Neo-Aristotelian Analysis of John Franklin Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” In West Berlin at the foot of the Berlin Wall, President Kennedy gave the Ich bin ein Berliner Speech. In this rhetorical analysis of the Ich bin ein Berliner speech, I hope to show the success of President Kennedy’s address. The method of criticism to be used will be Neo-Aristotelian, as shown through the Sonja K. Foss textbook, Rhetorical Criticism Exploration and Practice, Fourth Edition. By analyzing the speech in a Neo-Aristotelian critic, I hope to show how it was a successful speech and gave hope to the people of Germany.
Situation Leading to the Speech
Amidst a time of great fear, a brewing battle between communism and democracy, and a world unsure if and or when…show more content… After World War II control of Germany was split between the Allied Powers (United States, United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union), as if it were a pie being divided. The sectors of the divisions even split Berlin make East Berlin that was Soviet controlled and West Berlin. In May 1946, the Americans stopped reparations shipments from their zone to the Soviets. In December, the British and Americans combined their zones; the French joined some months later. (Lythgoe) The Soviets saw the three countries combining their sectors as a threat and issued more demands for a say in the economic future of Germany. On June 22, 1948, negotiations between the Soviets, Americans, and British fell apart. Two days later, West Berlin’s roads and railroad lines were blockaded by the Soviet’s. Surrounded by the communist Soviets as they initiated the Berlin Blockade, which took place between 1948 and 1949. The Soviets cut off supplies, such as food, to the people of West Berlin. The Allied powers organized an airlift, bringing in what was needed to the people under their care in West Berlin. The Berlin Blockade was one of the first tense conflicts within the Cold War. In 1952, the border between East