Have any U.S. presidents been bilingual?

Question

If so, what language? I was thinking about how almost all other world leaders can speak english, then I realized I don't know of any U.S. presidents that have been able to speak an other language.

Answer 1

I would assume that most of the earlier presidents spoke German well into the 1800s.

Answer 2

I am not sure that "almost all other world leaders can speak English." Putin doesn't, neither does Castro. Most world leaders need an interpreter.

The prime ministers of Canada have tried to be bilingual, as Canada has two official languages.

Answer 3

Mr. Bush speaks Texican. I'm not sure if he speaks English, though.
"Ich bin ein Berliner" does indeed mean "I am a pastry." To avoid ambiguity, Mr. Kennedy might have said, "Ich bin Berliner," without the usual article. Neither he nor his speechwriter spoke German.
Thomas Jefferson apparently spoke French and could get by in Italian well enough to read Dante.

Answer 4

John Kennedy once said "Ich bin ein Berliner" which was German for "I am a citizen of Berlin", but I don't know if he spoke German.

For years there has been an urban legend going around that Kennedy botched the phrase, and actually said "I am a jelly doughnut!" As funny as it is, it's not true.

Answer 5

Many of our presidents are bilingual, including our current president.

Answer 6

not sure of the exact count, but many of the early presidents were polyglots.

Answer 7

Good question, I'm sure there have been, also sure that George Bush is not, President Fox of Mexico ridiculed his amateur attempt at spanish, maybe they thought you meant bisexual.

Answer 8

Of course.