John F Kennedy Ich Bin Ein Berliner Summary
Analysis of the speech “Ich bin ein Berliner” by John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States of America, from 1956 to 1963. He was the youngest president elected for the Democratic Party in a time of a worldwide conflict between communism in wide parts of the world and capitalism, mainly represented by the NATO states. Due to his father’s work as an ambassador in Great Britain, he gained access to British politicians and subsequently wrote his senior Thesis at Harvard University on why “Great Britain was unprepared for war with Germany” (jfklibrary.org, 2012). Thus was his involvement in European politics as the American president inevitable.
The main context of the speech “Ich bin ein Berliner” is the cold war, with its ever-present threat of escalating into a …show more content…
1963) This section of the speech in itself does not overly utilize pathos, but in retrospective – the berlin wall would no fall for another 26 years and the division of Germany already lasted 15 years – it is a purely emotional appeal. It lacks logic and projects positivity and faith in a united Germany at a point in time where there was no certainty over the outcome of the cold war.
The only attempt of utilizing logos in his speech is made, when Kennedy lastly builds up to an interterxtuality to Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. He ends his speech with the equation that the citizens of Berlin are free men, thus “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin” (Kennedy, 1963) and therefore he is entitled to “take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!" (Kennedy, 1963). This illogical conclusion, or “faulty causality” (Davies, 2012), is an attempt to establish logos, whilst it basically only shows Kennedy’s respect and empathy for the people of West
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States of America, from 1956 to 1963. He was the youngest president elected for the Democratic Party in a time of a worldwide conflict between communism in wide parts of the world and capitalism, mainly represented by the NATO states. Due to his father’s work as an ambassador in Great Britain, he gained access to British politicians and subsequently wrote his senior Thesis at Harvard University on why “Great Britain was unprepared for war with Germany” (jfklibrary.org, 2012). Thus was his involvement in European politics as the American president inevitable.
The main context of the speech “Ich bin ein Berliner” is the cold war, with its ever-present threat of escalating into a …show more content…
1963) This section of the speech in itself does not overly utilize pathos, but in retrospective – the berlin wall would no fall for another 26 years and the division of Germany already lasted 15 years – it is a purely emotional appeal. It lacks logic and projects positivity and faith in a united Germany at a point in time where there was no certainty over the outcome of the cold war.
The only attempt of utilizing logos in his speech is made, when Kennedy lastly builds up to an interterxtuality to Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. He ends his speech with the equation that the citizens of Berlin are free men, thus “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin” (Kennedy, 1963) and therefore he is entitled to “take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!" (Kennedy, 1963). This illogical conclusion, or “faulty causality” (Davies, 2012), is an attempt to establish logos, whilst it basically only shows Kennedy’s respect and empathy for the people of West