Kennedy Declares "Ich Bin Ein Berliner" to Thousands
President John F. Kennedy delivered his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech to an estimated 450,000 West Berliners gathered in front of the Rathaus Schoneberg on June 26, 1963. The speech was a direct challenge to Soviet claims that communism was the wave of the future, with Kennedy declaring "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." The urban legend that Kennedy accidentally called himself a jelly doughnut is false; his German was grammatically correct and perfectly understood by the audience. The speech is considered one of the Cold War's most powerful moments of rhetoric and was Kennedy's last major foreign policy address before his assassination five months later.
June 26, 1963
63 years ago
Key Figures & Places
United States
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Soviet Union
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West Germany
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John F. Kennedy
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East Germany
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Berlin Wall
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Ich bin ein Berliner
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John F. Kennedy
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Ich bin ein Berliner
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West Germany
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Soviet Union
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East Germany
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Berlin Wall
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World War II
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Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
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Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
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Kingdom of Romania
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Bessarabia
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Bukovina
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Social Democratic Party of Germany
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Karl Wienand
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President
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Rathaus Schöneberg
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Berlin
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German language
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Eastern Front (World War II)
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Kesselschlacht
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Batalla de Białystok-Minsk
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Romania
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Turkey
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Flag Day
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