Great Presidential Speeches

[stowe1]

One of the greatest Presidential speeches ever - JFK at the Berlin Wall:



http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/oEX2uqSQGEGIdTYgd_JL_Q.aspx

 

[joninliverton]

I'm puzzled why you choose to bring this up now...

 

[Ambivalent]

One of the greatest Presidential speeches ever - JFK at the Berlin Wall:

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/oEX2uqSQGEGIdTYgd_JL_Q.aspx

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Thanks for this, Stowe! Kennedy, of course, was a fine speaker - and, thanks to Ted Sorensen, his chief speechwriter (who wrote the lines you have recently celebrated) sometimes ascended the heights of rhetorical greatness.

I feel that Franklin Roosevelt's inaugural address - "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself!" was exceptionally fine.

Of course, Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" is far and away the greatest speech ever delivered by any President. It is a towering icon of thoughtfully-composed wisdom, grace, and spare but powerful prose: a great classic, for all the English-speaking world, and a speech for the ages.

Naturally, I think Sir Winston Churchill was the most powerful and compelling speaker, since the ancient days of Demosthenes, and Cicero. But you knew that already - because you've seen my icon ;-)

"A" XOXOXOXOXO

*The Gettysburg Address ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCXUbQ4JjXI

*"We shall fight on the beaches" ~ Sir Winston Churchill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTw3_PmKtc

 

[another1]

It was a simpler time. I was 18 and the united states and its allies held the soviet union at the wall the soviets built in berlin. the line beyond which the soviets would not cross was in Germany. standing in west berlin and saying I am one of you, the chief executive officer of this nation-state was saying to the citizens of berlin, we have been with you for 18 years and we are one of you.
50 years later, the new line on the map is at the border of ukranian- Russian border. now some pod-like people pop up over the world. causes demand attention. we cannot avoid the consequences of our action, nor can we avoid the consequences of our inaction.
good speech to the right people, at the right time. the speech was to the people of west berlin, but he was talking to Moscow.

 

[stowe1]

I'm puzzled why you choose to bring this up now...

Jon - I live to assuage your puzzlement - lol!! An op-ed piece I read today referred to this speech and I googled it, listened to it again (it's been a while), and thought I'd share it here. No great mystery involved.

 

[another1]

at the time the great take away from the speech was that 'ich bin ein berliner' referred to a jelly filled donut. 'ich bin berliner' is correctly I am a citizen of berlin. while in parts of Germany there are Berliner, in west berlin that day, they/we were all berliners.

 

[stowe1]

at the time the great take away from the speech was that 'ich bin ein berliner' referred to a jelly filled donut. 'ich bin berliner' is correctly I am a citizen of berlin. while in parts of Germany there are Berliner, in west berlin that day, they/we were all berliners.

This "jelly doughnut" erroneous urban legend fully explained in the attached:


http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/jfk_berliner.htm

 

[tampa24]

Thanks guys. I've enjoyed listening to the speeches.