In his Inaugural Address, John F. Kennedy was quoted to say, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” (Eidenmuller). By saying this statement, Kennedy portrayed his beliefs on how to make America succeed. Kennedy attempted to convince Americans unity of their nation as a whole, rather than individual groups, would better our nation overall. John F. Kennedy tried to convey his concepts to the people of the United States by way of ethos, logos, and pathos. These three concepts are ways Kennedy ventured to appeal to his audience.
To begin, Kennedy’s audience may have noticed a hint of logos at the beginning of his speech. Logos are the appeal to logic or, in other words, to convince one’s audience
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Kennedy has many emotional appeals to the audience as well. This emotional appeal, where a speaker can try and make the audience feel emotional towards the topic they are trying to convey is called pathos. John F. Kennedy said, “To those people in huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bond of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required” (Eidenmuller). Kennedy tried to make the audience actually feel an emotional attachment to the penniless people in the United States. His reasoning for doing so was he hoped his words would touch the hearts of his audience and persuade them to work together and strive to save the unfortunate people in poverty. Kennedy also wanted to insure his audience he was just like any one of them. John F. Kennedy did this by using “we” and “us” creating a special bond between him and his listeners. This displayed respect to his audience and made Americans feel further connected. Another quote said by John F. Kennedy was, “In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course” (Eidenmuller). This quote from Kennedy made Americans in the crowd notice they were so much more important that they had perceived. John F. Kennedy aimed to hit the hearts and souls of his audience. Whether it was convincing them to aid others in their time of need or to simply make citizens realize it is impossible for just