American Ideals Of Patriotism And Unity

In 1962 President John F. Kennedy gave a speech about the rising steel prices. Throughout his speech he uses many kinds of rhetorical strategies; some include, anaphora , alliteration, and rhetorical appeals. By using these three rhetorical strategies Kennedy's speech was able to be connected to the audience very well.

A leader should be able to diagnose problems in his country and effectively navigate his people safely through that trouble-spot. President John F . Kennedy was a great leader, who was able to lead the United States through several crises. One prime example of his navigational skills through such hardships is in his dealings with the rise in steel prices in 1962. In his news conference, on the issue of steel price, President Kennedy uses parallelism and juxtaposition to create the idea that the increase in price from the steel companies is detrimental to the United States' economy.

In the early nineteen sixties the United States of America was coming out of a recession. On April 10, 1962 John F. Kennedy, the President of the United States of America at the time, gives a speech calling out the steel companies for raising their prices for personal gain. In his speech to the American public, Kennedy condemns steel company executives for their selfish, unjustifiable, and harmful hike in steel prices.

In the speech “The Spirit of Liberty ”Learned Hand says, ”Liberty lies in the heart of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much help.” I agree with Hand because if the people think they have no liberty and can never get it they won't fight for liberty. For me to be an American means to have freedom as a whole, equality, and justice.The most important Ideals related to being an American are equality, freedom and justice

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.

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

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.

A question most fascinating to me is where in history does the first hint of American ideals and identities originate from? If we were to look at where the fiery passions of an American identity first arise we have to look to where the colonists first fought for their right to be a recognized citizen of America. American colonists formed their identity through the ideas of liberty, resistance to unfair British jurisdiction, and cultural diversity. Their identities formed between the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War as these two events deeply brought out what the colonist’s ideals were and what they fought for so passionately. Between these years 1763 and 1775 we see the first American ideals being born in the colonies. An example of such ideals is the want and need for Liberty. A reason for wanting liberty was that British control suppressed the lives of the people living in America and over time grew harder for colonists to live with. Americans are revered to have a passionate patriotic view of their country and this is true as it is seen throughout history but in my research I will try to explain where these ideals first arose.

On April 10, 1962, the United States steel companies decided to raise the price of steel by 3.5 percent during one of the nation’s most traumatic wars that affect the veterans still to this day: the Vietnam War. To put things in perspective, steel prices have effects on nearly everything, such as the cost of homes, the cost of appliances, and the cost of building infrastructures. President Kennedy had been calling for stable and affordable steel prices for a long time at this point in time; however, the steel companies still raised the price. The day after the increase in steel prices, President Kennedy held a news conference to call out the steel companies. In this news conference, President John F. Kennedy delivers a speech that employs several rhetorical devices, specifically repetition, ethos, and pathos in order to incite the audience to protest against the steel companies; which would, in turn, inflict pressure on the steel companies to lower the cost of steel.

As the United States was emerged from a recession, many of the large steel companies decided to monopolize steel prices by raising it 3.5 percent, which would lead to President Kennedy responding to the businesses actions. On April 11, 1962, Kennedy in a news conference would go onto shaming the steel prices brought by these corporations, especially after asking in a program of national sacrifice to help stable prices and wages. His usage of rhetorical strategies such as unifying diction, the literary device of pathos, and a disapproving tone in order to achieve his purpose of not only reversing the increase of steel prices to normal but also disgrace their actions.

Moreover in the speech, John F. Kennedy uses pathos to provoke emotion by saying, “...confronted with grave crises...asking Reservists to leave their homes and family…” This portion of the speech also uses allusion because this Reservist issue is a well known problem and he chooses to address it. Kennedy also provides use for ethos by providing real, worldwide example of crises. The tone of this speech switches over to how consequences play a role in this issue, “...increase costs of homes, autos, appliances…” which is used in place to create a reminder, or alarm, to foreshadow the future of American citizens negatively if steel companies continue to keep those high prices or continue to raise them. Kennedy portrays the impact by saying, “185 million Americans…” are going to have to sacrifice parts of their lives for the selfish desires of greedy steel companies.

By the eve of the American Revolution, the colonists had unknowingly developed an identity that was neither English nor American but was instead a mixture of the two. The American side of this new identity can be seen in the religious freedom that was promoted in the colonies, their self-governance, and their quasi-independence from Britain when it came to trade. However, although there was this new identity forming, colonists still thought of themselves as English and asked people to address them as such. This led to complications during the events leading up to the American Revolution in which

In April of 1962, John F Kennedy addressed the American public and the American steel companies over the groundless rise in steel prices. In John F Kennedy’s commentary on steel companies in America, Kennedy utilizes a disgusted tone in order to remind that greed hurts everyone.

Although the American people have always been patriotic, younger generations are becoming less patriotic, specifically in that they are less likely to say that America is the greatest country in the world. There are many factors behind this decline in patriotism, but they are primarily rooted in global politics and contemporary American society. Younger generations have not experienced the world as the older generations have, causing them to have a different view of the world around them.

As President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, an excellent public speaker as observed in his inaugural address where he first established support for the people in his most famous quote, “ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country,” still continues to strive to safeguard the public interest. The large steel companies, or better known as the steel giants, many which were monopolies such as U.S. Steel, threatened the nation’s economic stability by raising the price of steel while America emerged from a recession. In response to this, Kennedy held a news conference on April 11, 1962, where he publicly condemned the steel giants for ignoring the call for stable prices and wages. The President uses sharp