Rhetorical Analysis Of Kennedy's Chappaquiddick Speech

In 1969, when Kennedy gave his Chappaquiddick speech, the rhetorical situation was not favorable. The people of Massachusetts distrusted him in the context of Mary Jo Kopechne’s death in a car accident involving their senator, Ted Kennedy. In order to convince this hostile audience, Kennedy uses many aspects of the Rogerian argument structure: he does not try to offend the audience, instead confessing his guilt in the matter while appealing to all rhetorical devices. Kennedy makes a few assumptions, though they are not unreasonable – he assumes that the listeners to his speech have sympathy with Kopechne and that they blame him for the accident. The purpose of Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick speech was not only to regain some of the audience’s trust

Although, in rhetoric, we cannot make assumptions about the actual audience, we can infer about the audience the rhetor tailors their speech towards, which is known as the implied audience. The implied audience of the speech is generally hostile towards their senator – Kennedy makes references in his speech to “widely circulated suspicions,” which would suggest that he is aware of a rather antagonistic audience. Kennedy’s speech appears to follow something close to the Rogerian and Dramatic argument approaches, which are the most useful strategies to convince a hostile audience. Instead of criticizing the audience’s views or trying to convince them by outsmarting them – as advocated by the Classical argument structure – the Rogerian and Dramatic argument approaches favor conceding some of the opposition’s claims while offering acceptable counters and compromises. Accordingly, Kennedy concedes that he acted irrationally and is to blame for the accident, but he denies that any “immoral conduct” occurred. The type of argument is not the only aspect of the speech that benefits from audience awareness – near the end of the speech, Kennedy relates to the audience on a personal level when he states, “You and I share many memories.” Afterwards, he informs the audience of the issue of his possible resignation, requesting their advice and prayers in the difficult time to

Kennedy begins by introducing the speech and mentioning that he had pleaded guilty to leaving the accident scene. Then, he gives a description in chronological order of the accident, along with the events leading up to it and the aftermath. But in the last few paragraphs, he changes topic somewhat, describing the effect of the accident on people’s faith and giving a tentatively optimistic outlook for the future. In addition, Kennedy writes that he hopes he can “make some further contribution to our state and mankind.” This line portrays him as a very selfless person who wants to improve humanity, which also ties into his ethos, but, most importantly, it is among the last sentences. Because the beginning and the end of the speech are the parts that catch the audience’s attention most, Kennedy is actually calling most attention to two themes – his integrity in not concealing the accident and his hope to improve humanity in the future. Kennedy begins his speech by confessing to leaving the scene – showing that he is responsible and makes no attempt to cover up the incident – so the audience will remember this admission of guilt. The conclusion, which discusses the future and his hope for it, also displays his goal to better mankind and has the potential to leave a lasting impression on those reading or