Throughout his speech, John F. Kennedy strives to rebuild a sense of unity between him and those suffering from the recent recession; he continually uses the word “we” as opposed to “you” to support his goal of homogeneity. Kennedy repeatedly condemns steel companies for raising their prices and pities Americans for being victims of an unanticipated recession by refering to “the industry” as “them” rather than us. This apparent separation of “we” versus “them” justifies Kennedy’s purpose further; our nation can overcome this period of economic distress by uniting against the common enemy. To further his cause, Kennedy calls for Americans to unite and liberate themselves from the oppression of unjust finances in the steel industry. Kennedy persuades Americans to support his cause and argues against the risen price of steel by appealing to pathos, using constant repetition, and evoking patriotism amongst his people. Regardless of this recession’s severity, the people of America have experienced worse events. Kennedy understands his nation’s apprehension and appeals to pathos to remind them of the power of unification. …show more content…
As their president, he wants everyone to feel like they are being respected by the various companies and industries that make up the economy. However, Kennedy’s goal is not to make his country frightful of their current economic state; he aspires for everyone to unite and overcome a common enemy. Kennedy uses his news conference to deliver a speech providing hope for the future of America and evoke a sense of pride among his nation. To do so, he appeals to pathos, uses repetition for emphasis on certain matters, and rallies together the people of the United States to enact acts of patriotism. Kennedy aspires to rescue his nation from this economic recession and he plans to do so by uniting his nation against a common enemy—the steel
In the final paragraph, President Kennedy connects everything together to reach the conclusion. He creates a judgemental and disappointed tone when discussing what “a few gigantic corporations have decided to” do rather than what “they could” do. He once again paints this narrative that steel companies don’t act out of public interest, and that the the audience must force them to. The “Steel Workers Union”, “Department of Justice”, “Federal Trade Commission”, and “the Department of Defense” can “be proud” of what they are doing, however, it is not enough. This is key in Kennedy’s speech, because it is the final reason why the public needs to retaliate against the recent greedy actions of steel corporations.
He used a very selective vocabulary, purposely using emotionally charged words such as: “wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance” (lines 4-5), “ruthless disregard” (line 82), and “restraint and sacrifice” (lines 14-15). By using words with strong connotation, he powers the emotions of his audience once again directing support for himself and appearing as the calm figurehead amongst the emotional chaos. He also makes his speech very personal by mentioning individual American families, literally using the phrase “every American family” (line 25). He appeals to the strong sense of patriotism in the American public by mentioning the four servicemen who died in Vietnam. Despite the fact that they are almost completely unrelated to the rise in steel prices and, if they were alive, would be unaffected by the rise in price, either. And yet, Kennedy mentions the servicemen to make the situation appear that much more dire. By mentioning the tragic deaths of these men, Kennedy aims to trigger a strong emotional response in his audience that would turn into support for
In paragraph two he states ”when we are confronted with grave crisis in Berlin and Southeast Asia, when we are devoting our energies to economic recovery and stability, when we are asking reservists to leave their homes and families for months on end…” President Kennedy starts each of his statements with “when we are” to address the sacrifices the people are making while the steel companies prioritizes in this dark hour, which shows they don’t care about their nation. He then shows us how this would be worsened even further if the steel companies maintained the high prices. Kennedy also states “It would make it more difficult for American goods to compete in foreign markets, more difficult to withstand competition from foreign imports, and thus more difficult to improve our balance of payments position…” He then repeatedly starts off with the phrase “more difficult.” This repetition, incorporated with facts, proves his point that the steel companies were unpatriotic and greedy because he shows how much trouble and difficulty the rise in steel companies would cause. Besides using the strategy of repeating words and phrases, Kennedy also uses statistics to achieve his argument.
Kennedy, in his speech appeals mostly to logos by using hards facts and statistics. For example, in line 20 he explains how the inflation of steel is affecting “185 million Americans”. He continues using logos throughout his speech when he introduces Sect of Defense McNamara and tells the American people the steel inflation would an “estimated one billion dollars to cost of defenses, at a time when every dollar is needed for national security”. However, this is also an
It was on January 20th 1961 that John F Kennedy gave his inaugural address after winning the presidential race and beating future president Richard Nixon. President, John F Kennedy in his speech, The Inaugural Address, he describes his plans for growth in America. Kennedy’s purpose is unite the people of the U.S. and bring everyone together for the good cause of promoting growth in the country. He creates a very inspirational tone in order to establish a connection with the U.S. people. In his speech Kennedy really used several rhetorical strategies of persuasion to motivate and persuade the U.S. people that they made the right choice in choosing him.
