Rhetorical Techniques Used In John F. Kennedy's Speech

On a cold January day America’s newly appointed president John F. Kennedy delivered his inauguration address that was incredibly important to America’s success during the Cold War. Kennedy uses his speech as a call to arms, but not only to America but the World and our allies as a whole. He uses his strong powerful voice to appeal to the ethics of the country in the beginning of his speech telling America about the promise we made when we were founded and that we must uphold it still today, telling America we must make a difference. Kennedy also uses ethics to explain that we the people are united no matter what your background or where you are from, he refers to the Americas as one place, because he wants for us to feel unified not divided. Furthermore Kennedy’s use of powerful imagery, logic and pathos allows for him to effectively call the people of the World together during this terrible time.

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr., American Baptist minister and equal rights activist, was assassinated in a balcony of a motel where he was preparing for a protest of equal rights for all citizens in America. After Robert F. Kennedy, the brother of the late president, John F. Kennedy, have heard the news about the assassination, he gathered a crowd of people to give a speech regarding Dr.King’s death. In this speech he uses two main rhetorical devices, which is pathos and ethos, to calm his audience and to promote the ideas of Dr. King, which is peace among one another.

The role of a leader is to always put the interests and needs of the people first. However, a barrier may stand in the way of this connection. While addressing the media on April 11th, 1962, President John F. Kennedy discusses the steel executives’ decision to raise the price of their product, which affected the American public. Throughout this speech, Kennedy strategically berates the executives, removing the blame off himself, as well as rallies together the American public through his appeals to the consciences of the smaller group of executives and the shared virtues of the larger group of Americans.

Prior to 1962, America was beginning to combat its recession. In an attempt to accelerate the process, President John F. Kennedy called upon the nation, to make sacrifices for the benefit of this country. Now, Kennedy is forced to address the nation once again to secure his beliefs, by using diction, repetition, appeals to authority, logic, and emotional appeals. Kennedy’s speech stirred the nation and furthered his dream because of his strategies.

On April 11, 1962, President John F. Kennedy held a news conference to discuss the 3.5% increase on steel prices across the country. With the country at war, and struggling to emerge from a recession, increasing the price of steel would have a negative impact. After his administration had taken steps to aid the steel companies to reach a non-inflationary steel workers union contract, the decision to increase steel prices was deemed to be a betrayal of the President and the American people. The speech was directed towards the “common man” in opposition to big steel companies. He speaks for the purpose of not only persuading the companies to lower their prices, but also to convince the public that he is looking out for their best interest. Kennedy employs a disapproving tone and strong diction in an effort to clearly achieve his goal in influencing the steel

As Commander-In-Chief of a nation emerging from a recession, President John F. Kennedy addresses the hike in steel prices to the American public and steel companies to stigmatize the nation’s leading steel companies for their unnecessary decision to increase steel prices. Within his speech, Kennedy’s use of rhetorical strategies to enhance his purpose is dominated by his dichotomous diction to separate himself from the affluent and align with the suffering American people, parallelism and anaphora to emphasize the equal magnitude of previous American crises to the rise of steel prices, and cause and effect organizational mode to highlight the numerous detrimental effects on the American public caused by the steel companies’ hike in steel prices.

In John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech, he worked on persuading audience or listeners for the idea which is American should do anything that should be done to assure the survival and the success of liberty. In his mind, American should hold their liberty forever, further guarantee other country freedom. Kennedy really used a lot of rhetorical strategies in his speech. Of course, he used those strategies successfully. One of the rhetorical devices he used was antithesis. Another rhetorical device that I found out was metaphor which is a good way to create a good image, further, make audience believed in his mind.

