Did John F. Kennedy really claim to be a jelly doughnut? On June 15, the Book Review published a review of “Counselor,” a memoir by Ted Sorensen, Kennedy's close adviser and speechwriter, that referred to Sorensen's chagrined account of his boss's famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech on a windy day in divided Berlin, June 16, 1963. Here's Sorensen.
The last line of the … speech, in which the American president identified himself with the citizens of Berlin, was its most famous and beloved. It set off a 15-minute ovation, despite the fact that it contained – I have been repeatedly told – an unintentionally humorous grammatical error, for which I take responsibility. “Ich bin Berliner” means “I am a Berliner.” Inserting the word “ein” before “Berliner” (I presumably thought it was necessary to include the article “a”) means, in common German parlance, “I am a jelly doughnut.” … It was not long before mail began to pour into my office pointing out my mistake, and it has not entirely stopped.
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