Transcending Mysticism and Building Identification Through Empowerment of the Rhetorical Agent: John F. Kennedy's Berlin Speeches on June 26, 1963

Abstract

President John F. Kennedy's Berlin visit in 1963 served as an encouragement to West Germans and Berliners to keep their faith in the prevalence of Western values and continued political and economic collaboration with the United States. At the Rudolph Wilde Platz and at the Freie University in Berlin, Kennedy invited his German audience to adopt a Western identity based on the values of freedom, unity, and progress. Using Burke's Dramatistic Theory, we unveil the process of Germany's identification both with the West and with Kennedy. By depicting Germans as self-determined agents with an influence on their own historic course, Kennedy inspires his audience's hopes in a sovereign, united future, facilitating Germany's Western identity and the country's persistent cultural, economic, and political ties with the United States. We find that Kennedy's Berlin speeches illustrate the importance of cultural identification for building strong political relations across national borders.