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Rhetorical Analysis Of Jfk Speech

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“The secret of being a bore is to tell everything,” as honored French writer, Voltaire, remarks. In this regard, President John F. Kennedy in his news conference on April 11, 1962 confronted the increased prices of steel from the nation’s largest steel companies despite calling for stable prices and wages multiple times. Through the use of a hypothetical situation, colorful listing, and a shift in focus from the steel controversy to the people, Kennedy is able to indirectly express his anger while simultaneously initiating a call-to-action, demanding a change in steel prices. During Kennedy’s speech, Kennedy implements a hypothetical situation, hinting at the impending doom the steel prices would lead to. Kennedy often uses the anaphora “it would” when describing the hypothetical scenario: “It …show more content…

Kennedy’s excessive use of “would” demonstrates his certainty that the increased steel prices would “seriously handicap” the country’s advancements– suggesting to steel companies that raising steel prices would not only have a negative impact on current events, but also future events. As a result of listing information, Kennedy compares the potential future of prices in America to the current status of prices in order to bring attention to the audience. Throughout the speech, Kennedy listed multiple lines of background information ranging from past declines and material prices to potential prices and declines in the future. For instance, Kennedy mentions the possibility of steel output “rising so fast that labor costs per ton of steel can actually be expected to decline in the next twelve months.” By emphasizing and including the phrase, Kennedy brings attention to the issue because of how close the decline is to the current

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