JFK PROUDLY SAYS "I AM A BERLINER"
West Berlin, Germany (JFK+50) On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy spoke in Rudolph Wilde Plaza to a million people here in West Berlin.
The President said...
"Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was 'civis Romanus sum.' Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'"
Next to his Inaugural Address call to "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," the words spoken in Berlin "ich bin ein Berliner" may well be the best known.
After each sentence President Kennedy spoke in English, his interpreter translated in German. The interpreter also repeated JFK's German words again in German. So at one point, the President said with a big grin...
"I appreciate my interpreter translating my German."
SOURCES
"Ich Bin ein Berliner" Speech, June 26, 1963, "The Miller Center, www.millercenter.org/
"The Real Meaning of Ich Bin ein Berliner," by Thomas Putnam, The Atlantic, www.theatlantic.com/
JFK Speaks To West Berliners
June 26, 1963
Photo by Robert Knudsen
JFK Library Photo
