Reagan Visit Controversy
The proposed visit began as part of a plan to observe the 40th anniversary of V-E Day. As U.S. President Ronald Reagan was scheduled to attend a G7 economic summit in Bonn that week in 1985, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl saw an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the friendship that existed between Germany and its former foe. During a November 1984 visit to the White House, Kohl appealed to Reagan to join him in symbolizing the reconciliation of their two countries at a German military cemetery. It was suggested that the Kolmeshöhe Cemetery near Bitburg was both suitably close and relevant, as 11,000 Americans attached to a nearby airbase lived in harmony with the same number of Germans. Reagan agreed, and later told an aide he felt he owed Kohl, who despite considerable public and political opposition had stood steadfast with Reagan on the deployment of Pershing II missiles in West Germany, when Reagan had been determined to respond to the placement of Soviet missiles that threatened Europe.
Read more about this topic: Bitburg
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