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Why Is John F Kennedy Influential

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John F. Kennedy was arguably one of the most influential leaders during his shortened timespan as president of the United States. During the presidential election of 1960, John F. Kennedy ran against Richard Nixon with a desire to stimulate the nation. Although proven an obstacle at certain points, John F. Kennedy’s young age, catholic faith, television presence, and aspiration to bring the United States out of the cold war were influential to his overall success. Kennedy’s Catholic background was one of the highest determining factors during his campaign. Those of strict religious backgrounds did not necessarily feel that they should cast their vote for a man with such sincere Catholic beliefs. “One bulging file after another preserves the collection of articles, pamphlets, letters, and resolutions attacking Kennedy because of his religion” (Kenney 38). A prime example of this was …show more content…

“As a senator, he gave important speeches questioning the binary logic of the Cold War in remote theaters like Vietnam and Algeria” (Widmer 1). Bringing the nation out of the war was one of his most influential promises, and the people seemed to provide him with their full support. With the Soviets recent launch of Sputnik, the US was in a critical state and in need of a more influential leader. “A Gallup poll during the campaign revealed that by a 47 percent to 33 percent margin Americans believed that the Soviets were ahead of the United States in the development of long-range missiles and rockets” (Kenney 46). Kennedy attempted to respond to this by stating that he would take the necessary steps during his presidency to bring an official end to the Cold War. Approaching the year 1960 there were multiple technologies that were not only created to aid the United States in the Cold War, but also ended up giving Kennedy an edge during his

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John F. Kennedy, also known as JFK, is perhaps the most-loved president in American history. Our 35th President of the United States served from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. Although he was young and did not get to serve his full term he accomplished many great things. All these documents embody the beginning of an admirable presidency and the commencement of a new hope for a nation gone forlorn.     Kennedy served at the pinnacle of the Cold War and spent a large fragment of his presidency focusing on managing relations with the Soviet Union.

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428 Words | 2 Pages

In his “Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association” on September 12, 1960 to Reverend Meza and Reverend Reck, United States President, John F. Kennedy, tries to persuade the rev. And perhaps all of America to not look at his religious beliefs for making America's choices, but rather what is best for America's people. He does this by having a frustrated tone using phrases such as “so-called religious issue” he uses these words to get his point clearly across. On September 12, 1960 people were shocked to see that President Kennedy was so annoyed with the public saying that there was an issue with his religious beliefs.

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676 Words | 3 Pages

J.F Kennedy, the president of United States wanted to put the first Americans to the moon-America exploring the moon, so he directed his speech to the people of taxes and Rice University to promote his space exploration program that will help America to be the first country to explore the moon. He believes that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Throughout J.F Kennedy's speech, the speaker makes effective use of evidence, reasoning, rhetorical elements, and rhetorical devices that together form his argument to gain people support for his space exploration program. J.F Kennedy was trying to prove his point of view by giving examples and using a lot of Rhetorical devices and appeals that would grab the reader's attention

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1938 Words | 8 Pages

JFK: Church vs. State In the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney was voted to be the Republican candidate running against the returning Democratic candidate and President of the United States, Barack Obama. Romney was doing well in the polls, but ended up a few electoral votes shy of winning the presidency. A number of factors played a role in Governor Romney’s defeat, but was it his religious beliefs that proved to be his ultimate character flaw in the eyes of the American public?

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1382 Words | 6 Pages

He is also able to effectively communicate his ideas to the people of America to portray world peace. At the end of his address, although not the first time, JFK brings up God by saying: “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.” (Kennedy 28). Kennedy portrays his religious beliefs by appealing to both pathos because, in times of desperation, people look to God for guidance and help, and ethos, because God is a trusted ideal that many people rely on. JFK uses anaphora in a similar way that Bush does by helping to incorporate the people to see what he is seeing.

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461 Words | 2 Pages

John F Kennedy was a level headed, determined and well accomplished person. During his short-lived presidency, he had to take on challenges like no other and did it with sophistication and grace. From conflicts involving other countries, like Vietnam, to the Civil Rights Movement that directly affected our own country, Kennedy continued to take each problem day by day until there was an overall improvement or resolution. It would be safe to say that he is one of the more progressive presidents our country has ever seen. David Burner’s John F. Kennedy and a New Generation was written with the sole purpose of giving an insight into Kennedys upbringing and presidency in an entirely unbiased approach.

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1339 Words | 6 Pages

Kennedy wisely sticks to using pathos throughout his entire speech, rather than relying on his then-minimal ethos or allowing his stirring speech to become bogged down by logos represented by the dull facts and figures of statistics. As a very young President just starting his first term, Kennedy lacks the reputation and reliability that an older, more experienced politician might have available. While it is true that most of the nation had seen him on television during the Nixon-Kennedy Presidential debates, those debates were the near-total of the people’s exposure to the dashing young President, and a pretty face does not a solid political reputation make! However, no matter how dashing and heroic he might have appeared to be in those

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519 Words | 3 Pages

While "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara accurately represents African American culture and vocabulary, the critical article by Janet Ruth Heller primarily focuses on race and culture rather than poverty and socioeconomic inequality, the theme of "The Lesson. " The article by Heller does not delve into the main point of the short story (Heller). The article by Heller talks about using African American slang and vernacular to make the story more relatable to an African American's experience. " The Lesson's" main point is to show the children's poverty and how differently they live compared to their wealthy white counterparts. Although the critical article fails to capture the main idea, "The Lesson" song for the Literature Project by Molly Jacobs, a jazz improv, effectively captures the pride in African American heritage

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596 Words | 3 Pages

A rhetorical problem is an extrinsic element that influences and sometimes limits the rhetor’s choices. These barriers and limitations also might prevent the rhetorical act from achieving its ends. To classify the rhetorical problem in Campaign Speech to the Houston Ministerial Association and in Address to the American Legion Convention, a general understanding of the historical-cultural context is necessary. On September 12th, 1960, John F. Kennedy delivered Campaign Speech to the Houston Ministerial Association to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, a group of Protestant ministers, on the issue of his religion. At the time, many Protestants had reservations as to whether Kennedy's Roman Catholic faith would allow him to make imperative national decisions as a president independent of the church.

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587 Words | 3 Pages

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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473 Words | 2 Pages

Kennedy realized how easy it was for a country to break apart in a time that they needed to come together. Being sworn into office, he could see the fear of the future in the eyes of the nation and truly wanted to reassure them that by being willing to face change as one, success was possible. Kennedy was able to assertively get his point across by emphasizing how prioritizing unification of the country is by relying on

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593 Words | 3 Pages

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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602 Words | 3 Pages

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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844 Words | 4 Pages

Rhetorical analyst Omair Khan states that Kennedy “had an enormous level of credibility as well as the authority and experience that comes with being the president of the United States” which is true because as the president, he had a huge amount of good will and was to be believed to turn the circumstances around

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875 Words | 4 Pages

It was the “official” start of the era of new technology. Ethos is showed when JFK is looked at by the audience as one of the best liked U.S. presidents. He could handle many situations in the past, like the Cuban Missile Crisis. John F. Kennedy was trying to introduce new technologies to the United States and that speech delivered just what he wanted. President John F Kennedy was addressing the public from Rice University to get funding for NASA and the space program.

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