The death of a president in office is often a pivotal time for a nation. The people of that nation can choose from a host of ways to deal with the situation. The most powerful rhetoric after such a loss often comes not in words, but in pictures. These photographs can make more powerful arguments, more subtly than words ever could.
On November 22, 1963, President John F Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald mortally wounded the president with three shots fired from the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository. President Kennedy was pronounced dead half an hour later at a Dallas hospital. Three days later, Kennedy’s body was transported in a horse-drawn caisson from the Capitol Rotunda to St. Matthews Catholic Cathedral and on to Arlington Cemetery--followed by a riderless black horse--while over one hundred thousand people watched along the streets. Leaders from nearly one hundred nations were present at the state funeral.
The argument, or text, in question is a black and white photograph of a riderless horse that marched in the funeral procession for President John F Kennedy taken by Joel Aronson on November 25, 1963. The title is simple and caption like due to the fact that it ran in The Dallas Morning News: “John F Kennedy’s Riderless Horse”. There are empty boots hanging backwards in the stirrups and the horse is being led by a member of the military in full dress. The main focal point of the photograph is the horse, however the photo also incorporates members of the crowd who are presumably watching the funeral procession. Most of the crowd appear to be dressed for a funeral or other somber occasion. The key concepts of Bitzer’s method work well to analyze the rhetor...
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... subject matter. A wider angle or color photo would have diminished the strength of the argument by shifting the focus. The style of the photograph is important to the argument. The use of black and white photography is more dramatic and lends a more somber tone. It also allows for more contrast between the black horse and the background. The angle that the photograph was taken at is also important because it causes the sunlight to highlight the horse and the backward boot. The lighting also causes the crowd to fade into the background which further highlights the horse and handler.
This photograph serves as an effective piece of rhetoric. It responds to the death of President Kennedy in a way that allows individual viewers to eulogize the fallen and perhaps find closure. It also provides a tribute to the president in a way that’s not too heavy handed or obvious.
In the fall of 1963 Kennedy’s Administration was preparing campaigns for the election of 1964 in hopes of bringing the fragile Texas Democratic Party closer. The Kennedys headed to Dallas on the morning of November 22, 1963 to attend a scheduled luncheon. On that tragic day President Kennedy was assassinated in a senseless act of violence. Within the next few hours, Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president. In the midst of a grieving country, he was given the duty of handling a transition in leadership and presenting an acceptance speech before Congress. LBJ gave his acceptance speech of the U.S. presidency in front of Congress just five short days after John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Expectations were high but then again no one knew what was to come of LBJ as president. In a time of much confusion throughout the country, it was his responsibility to reassure the American people about the nations’ immediate future and how he would handle the unfinished business and social issues that JFK had begun.
On Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, John Kennedy hoped to gain support for the upcoming election. Kennedy, who was accompanied by his wife Jaqueline, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and Mrs. Johnson, Senator Ralph Yarborough of Texas, Governor John B. Connally, and Mrs. Connally was riding in an open car in a motorcade driving from Love Field airport to the Dallas Trade Mart (“Kennedy”). At 12:30 p.m. CST, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot (“Kennedy”). The fearless John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy seemed to know that death would eventually arrive at his doorstep, as it did. Although one shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, was able to slay the president, questions still remain if he was the one and only shooter. Many unanswered questions and mysterious claims suggest that Oswald was not the lone shooter, but that a second shooter was able to assist in the assassination of Kennedy.
That White penned this essay with editorial suggestion and oversight from the grieving First Lady was reported around the time of the piece and is also widely available background information now. Together, White and Kennedy strove to inform readers about the impact of JFK’s death and his approach to the presidency overall, with Kennedy adding an element of persuasion since it is she who persistently drove home the first-ever “Camelot” references.1 White and Kennedy’s meeting Jackie’s initial interview after her husband’s death. At the time the essay was published, the audience was every LIFE subscriber and prospective reader in America and around the
Evident throughout his entire address, Kennedy employs a cogent pathos appeal to keep his audience intrigued. This can be demonstrated when Kennedy initially proclaims: “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans…” who he urges to be “unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of…human rights to which this nation has always been committed…” (Kennedy). Kennedy’s usage of “we” rather than “I” gives the audience a sense that they exist as part of something big, perhaps a family, while portraying Kennedy as a people’s president who desires to be a “person in the crowd.” Throughout his address, Kennedy establishes pathos mainly by appealing to American patriotism, a significant concept during the Cold War period in which Americans needed a jingoistic spirit to succeed. By reminding his audience of their forefathers and instigating parallels between “the first revolution” and the present generation, “born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage,” the president grasps the attention of the audience. He even stresses the value of liberty and this generation’s dedication to the survival of that value to rou...
