Borough President Markowitz welcomed his counterpart from Vienna, Deputy Mayor Renate Brauner, to Borough Hall this week — and the City Hall–focused Beep took a page from President Kennedy when he declared, “Ich bin ein Wiener.” Here’s how MM and JFK match up in our first-ever Presidential Smackdown:
| President | Marty Markowitz | John F. Kennedy |
|---|---|---|
| Place, date of speech | Brooklyn, March 6, 2007 | West Berlin, June 26, 1963 |
| Historic line | “Ich bin ein Wiener” (“I am a citizen of Vienna”) | “Ich bin ein Berliner” (“I am a citizen of Berlin”) |
| Often wrongly translated as | “I am a Viennese-style hot dog” | “I am a jelly-filled doughnut.” |
| Oft-forgotten secondary line | “Don’t tell my wife about the chocolate!” | “Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.” |
| Purpose of speech | To cement a bond between Brooklyn and one of Vienna’s neighborhoods. | To show U.S. support for West Berlin after the Reds built the Berlin Wall. |
