William Smyser was the last person to cross the Potsdamer Platz in a car as the Berlin Wall was being erected.  Mr. Smyser served as an assistant to President Kennedy's personal representative in Berlin, General Lucius Clay.  Mr. Smyser is the author of "Kennedy and the Berlin Wall."

This was the keynote address at a symposium, "From Vienna to Checkpoint Charlie: The Berlin Crisis of 1961," which was held by the National Archives Declassification Center and the CIA Historical Review Program in the National Archives' McGowan Theater to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Berlin Crisis of 1961.