As emblematic representatives of their country, U.S. Presidents exercise their beliefs and concepts regularly through the use of eloquence. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected president of the United States in 1960. Kennedy became president during times of great danger and fear for the nation of America, and others around the globe. With Communism being further more popular, and large weapon’s being frequently produced all around the world, the people of America needed a new premier commander. As the youngest elected official to ever govern the White House, Kennedy wanted to show his genuineness as a ruler, and verify that his presidency would lead to great hope and future. The president’s inaugural address allows the president to lay out his
Forty-fourth president Barack Obama on August 29, 2009 presents a eulogy for Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy a few days after his passing. Obama’s purpose is to pay tribute to Ted and all of the good he has done. While employing pathos, altruism, and some anger, he adopts a respectful tone in order to look back with the Kennedy family and treasure him one more time.
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He was assassinated by well known stage actor John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, while Abraham attending a play, “Our American Cousin,” at the ford theater in Washington D, C. This paper will examine the reason behind the assassination which were victory of the North in Civil War, and the rumor that Lincoln was going to abolish slavery. Therefore, Booth decided to kill Abraham Lincoln who was the symbol of the Union and Freedom.
The Civil Rights Address given by John F Kennedy was an influential and moving speech that sought to free blacks from the on growing oppression in the United States. John F Kennedy’s speech was given to address the American public on the brutality of discrimination. His point was to convince the public that is was time to give the blacks the rights the constitution gives them. The picture I chose to go with it also revolves around the Civil Rights movement and is title “I am a man”. This picture shows a large group of African American man holding signs saying “I am a man”. Both JFK’s Speech and the picture “I am a man” utilize the appeals to convince readers of a specific side. For JFK’s Speech he seems to use all three approached to convince us that discrimination is just as cruel and vile as slavery. As for the photo “I am a man” it uses the approach of only pathos to communicate the point.
In many ways John F. Kennedy’s decision to have this speech as well as the contents itself, reflected how he was instrumental to success in keeping the public calm. The president could hav...
After clinching the victory of the election in 1960, it was time for Kennedy to start planning for his second presidential race. Part of his plan was to tour the country campaigning in hopes of being reelected. The tour led him to five cities in Texas including Dallas. One of his main objectives was to bring democrats together because Texas was a crucial state to get him reelected. Upon their arrival in Dallas, JFK and his wife joined the governor and his wife in a limousine. With the vice president and his wife in a car behind them, the motorcade was scheduled to make a ten mile tour through the city. The tour of the city was to end at the Trade Mart where JFK was scheduled to speak at a luncheon. Before the motorcade could reach it’s destination, the president was shot in the head and the governor was shot in the chest. The car went quickly to the hospital, which was very close to the scene. The governor was able to recover from being shot, but Kennedy died at the hospital at approximately 1:00. JFK’s body was loaded onto Air Force One. Before taking off, Lyndon B. Johns...
The introductory scene includes an image of a smiling Johnson and at the end a smirking close-up of Kennedy that is accompanied by a buildup of noise that seems to explode as the image of Kennedy rises. It then jumps to a scene of animated posters that read “Kennedy” and smiling soldiers and women — one in specific wearing a campaign hat—and then as the first line of the jingle comes in, pictures of President Kennedy, that appear to taken during his speeches, appear. The first image is one of posters with his silhouette with a caption that reads, “PRESIDENT”, in the other images he is always smiling and looking absorbed by his work, they too are accompanied by single captions that read: “a time for greatness”, “leader of the 60s”, “greatness”, and “vote democratic”. These frames are accompanied by the personalized Jingle that at first chants “Kennedy, Kennedy for me” repeatedly up until the first line of the first verse, this is timed to start at the moment the images of Kennedy begin, that sings: “do you want a man for President who’s seasoned through and through? But not so dog-goned season he won’t try something new? A man who 's old enough to know, and young enough to do?” The frame that follows the images of the President introduces pictures of a group of African-Americans, senior citizens, what appears to be college students, and soldiers smiling together, with the words “its up to you, strictly up to you” being chanted in the background by another group of unseen
The year of 1963 would be the year that would forever be remembered as the time when President John Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. On a warm Friday afternoon in downtown Dallas, perched on the top floor of the Texas School Book Depositary, Lee Harvey Oswald set aim on one of the more popular presidents of all time. This event impacted the history of the United States, and is one of the most talked about killings of all time.
...ntroversial photograph in a different light as he cuts to several scenes in which the photo’s fabrication takes place. Siding with Oswald, Stone again promotes the case that Oswald was not Kennedy’s assassin. Because of the deceit, characters both in and out of the movie recognize the possible falsehood of Oswald’s conviction. This gives them the option to formulate opinions of their own, for the two notions they are familiar with are now equal in likelihood.
“If a free society can not help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”(Kennedy, 1961) Statements such as these demonstrate how Kennedy appealed to the citizens by simply using reason. The use of logos in his speech was minimal compared to the use of pathos, and ethos.
When initially looking at the iconic black and white photo, I saw a woman and two children. After closely examining the image, I was then able to see the