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Rhetorical Devices In Jfk Inaugural Address

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In President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech the tones of inspiration and love of freedom for all with peace worldwide, reveals Kennedy’s credibility as a leader towards the citizens of America. As the country’s youngest president ever elected, Kennedy informs a speech by providing his reassurance to the nation through his incentive and service to America. He acknowledges his duty to the citizens by invoking the American dream through the use of several rhetorical devices such as diction, syntax and organization during a formal occasion. Kennedy inaugural speech, he attempts to reach the Americans, creating a sense of unity among the nations. “Together” they can create peace and to “Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them …show more content…

In the beginning Kennedy addresses who he is talking to by slowly transitioning his use of short paragraphs with the intentions of keeping his audience interested. Kennedy as a leader communicates his audience quickening the pace and briefly sharing his ideas. In the middle, the syntax demonstrates what his presidency will accomplish through the use of repetition such as "Let both sides..." and “ to those..” Just as the beginning of his sentence is powerful and influential, so is Kennedy as he announces his speech, desiring the audience to think about the problems at hands as he gets his point across. The ending acknowledges a series of his new ideas using the same parallelism sentence structure to create a rhythm that evokes the audience. “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty” builds a sense of sophistication in his sentence to understand everything he says. Finally, he ends with a train of thought as he communicates his commitment to the American public and heartens people to join

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In a time where many countries of the world were unsettled and feared another atomic bomb explosion, President John F. Kennedy was sworn into office on January 20, 1961 on a cold winter afternoon. He then proceeded to give an inaugural address that would last through the ages and inspire people not only in America, but also people around the world to unite together and achieve peace. His speech was eloquent and smooth, because of his use of many rhetorical strategies. He uses diction, appeals, parallelism and other literary devices all throughout the speech. President Kennedy wise use of diction greatly helped him appeal to the audiences.

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Kennedy alludes to important beliefs and events in U.S history in order to convince the American public and “every nation, whether it wishes [the U.S] well or ill,that [the U.S] shall pay any price[...] to assure the survival and success of liberty”(25-26, 28). Kennedy’s use of allusions created an ethical appeal. His support for his country led to this ethos. Kennedy shifts to the middle of his speech by implying that the U.S will do anything to preserve liberty and peace across the globe, which is currently being threatened. He establishes the threat to liberty that the world is facing by demonizing one of the “powerful groups of nations”(82-83), through diction words such as “destruction”(75), “hostile powers”(58), and “aggression”(60).

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This sentence’s loose structure enhances his tone by giving each piece of insight in a way that stresses the power of the american people, and each piece is segmented in a way that shows understanding of the gravity of situation that he and his listeners have taken upon themselves. These segments are specialized in a way that inspire reflection of the responsibility the listeners have. Having phrases like “we are the heirs of that first revolution,” Kennedy can effectively present his meaning and purpose of the speech. The imagery in this section contributes to the tone that Kennedy is using because it creates a sense of a grand estate bestowed to the new generation. In this, he can effectively place emphasis on the theme being presenting.

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John F. Kennedy discusses and analyzes on how the nation differs from the past and present day in that time period. Kennedy narrators on the division and war in the the world to appeal to the audience patriotism by using pathos and logos. In this speech President Kennedy states “to thoses who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request; that both sides begin the quest for peace, before the dark power of destruction unleashed.” He uses this quote to obtain a logical appeal to the appeal to the people. Kennedy uses logos to show that he wants the nation to come together and be humble together in one peace.

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His diction is very inclusive; he commences his speech with several uses of the words ‘we’ and ‘our’, which makes way for inclusivity. JFK is blurring the distinction between citizen and superior governor by including the people in his proclamation. While describing the hardships and challenges that the country is facing, Kennedy mentions how imperative the occasion is on a global level; in the midst of the Cold War, he reminds his audience of the importance of uniting. Through the use of the lexical field of danger — words such as: ‘defiance’, ‘serious’, ‘risk’, and ‘sacrifice’ — he creates a feeling of tension and urgency, and engages his audience to the concern. To conclude his speech, the President mentions self-guilt on the part of the country on how they had not displayed the “sense of business responsibility” that they should have, a rhetorical strategy that approximates the audience to the government.

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In this momentous speech, Kennedy must persuade his fellow Americans that the best way for mankind to operate is to create a sense of peace and togetherness. He asks the citizens of the United States, “Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort? “ JFK realized that if he can bring together all nations, it would be a monumental landmark in history and could bring world peace, an idea long lost in history, back to the people. Kennedy uses a rhetorical questions to call upon man’s instinct to be known and go down in

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