speeches archive

Lord Mayor Roth, Ambassador Coats, General Williams, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the future home of the Consulate General of the United States in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. Today we officially inaugurate the project that will turn this well-preserved hospital into one of our largest U.S. diplomatic establishments less than two years from now.

In appreciating how we came to arrive at this day, let me first express my personal gratitude to the Lord Mayor and the other representatives of the German government present for the very positive cooperation they have shown in permitting us to purchase, renovate and use this remarkable and historical property. Thank you, Madame Lord Mayor.

And while this project does have a number of authors, some of whom are with us here today, no one has been more crucial than General Williams in seeing that this project became more than just a project. Welcome and thank you for coming, General.
Finally - but most critical of all - in ensuring that today we might begin the process that will result truly in a new, safe and far-reaching diplomatic presence located right here in Frankfurt, let me extend a warm welcome to Ambassador Coats, without whose help, guidance and vision, all our other efforts would have been for naught. As you put it more than a year ago in a speech right here in this city, “Our consulate in Frankfurt is larger and employs more people and engages in a broader range of activities than our mission in Berlin.” Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for your consistent support and the great cooperation you and your staff in Berlin have always extended to those of us working for you here in Frankfurt.

We gather today to begin a process that will result in the not too distant future in a safe, comfortable and, I think, remarkable center for the exercise of and support for American diplomacy both near and far. Forty years and a few months ago, President Kennedy made his historic trip to Germany and, with his speech here in Frankfurt, helped define the importance of the German-American partnership not just to our two great nations, but to the world at large. That vision he outlined - strength of purpose, defense of liberty and mutuality of values - remains as accurate today as on the day it was uttered in the Paulskirche four decades ago. How appropriate, then, that we today launch in Frankfurt what will become the United States Government’s largest diplomatic center overseas, fully 57% as large as the entire State Department building itself.

As the fortieth Consul General of the United States in Frankfurt, the inheritor of a past that stretches all the way back to the appointment of Ernst Schwendler in 1829, I am humbled to witness this remarkable occasion. What began as a simple edifice at Haus Schoene Aussicht 17 in 1829 will boast as its fifteenth incarnation, sometime in 2005, this renovated building we place in construction today.

The building before you has a compelling history. After Hitler introduced troops to the Rhine region, he ordered that a large hospital be constructed in Frankfurt that could serve as a 300-bed hospital during peacetime and expand to 600-bed capacity in time of war.

Designed in 1937 by Professor Bonatz, this facility was considered cutting-edge architecture in its functionality. One example was the use of steam pipes to reinforce walls and at the same time serve as the heating element for the hospital.
The hospital was captured by the 385th Armored Battalion on March 29, 1945, during the battle for Frankfurt, and almost immediately began operating as an American hospital. The US Army expanded the hospital throughout the 1940s and 1950s until, in 1982, the Army began a six-phase, 11-year, $91.3 million renovation -- the first in the hospital’s history.

Throughout its heyday, the hospital provided care to the more than 140,000 soldiers and civilians stationed here, including our current Secretary of State, Colin L. Powell. The very first open-heart surgery in Frankfurt was conducted right here. The hospital was an absolutely integral part of the half-century-long American military presence that turned the cold war that began after Potsdam into the unified Germany of today.

That medical job in support of a shared political goal is now done and we are privileged today to recall this joint history as we ready the next phase in the life of this remarkable building. I have no doubt that the many, many diplomats in the future who will call this their home or profit from the support those based here provide will add to the already remarkable past of this structure. It is truly a pleasure to see this project begun in fact as well as a testament to the remarkable strength of our German-American heritage of working together for the common good.
Thank you very much for joining with us here today and special thanks again to all who have helped turn this complex and visionary plan into an exciting new platform for American diplomacy in Europe as well as a continued manifestation of German-American friendship in its deepest sense of shared goals and common values.
Thank you.