<P> The speech is considered one of Kennedy's best, both a notable moment of the Cold War and a high point of the New Frontier . It was a great morale boost for West Berliners, who lived in an enclave deep inside East Germany and feared a possible East German occupation . Speaking from a platform erected on the steps of Rathaus Schöneberg for an audience of 450,000, Kennedy said, </P> <P> Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was civis romanus sum ("I am a Roman citizen"). Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner!"... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!" </P> <P> Kennedy used the phrase twice in his speech, including at the end, pronouncing the sentence with his Boston accent and reading from his note "ish bin ein Bearleener", which he had written out using English orthography to approximate the German pronunciation . He also used classical Latin pronunciation of civis romanus sum, with the c pronounced / k / and the v as / w / . </P> <P> There is a widespread misconception (outside German - speaking countries) that the phrase is incorrect German and in fact means "I'm a doughnut". It has even been embellished into an urban legend including equally incorrect claims about the audience laughing at this phrase . </P>

As a free man i take pride in the words ich bin