Video: 'June 6, 1961 - John F. Kennedy report to the American people on his trip to Europe'

(Tuesday, June 6, 1961, 7:00 p.m. EDT; during the Cold War) — U.S. President John F. Kennedy reported to the nation tonight that his talks with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev should at least have lessened chances of a “dangerous misjudgment” on either side.

The President saw some hope of resolving the conflict in Laos but conceded that in general “the gap between us was not, in such a short period, materially reduced.”

His hopes for an agreement on a nuclear test ban and slowing the arms race suffered a “serious blow,’ at Vienna, Kennedy acknowledged.

Video: 'Report to the American People on Returning from Europe - June 6, 1961'

But the “most somber” subjects in his two-day meeting with the Soviet leader were Germany and Berlin.

“I made it clear to Mr. Khrushchev that the security of Western Europe and therefore our own security are deeply involved in our presence and our access rights to West Berlin, that those rights are based on law and not on sufferance, and that we are determined to maintain those rights at any risk, and thus meet our obligation to the people of West Berlin, and their right to choose their own future,” Kennedy said (click here to view video of the full speech).

“No advantage or concession was either gained or given; no major decision was either planned or taken,” he added. “No spectacular progress was either achieved or pretended.”