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Did JFK "Steal" the Words for his "Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You" quote?
Al-Hewar Center ^

Posted on 10/24/2003 8:17:06 PM PDT by Coleus

And when John F. Kennedy memorably exhorted Americans: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country," was he consciously quoting words written by Gibran and addressed to the people of Syria and Lebanon half a century earlier?
 
http://www.cs.umb.edu/jfklibrary/j012061.htm
 
http://www.4umi.com/gibran/
 
http://www.bartleby.com/73/766.html
 
http://www.alhewar.com/Gibran.html


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: gibran; jfk; johnfkennedy; kahilgibran; kennedy; khalilgibran; quotes; speech
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FYI, I was surprised when I heard about this and thought some Freepers may be interested.
1 posted on 10/24/2003 8:17:07 PM PDT by Coleus
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To: Coleus
"When something is said and said well, have no scruple."
2 posted on 10/24/2003 8:18:20 PM PDT by Skwidd (Fire Controlman First Class Extraordinaire)
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To: Carry_Okie; Ippolita
ping
3 posted on 10/24/2003 8:19:41 PM PDT by farmfriend ( Isaiah 55:10,11)
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To: Coleus
Well, at least he didn't steal:

"Ich bin ein jelly doughnut"


4 posted on 10/24/2003 8:19:50 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Far out, man!)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: Coleus
Actually a lot of speech makers repeat 'good lines' from previous speeches.

They even re-tell old jokes. Are the jokes 'plagerized'? I guess technically they are.
6 posted on 10/24/2003 8:31:31 PM PDT by steplock (www.FOCUS.GOHOTSPRINGS.com)
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To: Coleus
I seem to remember reading that the statement was first made by Warren G. Harding.
7 posted on 10/24/2003 8:32:46 PM PDT by Inyokern
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To: Coleus
Since the words were probably written for JFK by Ted Sorenson, I'd say that Jack was not guilty...
8 posted on 10/24/2003 8:37:42 PM PDT by jscd3
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To: Coleus
Heck, most politician speeches since the Kennedy time (and before in this country) have been written by speech writers. Most books by politicians and celebrities are written by ghost writers.

Ivana Trump, if you remember her, once published some romance novels, which, as it turned out during a press conference promoting one of them, she hadn't even read! Don't think for a minute that Hitlery Rodham is any different as an "author". It's a ghost writer world! (And we luv it and we luv being fooled by it1!)

9 posted on 10/24/2003 8:38:16 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Far out, man!)
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To: Revolting cat!
I have heard that before. That when JFK said that quote he was really saying "I am a Jelly Donut". Is that true or an Urban Myth?
10 posted on 10/24/2003 8:46:00 PM PDT by Burkeman1 ((If you see ten troubles comin down the road, Nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.))
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To: Burkeman1
It's no urban myth. Kennedy actually said in a speech in West Berlin "Ich bin ein Berliner". Trouble is (or was) that for the native Germans a "Berliner" referred to a kind of a jelly doughnut, a roll with some jelly inside it. It's a cliched reference by now.

But there is a revisionist history, as there is for everything, isn't there, and it was covered a few years ago by an article in the Wall Street Journal, I think, where the author argued that indeed the residents of Berlin would have understood "Berliner" as JFK (or his speech writer) had intended it. There must be some references to the whole story in the Net.

11 posted on 10/24/2003 8:52:46 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Far out, man!)
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To: JackRyanCIA
Those Dems are some kind of a piece of work.
12 posted on 10/24/2003 9:05:16 PM PDT by dix
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To: Revolting cat!
FWIW... I too was curious about this and once asked my German professor (a West Berliner himself) and he said that the "Ich bin..." sentence was acceptable, and understood by the citizenry.
13 posted on 10/24/2003 9:05:16 PM PDT by BoomerBob
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To: Revolting cat!
The whole crux of the story rests on "Berliner"- that is proper in English to say a resident of Berlin- but is it proper in German? I don't think so. I have always loved this story.
14 posted on 10/24/2003 9:11:15 PM PDT by Burkeman1 ((If you see ten troubles comin down the road, Nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.))
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To: Coleus
The quote is originally from Cicero.

JFK never had an original thought in his life.

Democrats are brainless plagiarists.
15 posted on 10/24/2003 9:12:51 PM PDT by Palladin (Proud to be a FReeper!)
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To: Revolting cat!
Yep, the problem is that the media and schools, keep on drumming that speech down our throats. It's even in the National BSA Woodbadge course where they talk about communication and quoted all democrats including Kennedy and FDR, never Reagan.

Speech writers using "their own" material is good as well as giving credit to a someone else's quote as many do. Kennedy did NOT give credit to Gibran. Any decent person would have.

What Kennedy should have said, "In the words of Gibran, 'Ask not what your country....'", he did not.

If the ghost writer stole someone else's quotes that is wrong too. The problem is not who is writing the speech or the book, it's what quotes that are stolen, that's the problem. Kennedy or his writer who wrote the speech should have credited Gibran.
16 posted on 10/24/2003 9:18:43 PM PDT by Coleus (Only half the patients who go into an abortion clinic come out alive.)
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To: Palladin
But he saved his PT crew with a coconut! I know because it is in the Smithsonian! Hogwash. The Kennedy family myth is one big lie.
17 posted on 10/24/2003 9:23:47 PM PDT by Burkeman1 ((If you see ten troubles comin down the road, Nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.))
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To: Coleus
On a related matter, Bob Dylan has been accused of major plagiarism on his most recent studio disk Love and Theft. Here's one link. (There are many others, by the way, and an article in the same Wall Street Journal describing the matter a few months ago.)
18 posted on 10/24/2003 9:28:13 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Far out, man!)
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To: Revolting cat!
"Ich bin ein jelly doughnut"

The fact that one of JFK's most famous quotes was really screwed up is not well known. It was explained to me by an Englishmen who had lived in Germany long enough to know what a "Berliner" is and yes a "Berliner" is a jelly donut.

19 posted on 10/24/2003 9:34:33 PM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: Revolting cat!
In German, "ein Berliner" means a jelly doughnut. Had he said just "Berliner" without the "ein" it would have meant "a resident of Berlin."

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "A Trip Down Possumtrot Road," discussion thread. IF YOU WANT A FREEPER IN CONGRESS, CLICK HERE.

20 posted on 10/24/2003 9:59:44 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob (www.ArmorforCongress.com Visit. Join. Help. Please.)
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