A Brief History
On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy addressed Germans in Berlin and made his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. What he meant was “I am a Berliner,” but an alleged mistranslation perpetuated in popular culture made many believe his stirring statement meant “I am a jelly donut!”
Digging Deeper
JFK is not the only US President alleged to misspeak, with GW Bush, DJ Trump, and JR Biden infamous to their critics for their suspected misspeaking. Here are two other examples:
In 1977, an interpreter’s mistranslation claimed that President Carter told the people of Poland that he “left the United States, never to return” instead of simply that he left the US that morning.
In 1984, Ronald Reagan did not know he had a hot mic, and said, “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Dirksen, Eli. Gaffeiferous: Over 50 of the Best Gaffes from Our Smartest Leaders. Kindle, 2012.
Maxey, N.D. Influential Presidential Speeches 1789 – 2021. Kindle, 2021.
The featured image in this article, a photograph of President Ronald Reagan during a radio address, 1984, is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
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