John F. Kennedy's Ideal Speech

John F. Kennedy was elected in 1961, the year that made it look like the start of a golden age of America. Before his term, the nation had been in a time of economic prosperity, and Kennedy intended to continue it. This success began with the baby boom period, establishing itself after the end of World War II in 1945. Soldiers came home from battle and the economy was developing and the future of the nation looked bright. However, the United States and the Soviet Union had tensions that continued to increase throughout the Cold War. Americans were worried about communism rising and spreading, and Kennedy vowed to rid the nation of it if he was elected. Therefore, his inauguration speech held promises of long-term solutions to impending complications.

Kennedy makes the most of his short and sweet speech by mixing in propaganda to illustrate how much more socially advanced America is from the other nations. His glittering generalities placed purposefully throughout the speech distract listeners from the artificial dichotomy and bandwagon inferences. Kennedy begins the first sentence of his speech with valued concepts to evoke thoughts of unification in the United States. He describes his inauguration as a “celebration of freedom” that will eventually lead to some changes (Kennedy). He presents this glittering generalities as a way to inspire the Americans and gain their support for an economically prosperous term. The former President also using bandwagon in order to express his democratic ideals of the rich and powerful helping those below them. Kennedy announces, “we pledge our best efforts to help, [...] not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right.” At this time, the people of the U.S. are afraid of communism growing and becoming too powerful, so Kennedy uses this fear to tell them they will help the poor as a solution to communism and poverty. By creating an us versus them scenario between the USA and its adversaries, the people are shown an artificial dichotomy where the nations will be able to easily compromise on important issues. Kennedy describes the international problems as two-sided: with and against the United States, saying “let us never fear

Kennedy appeals to the citizen’s pathological need to eliminate conflict, solve problems indefinitely, and protect their rights. He does this type of persuasion to cause the people to react to his presidency positively. This speech was said during the Cold War, so people were on edge because of the impending battle, and he consoled the people with his confident diction. He outlines a “peaceful revolution of hope” that will help connect the neighboring countries and lower poverty rates (Kennedy). By saying “peaceful” he minimizes the fear of having a endless battle with the Soviet Union. Kennedy also provides beginnings of long-term solutions that he wants to develop over the course of his term. To emphasize the entirety of his solutions, he says they might take more than “one thousand days” to finish (Kennedy). This long period shows how he is willing to take the time to expand and put quality into his efforts of fixing each topic.TOPIC 3: Equality and freedom are mentioned frequently, and he indicated that if the people are “unwilling to [...] slow the undoing of those human rights,” they will have liberty for many decades to come (Kennedy). Kennedy uses the American Revolution as well to recognize why there are rights for everyone and why it is so important that we value them. His appeal to their need for them and their rights to be protected by the government helps the citizens look up to Kennedy more and follow his strong