Kennedy Ich Bin Ein Berliner Speech Summary

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s 5- minute “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech could be considered one of the most important speeches of the cold war era in communist Europe because it drew much attention to the conflict that was at the time considered a hotspot. This speech was delivered on June 26, 1963 in West Berlin in front of the Rathaus Schöneberg to an audience of approximately 450,000 people.

President Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States and he was president right in the middle of the cold war, so during his tenure there were very high tensions between The United State of America and other communist states in general, especially Cuba and the Soviet Union. The high tensions were caused by the fact that after World War

II, Germany and most of Eastern Europe was taken over by the Soviet Union as part of deal called the Potsdam Agreement, which stated that Germany would be divided into 4 sections, the soviets in the east and France, Britain, And the United States in the east. [2] Berlin was in the eastern Soviet section and was then split into the east and west, the west being democratic and east being communist.
Kennedy’s audience was the people of West Berlin, and people around the world that are being repressed by communist regimes.

Many people have heard President Kennedy’s speech in person in the square in front of the Rathaus Schöneberg as well as through radio broadcast, television and through audio recordings that were released later on.

President Kennedy’s speech was written to incite faith in the western system and also to confirm America’s commitment to defend the West from the soviet aggression. His tone for the speech was one of happiness, prosperity, and vitality. He achieved this type of tone by giving praise to the mayor and the people of West Berlin through wording such as “I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized throughout the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin.”[1]

President Kennedy used Pathos by appealing to the German people using the words “Ich bin ein Berliner” [1] (I am a Berliner) to make a connection between he himself and the people of Berlin although he was not born there and in broader terms between the United State of America and the country of Germany. He also compared being a Berliner to being a Roman citizen “civis Romanus sum”[1] denoting the how special it is to be a citizen of Berlin as Rome was a power of the ancient

world.
This section of his speech is using Pathos to help incite the people to see how fortunate that they are living in west Berlin and they are not living on the east communist state as well to show the world that their political and economic system is fantastic compared to the communistic ideals. “There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass sie nach Berlin kommen. (Let them come to Berlin).”[1] Kennedy also offers the idea that although democracy isn’t without its faults, but they have never had to put up a wall to keep their citizens from leaving. ”Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.”[1]
He evokes feeling by talking of family being separated as a one of the failures of the communist system “…an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.” [1]
President Kennedy utilizes Ethos because of his authority as a president of a democratic country and therefore he has a good say. He had a good reputation as well. President Kennedy used some German phrases for his connection to the audience including “Ich bin ein Berliner” and also “Lass sie nach Berlin kommen.”[1] Another way he connected with the audience was relating their struggles to a valiant effort as well as connecting them to Americans by saying that Americans have pride for them. “I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin.”[1]
President Kennedy’s speech did not really contain any elements of Logos as he was going for a more heartfelt, passionate speech to arouse a sense of connection between the people of West Berlin and the people of The United States of America.
President Kennedy was successful in his purpose of giving the people of West Berlin an ideal that they were a refuge for freedom and that the Berlin Wall and the rest of communist Germany was wretched mark upon the world through his tone of voice, and his connection with the people of West Berlin. He used many elements of Pathos and Ethos to convey his meaning to the Berliners and to the people who lived in countries who were not free.
This text brought thoughts to mind about how people function in countries that were war torn and then separated afterwards by how the victors of the war thought they should be and how ludicrous the idea is. The text was rather moving because of how the tone was set including all of the pauses in the speech to give the speech depth and dramatic effect.
Kennedy’s speech brought to light a rough and fragile time in Europe’s history. Would the people separated come together as one or would they stay separated? No one at the time knew this answer, but Kennedy’s speech gave people hope to believe that the German people would once again come together and be one free nation. And then there a lasting peace of freedom would come over Europe.