“Ich bin ein Berliner” Speech (June 26, 1963)

Read paragraph 4 from John F. Kennedy’s speech.

Select the rhetorical device the author uses in the paragraph.

• A allusion

• B paradox

• C repetition

• D understatement

What is the author’s purpose for using the rhetorical device from Part A?

• The author wants the people of the world to see that communism will work in the future.

• The author wants the people of the world to see the issues of communism for themselves.

• The author wants the people of the world to see how communism affects economic issues.

• The author wants the people of the world to see how Europe and Communists cooperate with each other.

Why does the author of the speech “Ich bin ein Berliner” choose to order his ideas in the way they are presented in the passage?

• A to describe the positive effects of living in free societies

• B to present the ideas in order from least to most important

• C to indicate why countries follow specified paths to freedom

• D to present comparisons between free and restricted societies

Select two quotations from John F. Kennedy’s speech that best show the author’s use of emotional appeal to support his argument.

• “There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world.” (paragraph 4)

• “Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.” (paragraph 5)

• “I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years.” (paragraph 5)

• “I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin.” (paragraph 5)

• “While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.” (paragraph 5)

In paragraph 6 of “Ich bin ein Berliner,” what is the effect of the author’s use of rhetoric when he repeats the phrases “beyond the” and “to the” toward the end of the paragraph?

• A to emphasize the goals Berlin has established for the future

• B to emphasize the progress Berlin has experienced in the past

• C to emphasize the course of change Berlin experienced in the past

• D to emphasize the need for the people of Berlin to focus on the future