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John F Kennedy Steel Prices Essay

649 Words3 Pages

In President John F. Kennedy's commentary (April 10, 1962) regarding the hike in steel prices, he argues there is no justifiable reason for the United States steel companies to increase the price of steel, as steel plays such a large part of American society and would impact most of the U.S. industries. Kennedy uses a disappointed tone, logical and statistical reasoning, and emotional connections to the American people to express his stance on the rise in the price of steel. His goal is to convince the steel companies that they should not raise the prices, as well as convince the big steel companies to consider the country as a whole. The president is writing to the largest steel companies in the United States in response to their 3.5 percent increase in the …show more content…

He talks about the state of the economy after Vietnam, to try and convince the steel companies to partner with the government in rebuilding the U.S. JFK is disappointed in the steel companies that are solely thinking about profit for their companies instead of considering the country as a whole, during the time after a recession and uses this tone to truly express how he feels as the President. Next, President Kennedy’s logical reasoning for being angry towards the steel companies comes from the fact that steel prices are "imitated by the rest of the industry," and would cause the rest of the economy to be thrown off (line 22-23). JFK continually argues that there is no reason for the companies to increase the price of steel because the amount of steel produced per worker is increasing, meaning that the costs of labor, "per ton of steel can actually be expected to decline," (line 55-56). Labor prices are going down, and so JFK addresses the company’s need to raise the prices as unprecedented and

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