldt University an institution that defends freedom of expression and promotes vigorous intellectual debate as the hallmarks of a democratic society.

Wilhelm's more popular brother, Alexander, called himself a "half-American." In the course of a lifetime of scientific investigation and exploration, he corresponded with several American presidents, scholars and scientists. His writings on the natural sciences inspired many of our great writers, including Whitman, Thoreau and Emerson, and helped to launch what eventually became the American environmental movement. Alexander von Humboldt liked America, and Americans. But he understood that when friends do not agree about something, they are honest about it. Similarly, those of you who share our values, and have been critical of the U.S. policy with which you disagree, are also being good friends of America. Alexander von Humboldt was rightfully horrified by slavery, and was critical of the U.S. government of the time for tolerating it. It has taken us over four hundred years both to abolish slavery and to address the lingering problems of racial discrimination. We have to work every day to live up to the words upon which we founded our country, that all people are created equal, and I consider that effort to be one of the great triumphs of my country. I think Alexander von Humboldt would also be pleased to know that at the end of that effort Americans elected Barak Obama, a great American and someone I am proud to call a friend, President of the Unites States.

Our two countries are bound by a shared history that has only grown in importance over the centuries, and we celebrate that friendship on German-American day, which is tomorrow October 6. In 1683, the first Germans arrived in America seeking the freedom to practice the faith of their choice and economic opportunity. From then until now, over 7 million Germans--Catholics, Protestants and Jews--have emigrated to the United States. Today, nearly a quarter of all Americans can trace their ancestry back to these roots, and they enrich our nation through their commitment to excellence in business, the academy, government and the arts. Not to mention sports--even though Bayern München may not want Jürgen Klinsmann any more, we are happy to have him. That heritage, and the history of our partnership after 1945, make the relationship between our countries more like family. You don't always agree with your brother or sister, but you do come back at the end of the day to sit together at the same table--because you share the same basic values.