Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” Speech
Also called: Ich bin ein Berliner
Two years after the Wall went up, President Kennedy visited West Berlin and told hundreds of thousands gathered before Schöneberg Town Hall, “Ich bin ein Berliner”, pledging to stand by the city.
Robert Knudsen, White House · Public domain · Source
On 26 June 1963, during a visit to West Germany, Kennedy came to West Berlin and viewed the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. He then spoke, alongside Mayor Willy Brandt and others, on the square before Schöneberg Town Hall, seat of the West Berlin government.
“Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum,” he said. “Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’,” ending: “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin.” The isolated West Berliners heard it as a promise that America would not abandon them. Five months later he was assassinated in Dallas.