As a person who was known for his ability to speak publicly, and communicate comprehensible meanings while inspiring the people of his nation, President John F. Kennedy (JFK) gave his inaugural address on January 20th, 1961 in Washington D.C.. JFK was widely distinguished for his ability to use rhetoric in front of the masses, and in mass media. Like many authors and penman, President Kennedy implemented huge doses of rhetorical strategies in his speech, focusing on the appeals of Aristotle: ethos, logos and pathos. Ethos is used to convince the audience of the author’s credibility, logos is an appeal through the use of logic and reasoning, while pathos is an emotional appeal (Gayle et al). JFK applied all these rhetorical appeals

Throughout John F. Kennedy’s speech, in which he criticized the nation’s largest steel companies for raising the price of steel by 3.5 percent, he appealed to the audience’s sense of logos and pathos, and exposed the disregard the corporations were showing towards their public responsibilities. The reason Kennedy used those strategies was to invigorate the audience’s anger and passion so that they would join him in trying to fix the problem. Kennedy did not stir up the audience so that they might convince the large steel companies to lower prices, but so that they might convince the companies to lower their prices together. Kennedy included himself in the rally by using the word “we” frequently to show that he too is involved in the cause,

Kennedy’s speech carries with it a dauntless rhythm of persuasiveness, emboldening and inspiring his audience through emotional conviction and personal attribution. With parallelism and juxtaposition, John F. Kennedy was able to capture the minds and hearts of the American people. During the vast majority of the address, he uses inclusivity (us, we, our) with the audience to show his personal dedication to the public and mankind as a whole. Kennedy’s dedication to his people and god was enough to gain the support of the nation, from both political parties; he proclaims that it was “not the victory of a party, but a celebration of freedom…” Kennedy does this in an attempt to establish his credibility as a just and equal leader, who saw past the petty divisions of our bipartisan dichotomy. Aside from this instance, JFK states later that he is a “fellow citizen of the world…” to appeal to his international audience. As much as Kennedy addressed his fellow man, he also referenced God in many occasions throughout his speech. Considering that at the time of its delivery 84% of the

The distinctive voices, inherent in any text, are intended to have an impact on the audience. Significant voices are influenced by the values and beliefs of the composer, as well as cultural, political and historical content. Composers use a range of language tools and features to successfully covey messages to their audience. John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s Address to the Plenary Session, Earth Summit and Charlie Chaplin’s Let us all unite, all provide excellent examples of a distinctive voice. Each of these distinctive voices is formed through the use of emotive language, tone, repetition and rhetorical devices.

Kennedy used pathos the most out of the three throughout his speech. For example, “… when we are asking Reservists to leave their homes and families for moths on end, and servicemen to risk their lives…” (line 9-12). Using pathos in his speech makes kennedy able to connect with the audience on more of a personal level. Letting the audience know that he knows what they are going through and he understands what they are feeling. Pathos is what makes a speech personalized and relatable; it was a smart choice to using for Kennedy’s speech. Kennedy also says “… as I do…” (line 16). Saying that shows the audience that not only does Kennedy understand what is happening but he feel what the people are feeling

There are many things that a speech must contain to make it a well written and spoken speech. John F. Kennedy 's speech he gave on September 12th 1962, titled “Address at Rice University on the Nation 's Space Efforts”, better known as “We Choose to go to the Moon” contains many of the important factors of a successful speech. Kennedy used rhetorical strategies and skills to help him influence the American people to help accomplish the major goal of reaching the moon. Kennedy did not only want to reach the moon, but he wanted to be the first country to do so. President Kennedy effectively told the objective he found important by using ethos, pathos and kairos throughout his speech to help get the support of the people. By using these three rhetorical strategies Kennedy gave a moving speech.

On January 20, 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the youngest man to possess presidency in the United States of America. As a young, wealthy man Kennedy rapidly climbed the political ladder by initially representing a working class Boston district in the United States Congress, then continuing on to the House of Representatives, followed by the United States Senate, and ending with the victorious defeat of his presidential opponent, to become the 35th president of the United States. According to theatlantic.com, Kennedy was so admired by the public, that “in the eyes of the world, this reticent man became a charismatic leader who, in his life and in his death, served as a symbol of purpose and hope.” As a result of John F. Kennedy’s

The powerful impact of President Kennedy's speech at Rice Stadium on the controversial decision to direct money of the United States towards building a preeminent space program lies in the eloquence and universality with which he weaves his appeal. Through analogies as well as acknowledging and addressing the concerns of those dubious towards the idea of space exploration, Kennedy crafts a persuasive argument, solidified by references to prior explorations and details of economic incentives.