Jfk Civil Rights Address Rhetorical Analysis

642 Words3 Pages

John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered his “Civil Rights Address” on June 11, 1963 to talk about how everyone is born equal and just because you are born with darker skin you shouldn’t be considered less of a person and have less rights. It was filmed in the oval office and broadcast on national radio and television. This speech is about equal rights for african americans. It was made because two black children had to be escorted to school by state troopers after numerous threats. John F. Kennedy used diction as well as logos and ethos to make listeners believe that his argument is right and they should take his side. In his “Civil Rights Address ” John F. Kennedy used diction make himself appear more intelligent and to illustrate his point. One …show more content…

Kennedy used logos and ethos in his speech to persuade and convince his audience that they should join his side of the argument. John F. Kennedy uses logos in his speech when he gives statistics comparing black lives to white lives. Here is one example of him using logos, “The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the State in which he is born, has about one-half as much chance of completing a high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day,” John F. Kennedy goes on to list many more examples. This application of logos is used to show the audience the factual difference between white and black lives and how it is wrong because it doesn’t make sense to have that much of a difference just because that we have different color skin. John F. Kennedy uses ethos is his speech to persuade his audience that his argument is morally right and the opposing side is wrong. One time he used ethos in the sixth paragraph of the speech when he talks about how african americans are not truly free an example of hm saying that is “ One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.” this quote uses ethos to talk about how it is unethical that