. > >>> william smyser is the author of "the kennedy and the berlin wall." a hell of a lot better than the berlin war. next, he talks about the berlin crisis of 1961 and the event hosted by the national archives in october of 2011. the berlin crisis is a milestone of the cold war. built in august of 1961, the wall separated the city in two parts -- east and west. two months later, in october of 1961, soviet and u.s. tanks faced off at the border. >> i want to express my appreciation to the gentleman who introduced me because i have never before been called competent and dedicated. but i did do some work on the declassification process. i'm glad to know that people appreciate it. i also was in this building in the 1950s. way down in the basement. when i was working on a thesis for georgetown university for an m.a., which in those days required a thesis. there was stuff in the archives that is just incredible. i really advise any of you who have any serious historical research to do, to do at least part of it in this building. i'm going to start with the berli