A Berliner.
According to an urban legend that has no basis in fact and is practically unknown in Germany,[2] Kennedy made a slightly embarrassing grammatical error by saying “Ich bin ein Berliner,” referring to himself not as a citizen of Berlin, but as a common pastry:
Kennedy should have said “Ich bin Berliner” to mean “I am a person from Berlin.” By adding the indefinite article ein, his statement implied he was a non-human Berliner, thus “I am a jelly doughnut”.
The legend stems from a play on words with Berliner, the name of a doughnut variant filled with jam or plum sauce that is thought to have originated in Berlin.
In fact, the statement is both grammatically correct [3] and perfectly idiomatic, and cannot be misunderstood in context. The urban legend is prevalent only in English-speaking countries but largely unknown in Germany, where Kennedy’s speech is considered a landmark in the country’s postwar history.[4] The indefinite article ein can be and often is omitted when speaking of an individual’s profession or residence but is necessary when speaking in a figurative sense as Kennedy did. Since the president was not literally from Berlin but only declaring his solidarity with its citizens, “Ich bin Berliner” would not have been correct.[5] Similarly, after 9-11 many politicians said “today we are all New Yorkers” and nobody thought they meant “we are all glossy magazines” or “we are all cars” (see New Yorker for examples).
The origins of the legend are obscure. One prominent instance of its re-telling was in 1988 when William J. Miller erroneously wrote in an April 30 New York Times article:
What they did not know, but could easily have found out, was that such citizens never refer to themselves as “Berliners.” They reserve that term for a favorite confection often munched at breakfast. So, while they understood and appreciated the sentiments behind the President’s impassioned declaration, the residents tittered among themselves when he exclaimed, literally, “I am a jelly-filled doughnut.”
In fact, the opposite is true: The citizens of Berlin do refer to themselves as Berliner; what they do not refer to as Berliner are jelly doughnuts. While these are known as “Berliner” in other areas of Germany, they are simply called Pfannkuchen (pancakes) in and around Berlin.[6] Thus the merely theoretical ambiguity went entirely unnoticed by Kennedy’s overwhelmingly local audience, as it did in Germany at large. In sum, “Ich bin ein Berliner” was both grammatically and idiomatically the appropriate way to express in German what Kennedy meant to say, which is exactly how Germans have understood and celebrated it since the day it was uttered.[7]
Although it has no basis in fact, the legend has since been repeated by reputable media, such as the BBC [8], The Guardian [9], MSNBC [10], CNN [11], Time magazine [12], and in several books about Germany written by English-speaking authors, including Norman Davies [13].
As for the creation of the speech, it had been reviewed by journalist Robert Lochner, who was educated in Germany, and had been practiced several times in front of numerous Germans, including Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt. The many video and audio recordings of the event show only enthusiastic applause following the statement. During the speech Kennedy used the phrase twice, ending his speech on it. However, Kennedy did pronounce the sentence with his Boston accent, reading from his note “ish bin ein Bearleener,” which he had written out in English phonetics.