As America entered and went through dark economic tensions, President Kennedy strived for stable prices and wages. After the largest steel companies raised steel prices by 3.5 percent, Kennedy gave a speech in response. In the speech, Kennedy calls out the steel companies for actions that were “wholly unjustifiable” and “irresponsibly defiant” to the American people. He appeals to the audience’s emotion, uses repetition, and applies logic to achieve his goal in persuading the companies to lower steel prices.
At the start of the recession steel prices increased by almost 6 dollars a ton. President Kennedy addressed the issue on April 11th, 1962 at a news conference. During this conference President Kennedy stated on line 5 that this was “wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance of the public interest”. Throughout the conference President Kennedy uses many rhetorical techniques such as using an ethical appeal through shared values, diction through a somber tone and word choice, and an emotional appeal to illuminate the issues that increased steel prices have caused. President Kennedy also uses intelligent, formal fiction through this speech regarding the increase in steel prices.
He draws a line between them, the “185 million Americans” (ln 20-21) and a “tiny handful of steel executives” (ln 17) who don’t have a “sense of public responsibility” (ln 19). Kennedy concludes his speech by saying, “Some time ago I asked each American to consider what he would do for his country. I asked the steel companies. In the last 24 hours, we had their answer” (ln 107-110). This jab at the steel companies also helps to make a point that the American people are doing more for their country than the steel companies are.
Kennedy says in his news conference," If this rise in the cost of steel is imitated by the rest of the industry, instead of rescinded, it would increase the cost of homes, autos, appliances, and most other items for every American family. It would increase the cost of machinery and tools to every American businessman and farmer. It would seriously handicap our efforts to prevent an inflationary spiral from eating up the pensions of our older citizens, and our new gains in purchasing power"(line 23-31) This shows that when the decline of the companies it will seriously handicap the American people due to the large increase in prices. This is also shown in, "And it would surely handicap our efforts to induce other industries and unions adopt responsible price and wage policies"(line 43-45)
By including himself in the sacrifices that have to be made by the “185 million Americans” (20) Kennedy provides a connectedness with the crowd. This is then turned around when he specifically singles out the steel executives. By singling them out he created
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.
The United States’ President, John F. Kennedy, in response to the nation’s largest steel companies raising their prices (1962), asserts that there is “no justification for an increase in steel prices” (Line 46-47). President Kennedy supports this claim with logos, formal diction, and ethos. During this time, America recently escaped a recession and their economy was looking to rebuild and attempting to gain strength. Consequently, John F. Kennedy demands that the steel companies must lower their prices in regards to the wellbeing of the United States. His goal is to attack the steel companies, so it is obvious that they must change their prices.
John F. Kennedy uses multiple rhetoric strategies to convince the audience of the White House and the nation to come to his side and to get the stele companies to lower prices back. JFK expresses his disappointment with raising ten steel prices by using words such as “wholly unjustifiable” and irresponsible defiance” to describe the actions of the Steel Companies. By using some of these words this causes the audience to agree with President Kennedy’s claim and to disfavor the steel companies. But in the speech, Kennedy tries to include himself with the citizens of the United States by using the word
Joshua Dolan Mrs. Meszaros AP Language 11:8 21 September 2023 Steel President John F. Kennedy, who is known for advocating for stable prices and wages, passionately remarks that the raising of the steel prices is unfair at the news conference on April 11, 1962. Kennedy starts off in a very informal tone, while using pathos to talk about how unfair the steel prices are to the American people. He uses logos to deduct why the prices of steel are so unfair and are causing damage to American homes. Kennedy wants the people to rise up against the steel prices in order to convince leading steel corporations to lower their prices. People love Kennedy and they trust his leadership, which will help a lot as he is trying to pursue them.
President John F. Kennedy, in his speech, "John F. Kennedy's Speech Regarding Steel Industries," informs Americans of what is happening within the steel industry. Kennedy's purpose is to criticize the steel industry while informing American citizens about what is happening to them when steel prices are raised. He adopts an infuriated tone in order to communicate the idea of steel industries taking advantage of American citizens' will to sacrifice. John F. Kennedy uses his credentials as President of the United States to advise listeners about what is occurring within the steel industry pertaining to prices.
However, in parts of his speech Kennedy talks about how certain groups in the nation are working to help the people of America. For example in line 92 Kennedy talks about the Department of Defense. He talks about what they’re doing to figure out why the prices of steel are rising so quickly and what needs to be done to protect the public interest. By using positive and negative words Kennedy is able to make his opinion clear. The audience is able to see Kennedy’s negative opinion on the rising steel prices and his positive opinion on what different organizations are doing to help with the current steel crisis.
In a poignant speech to the American people, United States President John F. Kennedy calls for stable steel prices in response to the recent three percent increase by major American steel companies. He asserts that the steel industry is harming the American economy through this increase in prices, handicapping the nation’s ability to defend itself in this time of great uncertainty. To further emphasize the negative impact of this change, Kennedy appeals to pathos and logos, using imagery, reasoning, and statistics throughout his speech. These effects aid his purpose of denouncing the steel industry for the injustices done to the American people in its effort to squeeze every penny from their pockets. From the very beginning of his speech,
On April 11, 1962 John F. Kennedy held a news conference, and addressed the citizens of the United States about the 3.5 percent increase on steel by some of the nations larges steel companies. In Kennedy’s speech he adopts a serious and informative tone by using concrete diction while using facts from other sources to increase his credibility amongst the people. Kennedy uses abstract diction that hits the hearts of the people as he gives his speech. For example, he uses the word handicap several times in his speech.
John F. Kennedy, gives a speech about the rise in prices in the steel industry, in which he argues that the industries raised prices with no thought of the American citizen. He first addresses the greed of the steel executives, then states the negative effect that it is having on the people of America. Kennedy's purpose is to confront this issue publicly in order to let the country know that he is aware of how it is affecting them, so that they might have some reassurance that they are not alone in this. Since the audience is the people of America, Kennedy develops a compassionate and personal approach so that they might be content with his speech. Kennedy uses multiple rhetorical strategies in his speech.
Kennedy implies that these steel companies are not doing what they should be doing. The reason for this is because the U.S. was coming out of a recession and Kennedy had already spoken out about this issue. Thus in this approach Kennedy chooses words carefully by implementing events such as the crisis in Berlin and Vietnam, in hopes of reminding the steel industry to lower prices. With the thought of diction in mind, different emotions can be built from such a thing. Kennedy is sure to place emotions throughout his speech to make it more personal to the American audience.
