John F. Kennedy, former president of the USA, held his famous speech “Ich bin ein Berliner” on June 26th, 1963 during a period called the Cold War. This was a period of tension and conflict between the USA and the USSR and their allies. There was never direct military action between the USA and the Soviet Union, but over almost 50 years there were serious military build-ups and implicit threats as well as political battles on both sides.

This speech was seen as a turning point in the Cold War. It strengthened the morale of the citizens of Berlin and also send the message to the USSR that the USA would not back down in the conflict or leave Berlin.

Content:

• The speech (unshortened)
• Content / line of argument
• Rhetorical devices:
  • repetition
  • parallelism- enumerations
  • informal language
  • humor
  • recurrence of the word “pride”