78 countries are contributing to Operation Desert Shield.

From New Zealand, socks.

Sox ranging in size 6 over here all the way through 12.

Now, 6 is small.

Well, that's kind of big, me. I'm 10.5.

Right in there. Could wear a tan down here. It wouldn't be prudent.

Hello and welcome to whistlestop, a podcast of the presidency. I'm John Dickerson, co-host of CBS this morning.

In early November 1989, the White House briefing room remained president-free.

The Berlin Wall had fallen the symbol of the unsettled post-World War II order

and the source of constant clashes between communism and capitalism was crumbling into spiky chunks.

Yet the speechwriters for the victorious president of the winning side were not animated by this to start the clattering at their keyboards.

The champagne stayed cool in its bottles.

The footballs remain unspiked in the end zone.

It may have been the greatest non-celebration of the modern presidency.

And we'll have more on this story and what didn't happen in a moment.

But first, a word from our sponsor.

On November 9th, 1989, West Berliners took sledgehammers to the wall,

and bulldozers and cranes came at it from East Berlin.

More than 2 million people from the East visited the West to participate in a celebration

that one journalist called the greatest street party in the history of the world. People used hammers and

picks and screwdrivers to pick away at the wall. Soon it was gone. Berlin was united for the first time since 1945.

The war was finally over.

...