John F Kennedy Steel Prices Rhetorical Analysis

During a time where America’s economy is in distress, the nation’s largest steel companies increase the cost of steel. On April 11, 1962, President John F. Kennedy connects with his audience, the citizens of the United States, through his concern tone and provides statistics, in order to alert the audience about the steel companies’ unjustifiable and irresponsible actions, as well as motivate the president’s audience to engage on the increase in steel prices.
President John F. Kennedy tries to convince the audience that what the steel companies are doing is wrong by connecting with the audience and their interests. In the first paragraph, John F. Kennedy declares that the steel companies’ actions are against “the public interests”. This demonstrates that John F. Kennedy understands the audience. He expresses his knowledge of the audience’s disagreement with the increase of

Kennedy uses a concern tone to make the audience trust him; furthermore, John F. Kennedy persuades the audience to act against the steel cost by striving to relate the issue to the audience. In paragraph three, John F. Kennedy starts describing how the increase in the cost of steel will affect all of America. He reminds the audience that it is not only the people who buys steel who are affected, but rather anyone who buys “homes, autos, appliances, and most other items” would also be affected since the cost of those items will increase. Since the audience will also be affected by the increase in steel price, they can relate to the problem; therefore, they will agree with John F. Kennedy and try to find ways to change the increase of steel price. By acknowledging that the increase in steel prices will affect the audience and that the older citizens will not be able to pay for the high prices of steel-based products, John F. Kennedy conveys that he is concerned about the audience. His tone lets the audience recognize that John F. Kennedy is sympathizing with