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Rhetorical Analysis Of Robert F. Kennedy's Campaign Speech

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Robert F Kennedy was on his way to give a campaign speech in Indianapolis when he learned that Martin Luther King Jr. had just been fatally assassinated. In Indianapolis, a crowd of about 2,500 waiting to hear the senator speak, caught wind of MLK's assassination attempt, but not of his dying. And when Kennedy arrived, he was daunted with the task of informing the crowd of King’s passing. He did not speak of his campaign, but instead announced MLK's tragic death and advocated for peace. On that day, April 4th, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy gave a passionate and emotional speech to the grieving crowd and using emotional language, anaphoras, and personal experience, Kennedy effectively appealed to the emotions of the listener, pushing for peace, compassion, and understanding. To appeal to the crowd and to make his speech compelling, Kennedy used emotional language. Words that sparked emotion in the listener, drove the speech forward and made Kennedy’s conclusions more powerful. One example in the speech is, “what we need in the United States is not …show more content…

On November 22, 1963, Kennedy lost his brother, President John F. Kennedy, to an assassin, and according to “April 4, 1968”, “Kennedy had not spoken publicly about President John F. Kennedy's assassination since Nov. 22, 1963, writes Ray E. Boomhower in his 2008 book, Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary.” The recognition of his brother's death created a feeling of authenticity that the listener could connect with and appreciate. By creating that feeling of genuine emotion, Kennedy also speaks to his authority on the subject, and when he pushes for more than violence and division among races, the crowd takes the words to heart, because they know that he has learned from previous grief. In his speech, Kennedy

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In his speech Kennedy uses different rhetorical devices to unify the citizens of both the United States and the world. Kennedy was giving this speech after winning by a very small margin of votes so he was trying to unite the people of the United States and show he was the correct choice for the president. This speech was given during the Cold War so he was trying to connect the people around the whole world and establish peace. Kennedy was able to unify the people and try to establish peace while at the same time making himself seem like a very competent leader. In his speech Kennedy tries to build his credibility as a personable leader by creating ethos.

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John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Junior’s, speech at his inaugural address in 1961 is undeniably a masterpiece of the persuasive arts. Although the speech is short as such speeches go, and although its main persuasive device is pathos alone, the masterful skill with which Kennedy’s speech is written makes it one of the most moving and effective political speeches to date. Kennedy’s vivid use of diction and metaphor, as well as his extremely memorable syntax, are particularly strong and successful. Every intelligent debater, speech-writer, and generally argumentative person knows that there are three main techniques which can be used to manipulate an audience and engage them in the speaker’s topic and purpose: ethos, logos, and pathos.

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Kennedy uses long sentences to cover larger amounts of rhetoric, stating examples and pecking at the hearts of the audience, and then he follows up with a simple fact or statement directly stating the principle. This prevents the speech from becoming redundant. John F Kennedy captivates and prepares the audience for the goals of his presidency by using antithesis, parallelism, and variable sentence structure. Kennedy never stays on one topic too long and he uses good open-ended sentences to transition through his points. This is why his speech is revered as one of the most intelligently created and memorable speeches in

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In fact, Kennedy accomplished his goal and is still remembered today, as the best speech ever written and delivered. Kennedy presents his speech with strong Aristotelian appeals of ethos, pathos and the stylistic devices of alliteration and antithesis. Kennedy accomplished what every speaker strives for and surpassed it by capturing the hearts of the audience and inspiring the people’s trust. Ethos is a very important rhetorical device in speeches because it establishes a sense of credibility and trustworthiness with the audience. Ethos permits the audience to feel a sense of trust that is missing in some people’s speeches.

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Robert F. Kennedy uses repetition to show the crowd how we are all the same, to prevent people from reacting too much and starting riots. Throought his speech kennedy repeats the words hatred, black, white, love, difficult, and passion. By saying these words he is making the crowd focus on that part of the message he is sending with the speech,really getting through to the crowd.

