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Kennedy Ethos Pathos Logos

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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 …show more content…

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

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This empowering tone of his comes through in his other devices such as the parallelism in the early sections of his speech and through the upbringing of irony in the situation. This makes listeners and readers aware of how Kennedy himself feels of the current problem at hand, so they can connect to his passion and feelings, therefore making an appeal to pathos. When people listen to their hearts rather than their heads, they can make decisions they normally would not without facts. Kennedy has introduced both, he has shown the statistics confidently while still being able to connect to the lives of his people. The argument that steel prices should be kept stable can have many ends.

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In the 1960s America had just gotten out of a war and Rising tensions with the Soviets we expected to get into another one, along with that John F. Kennedy just got elected, this is what he has to say. It was 1961 when Kennedy gave his inaugural speech, it was practically oozing with rhetorical strategies. Kennedy new kind of state Country was in, so with this speech he needed to comfort the people of America, he does this by using rhetorical strategies ethos, pathos, logos. First we will evaluate the ethos / logos.

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John F. Kennedy, a former president of the United States, delivered his “Cuban Missile Crisis” speech on October 22, 1962, to the United States citizens and captives in Cuba. Those people were terrified of a nuclear missile attack during the Cold War time period. Due to the primary use of logos in Kennedy’s “Cuban Missile Crisis” speech, he informs his audience about the type of missiles in Cuba and the steps to be taken to respond to the Soviet Union’s placement of missiles in Cuba. This would hopefully alleviate some of the fear of the citizens of the United States. He shows pathos by continuing to ease the citizens’ fear of a missile attack by showing compassion towards the people.

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Kennedy uses logos in order to appeal to bring sequence to his speech. Every decision that gets made can and will affect the course of the future, whether that be a good thing or a bad thing. Now more than ever, we need to have a plan of defense. We could have easily declared war on a certain country…but that would not solve the problem. Instead, it would cause more.

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In order to generate unity, Kennedy’s acknowledged a change, targeted his audience and created a call to action with the unified audience. Kennedy acknowledged change first, in order to get the attention of those who did not vote for him. He knew it would be more difficult to resonate with those who did not vote for him on their ballot. He was able to achieve this using juxtaposition, allusion and metaphor rhetorical methods.

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Kennedy uses logos in paragraph 9 when he states “ To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling

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The speech that President John F. Kennedy delivered on April 11, 1962 had a purpose of addressing the steel companies’ decision to raise their prices. At the given time in history, the United States was dealing with foreign affairs on Berlin and Vietnam that took had an immense economic toll on the country. During this time, the president requested that businesses kept their prices and wages stable in order to prevent a rise in the nation’s expenses. The steel companies were seen as highly inconsiderate and the president didn’t believe their actions to be justifiable.

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He used reasons to demonstrate his idea. In the entire speech the use of logos was at the minimum compared to pathos and ethos. However this does not mess up the order and the flow of the paper, yet it seriously strengthens it. “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torched has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed today at home around the world. ”(Kennedy, 1961)

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Not much later does President Kennedy present a conflicting situation between steel companies and the people. It is the “tiny handful of steel executives (line 17)” that oversee the price spike and they did so without any consideration “for the interests of the 185 million Americans (line 20).” Here Kennedy is siding with the people, considering how they were neglected in the choice. While doing all of this, he negatively discusses how the steel CEOs are, and should, be held responsible.

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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

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In 1962, President John F. Kennedy's speech on the rise of steel prices, argues that there is no reason for the price of steel to rise. Kennedy supports his argument by explaining the negative effects, and the greed from the steel companies. Kennedy's purpose is to point out the facts in order to pin the public against the steel companies. Kennedy speaks in an informative tone for American citizens in the midst of a recession and a war directly affecting these American citizens.

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He want his audience to disapprove with the steel companies plans. These facts convince the audience that Kennedy is right that the steel companies should not increase the steel prices because of the recession. The numerous statistics shows how unbalance the economy is and support Kennedy’s plan to stabilize the steel prices. In conclusion, Kennedy use of diction, emotional appeals, and a persuasive tone convince Americans to change their opinion and despise the steel companies. He want his nation attention to rally them up to look down upon the steel corporations.

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John F. Kennedy discusses and analyzes on how the nation differs from the past and present day in that time period. Kennedy narrators on the division and war in the the world to appeal to the audience patriotism by using pathos and logos. In this speech President Kennedy states “to thoses who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request; that both sides begin the quest for peace, before the dark power of destruction unleashed.” He uses this quote to obtain a logical appeal to the appeal to the people. Kennedy uses logos to show that he wants the nation to come together and be humble together in one peace.

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Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms-- and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.” Kennedy continues to use “ Let both sides” grab the attention of the audience and show how important this subject is. Another literary device Kennedy uses is symbolism. For example, “ The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of

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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.

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