Kennedy Ethos Pathos Logos

John F. Kennedy was a United States president during an economic recession in the early 1960s. During this crisis, steel companies significantly increased steel prices, prompting Kennedy to publicize his response in a news conference on April 11th, 1962. In his speech, President Kennedy uses repetition and logos to declare to Americans that he is outraged by and taking action against these steel companies.

Kennedy uses repetition to emphasize why people should be upset by the steel price increase. Repetition is the use of a word or phrase multiple times for dramatic effect, applied first in lines 6-9 through the phrase “when we are,” followed by the tense international and economic circumstances of the time. This sentence segment highlights

Logos are facts and statistics, seen in lines 32-34 in which the Secretary of Defense at the time estimated the steel price increase costing defense one billion dollars. At the time, the Vietnam War, and on a broader scale the Cold War, was raging on and costing the United States military outrageous amounts of money, thus this added expenditure would likely enrage many Americans. Moreover, Kennedy points out that a recent settlement with the steel industry was made to be non-inflationary, thus there were no sudden changes that prompted steel prices to increase (lines 46-54). In bringing this to light, Kennedy exposes steel companies for changing prices without valid justification. Even worse, in lines 69-74 Kennedy states that “earnings in the first quarter of this year were estimated in the February 28th Wall Street Journal to be among the highest in history,” so economic trends were helping, not hurting, steel companies. This is the most poignant revelation, as it reveals beyond the nonsensicality of the price hike, the unabashed greed of steel companies. Kennedy aims to give rise to disgust and dismay at this final fact, convincing the public of the immorality of steel companies. Thus, Kennedy utilized logos to prove that steel companies are in the wrong by pointing out how the increase in steel prices negatively impacts Americans, could not be justified by circumstantial reasons, and is simply a move motivated by greed. By rallying Americans against steel companies, Kennedy will gain support for anti-steel company legislature that could decrease steel