Don 't Let Steel Corporations Forge Tyranny

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.

While the speech’s respectful eloquence is appropriate for the occasion of an inauguration, its youthful energy and look to the future make it distinctly John F. Kennedy’s. , The people of the United States desperately needed a boost in morale with ongoing tension of races, inequalities, the fight against communism and the cold war. The people were convinced that this war would be never ending, and believed in another inevitable war. From the beginning to the end of JFK’s speech, he uses a plethora of rhetorical devices to comfort the people and fill them with confidence.

Throughout his speech in which he scolds steel executives for increasing its price, Kennedy appeals to the audience’s sense of duty and disdain of avarice in order to unify himself within the American public while simultaneously creating distance from the wealthy and influential executives. Throughout the entire speech, Kennedy utilizes the first person “we” or “our,” therefore, including himself among his audience while addressing their hardships during this time of war. With this inclusion, he allows himself to appear innocent, wholly affected and enraged by the sudden decision of the steel executives to raise their prices; thus, he shares the same grievances and sacrifices as the audience, who are the victims of this situation. As he defends the American public, Kennedy heavily juxtaposes this idea of sacrifice with the executives’

Throughout his speech, he frequently makes comments expressing his disappointment in the steel companies, and how he feels they have betrayed the American people. In the introduction, Kennedy states, “Simultaneous actions of United States Steel and other steel corporations, increasing steel prices by some 6 dollars a ton, constitute a wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance of the public interest” (1-5). This quote demonstrates how Kennedy used his tone to take a stance on the issue, and let the steel companies know that he is outraged by their price increase. During this time period, Kennedy strongly believed that the American people and big businesses needed to work together to get out of the recession. In his final words, Kennedy says, “Some time ago I asked each American to consider what he would do for his country and I asked the steel companies. In the last 24 hours we had their answer” (107-110). In this quote, Kennedy is disapprovingly implying that the steel companies’ price increase is un-American and

Despite being a Harvard graduate and president of a nation, Kennedy associates himself with the discontented Americans as both “the American people will find it hard, as [he] do[es],” to accept the steel crisis. Throughout his speech, Kennedy’s use of dichotomous language such as “we”, “our,” “their,” and “they” allows Kennedy to vocalize that he and “185 million Americans” are facing this crisis together while painting the steel companies as their common enemy. Through his language, he adopts a wrathful yet sentimental tone in order to appeal to the shared feelings with his fellow American people. As a result, he is able to build the “us” versus “them” mentality amongst the American people to enhance the shared dissatisfaction towards the steel companies’ hike in steel prices. By employing forceful vocabulary, Kennedy elevates the “us” versus “them” mentality as he continues to pit the steel companies against “every American family.” He describes their actions as “unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance” to once again demonizes the steel companies as a threat towards American interest. By criticizing the steel companies, Kennedy removes himself and his Administration as responsible for the detriments caused by the steel companies, allowing him to further his dissociation from the greedy affluent and reassure the American people that he is on their

The first device that President John F. Kennedy uses to combat the issue of raising steel prices is parallelism. In the second paragraph of his speech, he begins listing outcomes of the dramatic increase in steel prices by saying, "...when we are confronted with grave crises in Berlin and Southeast Asia, when we are devoting out energies to economic recovery and stability, when we are asking Reservists to leave their homes and families for months on end, and servicemen to risk their lives..."(lines 6-12) This is an effective use of parallelism because he builds on the previous statement by starting out the one that follows with the same introduction: "...when we are..." He is trying to prove that America is in a crisis situation and the steel companies increasing their prices is only going to make the situation even worse. He is showing all of the sacrifices that people are making and proving to the steel companies that their high wages are going to have a very negative effect on a people who are sacrificing more than anyone would have ever expected for their country. The second example of parallelism is in the third paragraph of his speech, when he begins by saying, "...it would increase the cost of homes, autos, and appliances, and most other items for every American family. It would increase the cost of machinery and tools to every American businessman and farmer. It would seriously handicap out efforts to prevent an inflationary spiral from eating up the pensions of out older citizens, and our new gains in purchasing power."(lines 23-31) He is pleading to the steel companies to lower their prices through showing them examples

In John F Kennedy’s “Inaugural address”, he tries to bring the nation together by speaking confidently and powerful. Kennedy’s vigorous use of rhetorical devices including Antithesis, Reasoning, Emotional Appeal, Allusion, and Anaphora that contribute to the success of his speech. JFK uses these rhetorical devices to convey his ambitions and hopes for america as a nation in a whole. Also hoping for a pledge of peace; that we do not show weakness. In his hopes of coming together our acts individually would make us look and be stronger. Kennedy used his speech as a way to draw all of the audience in by pulling us together.

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.

Kennedy begins his speech expressing how “the world is very different” from what it used to be. He uses multiple rhetorical strategies that express and describe how he is going to lead their “very different” country by providing his audience with a sense of community. For example, Kennedy applies juxtaposition to his phrase, “United there is little we cannot do… Divided there is little we can do…” to compare what America can and can’t do when everyone is united. During the time when Kennedy was elected president, the Cold War was at peak of its period. He bravely announced that “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,” using the rhetorical strategy asyndeton. He uses this particular mechanism to attract his audience and give emphasis to the ideas he wants to communicate. He starts the phrase off with “we,” as he wishes to convey to his listeners that we are going to pay any price, that we are going to bear any burden, that

John F. Kennedy is one of the most influential presidents of modern times. From having an airport, schools, museums, and even libraries named after him, his legacy is still present today. What made Kennedy special was the way he spoke to the American people. Rather than being just a politician, Kennedy showed a human side to him. He connected with the people. This is one of the reasons why his approval ratings are some of the highest in recent history. Kennedy was very captivating when speaking to the American people. When criticizing major steel companies for raising steel prices, Kennedy uses parallel structure, ethos, and an urgent tone to convince not only the people, but steel companies as well, to not raise steel prices.

The ceremonial speech, his famous inaugural address, delivers numerous axioms and is a text that is referenced often in sixties culture through modern times. With a specific goal to comprehend the significance of this immunization, one must comprehend the era of our country at the time of Kennedy’s address and connect with what President Kennedy was enduring. By providing foundation data relating to the express of our union in 1961, I will discuss the tone of the discourse, the effect that President Kennedy's term played on our country, and the relevance of Kennedy’s famed address in today’s era

In John.F.Kennedy’s commentary on the prices of steel, he asserts his point with a very invective, serious tone but as the commentary progresses, he then switched to a more neutral, sincere choice of words. He continues on to say that “ increasing steel prices by some 6

To begin his speech Kennedy describes the steel company’s actions as greedy and unnecessary. He states that the steel companies disdainful action will only hurt the public. “Simultaneous and identical actions of United States Steel and other leading steel corporations, increasing steel prices by some 6 dollars a ton, constitute

John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, has become one of the most famous presidents in the nation's history due to his oratory skills and eloquence (Biane,2011). In this paper, we present an analysis the inaugural speech that he delivered in January 1961. Even though his Inaugural speech lasted less than fifteen minutes, the message that he saliently delivered was one that has continued to resonate in the very hearts of American citizens.

On June 30, 1961 JFK pledges to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Then in April of 1962 “US Steel announces that it is raising prices just weeks after President Kennedy convinced the steel workers union to temper its wage demands. Kennedy’s anger with US Steel is reported in the press and Attorney General Robert Kennedy adds further to business anxieties by convening a grand jury investigation of the steel giant. The stock market will fall in the following weeks, climaxing with a 6% drop on 28 May.” (Shmoop Editorial Team)