Though only winning by a narrow margin, President John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech maintains an air of sophistication and confidence. An inaugural address is usually the most listened to speech throughout a president’s career. It is vital to any newly elected president that they start of their term on the right track. His speech was perhaps one of the most memorable and quoted addresses. Through his effective use of rhetoric devices, JFK instills confidence in the American people of his abilities as their new leader.
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.
In his speech, Kennedy highlighted that his goal was to bring change as a leader, and addressing the USSR, did not want to continue in the Cold War. As an inauguration speech, Kennedy’s goal was to inform the country, as well as the world, of his intentions as a leader. The first instance of Kennedy using rhetoric to meet this goal is through his use of ethos, pathos and logos. Using these Aristotelian proofs allowed him to evoke the intended response, from the immediate audience. Kennedy’s use of ethos and pathos makes the audience feel a strong bond to him, as they are all of a new generation, which implies that they can bring change.
President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address is most effective at persuading the audience because of his use of rhetorical devices. President John F. Kennedy values the rhetorical devices of pathos, repetition, and allusions. Pathos is found multiple times in John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address because John F. Kennedy convinces America to be the best country in the world. For instance, in the the inaugural address John F. Kennedy states, “ Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce”. This quotation describes that John F. Kennedy arouses excitement and hopes for the future of the country.
J.F Kennedy, the president of United States wanted to put the first Americans to the moon-America exploring the moon, so he directed his speech to the people of taxes and Rice University to promote his space exploration program that will help America to be the first country to explore the moon. He believes that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Throughout J.F Kennedy's speech, the speaker makes effective use of evidence, reasoning, rhetorical elements, and rhetorical devices that together form his argument to gain people support for his space exploration program. J.F Kennedy was trying to prove his point of view by giving examples and using a lot of Rhetorical devices and appeals that would grab the reader's attention
This quote shows charged language by using aggressive words like war, disciplined, hard, and bitter peace. These words show that the future holds some challenges ahead, but nothing that Americans can't handle. The next piece of evidence in President JFK’s inaugural address shows repetition: he says, “Let both sides…” (JFK 16-20). He starts paragraphs 16-19 with “Let both sides…” and says “Let both sides…” in the middle of paragraph 20. He keeps saying, “Let both sides…” to tell the audience that there is good in other countries, not just the United States.
In the speech made by John F Kennedy in Jan 20th 1961, he announced his presidency and addressed his agenda for the future of America, and more over, of the world -- the pursuit of peace and liberty inside and outside America. His audiences were his fellow citizens who were Americans and those around the globe, and he surely implied his points powerfully by arguing with a serious tone and meaningful yet powerful diction. The first aspect that makes the speech effective and incisive is the tone of it -- lofty and formal. For example: “Let every nation know...
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms- and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations. ”(16) JFK uses parallelism, phrases in the statements that are repeated and identical in structure, in this quote to introduce the idea of justice and liberty between the nations. When he applies parallelism as a rhetorical device, he uses it to build up the thought of what we can accomplish together as a world instead of against each other. He stacks these motivational statements up to catch the audience's attention, in order to fulfill the purpose for his speech which is to create unity.
President John F. Kennedy, in his conference to the American people and steel industries regarding the spike in steel prices, empathizes with average Americans in hopes to stabilize the steel prices and portray that he is willing to fight for the lower class, helping American industry. America’s economy was recovering from enough strain following the Vietnam and Cold War. Through his utilization of alliteration and diligent tone, Kennedy manages to empower his audience and approach the steel companies appropriately. John F. Kennedy emphasizes the drastic change made by the steel industry's choice to raise their price by 3.5%. He indicates his frustration through his strong choice of diction by calling the situation a “crisis” or “irresponsible defiance”.
On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy prepared a resonating public service announcement for American citizens. The speech was given during the time of the civil rights movement and when people of color were protesting for a desire to see change happen. Additionally this was during the moment of segregation laws being put in place to keep blacks separated from whites and a time where people were reluctant to be informed about racial injustice. John F. Kennedy speech was indubitably a call to action he essentially wanted to bring awareness to the issue to shed light on an important matter that was not properly being addressed. JFK used a great analogy and use of logos in his speech when he said the following - “I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and
The Inaugural speech by John F. Kennedy is a landmark type of speech that was given to the American populace in order to inspire confidence and to provoke them to take immediate action. His speech made extensive use of rhetorical devices in order to successfully express his goals. His stylistic devices include antithesis, parallelism, and varying structure flows in order to attract attention and to show what his service will accomplish. Kennedy details “a new generation of Americans” by contrasting old and new with his antithesis. He states, “Symbolizes an end as well as a beginning” and “signifies renewal as well as change” in order to do so.
Oziel Rios S. Nambiar English 1302. SP3 12 February 2018 Kennedy Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis On Friday, January of 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered a speech to the citizens of the United States of America and the world. Kennedy made a speech that he knew would be remembered for many years to come even after his presidential term.
On April 10, 1962, steel companies raised the prices by 3.5 percent of their products. President John F. Kennedy had tried to maintain steel prices at a stable rate. President John F. Kennedy, known for his diligence and persuasion, held a news conference about the hikes in steel prices. President John F. Kennedy, in his speech, uses rhetorical strategies such as diction, emotional appeals, and a persuasive tone to convince Americans that steel companies are declining the standards to maintain stable prices. Kennedy states that the steel companies are a national problem due to the increase of steel prices.
In 1961, during the Cold War, John F. Kennedy addressed not only America, but all nations in his inaugural address. As the 35th president to be sworn into office, Kennedy was the first Catholic and youngest president to be elected. When giving his speech, he provided his audience with reassurance for the future to come, even with so much change. Throughout his speech, Kennedy relies on the use of antithesis to provide a sense of unity to the public. By strategically depending on antithesis during his inaugural address, John F. Kennedy was able to bring his audience together by emphasizing the importance of unification between all.
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms-- and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.” Kennedy continues to use “ Let both sides” grab the attention of the audience and show how important this subject is. Another literary device Kennedy uses is symbolism. For example, “ The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of