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655 Words | 3 Pages

On April 4, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was in Indianapolis for a campaign stop, when he received news that Martin Luther King was killed, causing Kennedy to write and deliver a speech regarding the assassination. This speech was succinct but not only was it about the assassination, it was also to tell the people there is still wisdom and hope in this time of turmoil. To reach this purpose, he first builds up his ethos, uses pathos to add mood and hope, and unifies the people. The combination of these elements makes it a very powerful and memorable speech. Robert F. Kennedy builds his credibility by relating his personal experience and knowledge of what the audience is feeling to the current events.

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Kennedy appeal to his audience emotions, “…we are asking Reservist to leave their homes and families…service men to risk their live‒and four week killed in the last two days in Viet Nam‒” (9-13). The fact that four people gave up their lives to protect citizens of America appeal emotional to the audience. The audience emotions allows then to agree with Kennedy that the steel companies should not have change their prices. In addition, Kennedy uses multitude of statistics in his speech. Kennedy mention, “Employment costs per unit of steel output in 1961 were essentially the same as they were in 1958” (60-61).

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As President Kennedy enters office he gives an speech on the celebration of freedom; symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning of a new nation. Kennedy rises for the opportunity for persuasion after his inauguration has been addressed and he scarcely beats nixon. President Kennedy uses his authority for persuasion to bring the american people together under his power. The president uses the experience of war,poverty,and the desire for peace to develop an emotional appeal between the U.S and the world population. In this speech Kennedy uses ethos,pathos,logos,as well as other rhetorical devices to convince the audience.

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John F. Kennedy uses literary devices to capture the attention of the audience, sets himself equal to his audience getting their attention and support, and uses the christian religion to strike the emotions and gain the support of his audience. Kennedy uses many literary devices to catch the attention of his audience. One of these devices is repetition. One example of repetition that Kennedy uses is, “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

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John F. Kennedy was known for his charming, charismatic, and relatable personality which significantly attributed to him winning the presidency in 1960. These admirable characteristics of his were easily seen in his speeches as U.S. senator and as president, in which it was apparent he not only had the charm, but also incorporated his personal values into his administration as a public servent. One speech in particular which highlights this fact is his “City Upon a Hill” speech. John F. Kennedy’s “City Upon a Hill” speech was given on Jan. 9th 1961 as his final speech prior to being sworn in as president, which he delivered to the general court of Massachusetts. In this speech, Kennedy compared the impending challenges of his presidency to the troubles facing the first Puritan settlers of Massachusetts in the 1600's in John Winthrop’s original “city upon a hill” speech.

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The series of essays in the novel “Profiles in Courage” by John F. Kennedy all demonstrate the single, truly rare character trait of courage through the actions of senators. The story of Edmund G. Ross undoubtedly portrays courage by his collected and determined demeanor in voting to avoid national corruption through a single phrase. Kennedy, through writing, is able to tell the brave story of Ross in the role of the shy, weak, underdog senator who makes a single decision that would destroy his political life, but save America from corruption. In “Profiles in Courage”, John F. Kennedy successfully uses his structures of his ideas and his detail placement of descriptive phrases, and words which set the tone and rhetorical devices that persuades the

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504 Words | 3 Pages

RFK used various rhetorical devices to calm down and control the population of Indianapolis. During his speech he connected with his audience. He encouraged and motivated the audience to act. Lastly, RFK continues and conveys MLK’s vision. RFK connected with his audience as a way to prove he’s on their side.

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761 Words | 4 Pages

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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442 Words | 2 Pages

Robert Kennedy’s speech was given during a campaign rally in 1968, he broke the news to a crowd of supporters that MLK had been killed. This speech was analyzed through a PDF copy of the text. The purpose of RFK’s speech is to inform the audience of MLK’s death, create a sense of comfort and calmness. RFK includes a quote from the poet Aeschylus

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“For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life.” This quote from the 35th president of the United States set a precedent of greatness for our country. The man who set such a precedent was John F. Kennedy. A very persuasive and well-read man, when he gave his inaugural address, our nation and the world knew we were in good hands. JFK not only was well-read, he gave moving speeches.

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