In June 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. The photograph shows the open presidential motorcade with the American flag in the midst of a motorcade, secured by motorcycle escorts in white uniforms and observed by a dense crowd of onlookers along the roadside. Kennedy’s visit fell during the tense phase of the Cold War following the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and was received by the West German population with extraordinary enthusiasm.