He has the audience infer that the steel companies raising their prices was what they were doing for their country, and what they were doing was not helping like Kennedy has wished. This reference back to something that had a huge impact on many people strengthens Kennedy’s point of view and helps him achieve his
John F Kennedy delivered one of the finest speeches on January 20, 1961 after being sworn into office. His inauguration speech was so powerful that it captured the entire nations attention, and quotes from it are still remembered by people today. It is one of the finest speeches ever written. It provides a strong appeal to pathos, ethos and logos, and it is because of this that people who never heard the speech can quote lines from it.
This speech proves that Kennedy had a way with words and knew the best way to get a message across. He clearly expressed his feelings but did so without letting them take over. He didn’t scream or shout, but showed he could handle his anger while still letting it shine through. Kennedy used the three appeals, strong diction and syntax, and a well-organized structure of his ideas to convey his purpose; Raise anger in Americans and side with them, while making the steel companies feel guilty for their
In conclusion, this speech was structured beautifully. Its use of figurative and expressive language makes it an unforgettable speech. Kennedy does a great job of using pathos, ethos, and logos to reiterate his commitment to the American public as well as discuss expected changes. Given the state of the world at the time of his inauguration, the decision to rely so heavily on pathos and ethos was a wise one which got the job done. His use of the rhetoric triangle effectively conveys Kennedy’s plan for America to not only her citizens, but to the world.
He does this for the reason that he wants to reiterate that American virtues are at the foundations of the people and not the government. Furthermore he creates his earnest tone through parallelism, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” This is earnest on the grounds that he not only shows what they need to do, but shows them what they have been doing wrong. His tone was also contemplative in the fact that Kennedy reflects on the issue of nuclear war and the consequences that it entails. The mention of a nuclear crisis intentionally unites everyone, both Republicans and Democrats, in a common goal to defeat a tangible enemy.
John F. Kennedy’s central argument in his inaugural speech is that America needs to act. During this time the Cold War was occurring, causing both America and the Soviet Union to compete in an arms race to see who could make the most nuclear weapons. Kennedy states that America needs to fight for freedom while also negotiating peace with communist countries, especially the Soviet Union. Kennedy does not want a nuclear war to occur so he wants peace before another world war happens. Kennedy also talks about helping the poor people in other countries. In the end Kennedy urges American citizens to help out in any way they can. Even though Kennedy does use pathos and ethos more than logos, it is the combination of all three that make his argument
Hand asked in his speech “In that spirt of liberty and of America I ask you to rise with me, pledge our faith in the glorious destiny of our beloved country.” During Hand’s time, America was in civil war, Hand wanted to refrain the country’s faith and unite the people. But Kennedy had a bigger goal, as he became the president of the United States, he wants to help all that is struggling to gain their freedom. “Let every nation know, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty...to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty... Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas.” Kennedy wants to improve the government so it can protect the rights of the people. Hand asked for people to be with him in the fight for their freedom; though, Kennedy placed a request for all nations to support the fight against
During the early 1960’s, the United States was emerging from a recession. Many people were struggling, but some big businesses were taking advantage of the economic distress. On April 11th, 1962, President John F. Kennedy held a news conference to talk about such big businesses, namely, steel companies. President Kennedy criticized these companies for increasing the price of steel by 3.5 percent. By appealing compellingly to logos, effectively to pathos, and rivetingly to ethos, President John F. Kennedy argues that the price increase of steel during the hard times by large companies has been a blatant disregard for their public responsibilities during an emerging recession.
(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 rouse this patriotic spirit.... ...
After World War II, tensions between the United States, its allies, and the Soviet Union became very apparent. When John F. Kennedy (JFK) was elected in 1960, this “Cold War” between the communist government of the Soviet Union and the democratic government of the United States had strained relationships around the world for over 15 years. After losing their sense of security, the American people elected John F. Kennedy in 1960 as the 35th President of the United States because they believed he could lead the country to peace and prosperity. Although President Kennedy knew these goals of peace and prosperity would not be achieved in the term of his presidency or his lifetime, he also knew the world could eventually accomplish them through