Eisenhower's Speech Analysis

John F. Kennedy’s inauguration speech was considered one of the most inspirational speeches in American history. He gave the speech to bolster the fighting spirit and act as an inspiration for the Americans. The reason for this is quite simple actually. He used stylistic devices extensively in his speech to boldly proclaim his intentions. He has proven himself resourceful in his usage of stylistic devices such as antithesis, parallelism, pathos, and ethos. He uses them to fully express his message and to gain the attention and the support of his people in a patriotic fashion. One of the examples of his use of antithesis is when Kennedy is referring to “a new generation of Americans” where he vividly shows the separation between the old and

Robert Kennedy established common ground with his audience to unify them and make them all equal by using parallelism. In the beginning of his speech, Kennedy claimed the country would have a tendency to divide into “black people amongst blacks, and whites amongst whites” after the news of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. He purposefully pointed out the racial differences and their desire to divide to convey to the audience the need to unify as a country in this difficult time. To unite his audience further, Kennedy ended his speech by saying “the vast majority of white people and the cast majority of black people” want to unify and live together in peace. The audience needed to understand that a large majority of people in the country want peace between the races, despite the recent events suggesting otherwise. The speech was trying to convince them to stand with the majority of people in the United States who want peace and not give in to their immediate violent impulses.

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.

Prior to John F. Kennedy’s inauguration was, of course, the election of 1960, in which Kennedy went face to face with Richard Nixon on issues such as, the Cold War, Kennedy’s religious beliefs, and the display of each’s competence. In Kennedy’s inaugural address, he not only alludes, but also addresses to the Cold War, and makes mention of his future plans and Roman Catholic religious beliefs; and, he does so through use of allusions and anaphoras. Through the use of allusions and anaphoras, Kennedy effectively achieves his purpose of fulfilling citizen’s expectations, addressing the Cold War, and stating the United States’s future plans to his audience, the United States of America and other nations, through emphasis and rhetorical appeals towards pathos and ethos.

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.

When John F. Kennedy gave his inaugural address after he took office, “the United States and the Soviet Union were stockpiling nuclear weapons, creating the possibility of a disastrous war that could destroy the earth” (Kennedy). His speech evoked a sense of security and a spirit of idealism which reassured Americans of their nation's strengths and inspired them to serve their country and the world. During this time period this reassurance was crucial since many thoughts were focused on when the skies will be filled with mushroom clouds. This is an example of subjective freedom. Although no country provoked this cold war, citizens of these countries were locked in subjective imprisonment. In essence, Kennedy’s speech help the key that unlocked this cage and allowed the people of America to have mental

John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech is certainly one to remember. It’s memorable not for its length, but for the effective content that it beholds. He entices readers by the use of strong rhetoric techniques. His inaugural analyzes style of writing, such as diction, tropes, schemes, and syntax, and applies the concept of it effectively throughout the speech. A reader performs rhetorical analysis to examine how authors attempt to persuade their audiences by looking at the various components that make up the art of persuasion. Moreover, it is most essential to be able to understand the relationship among the speaker, subject, and audience, which President Kennedy adequately exploits in his speech.

On the 40th anniversary of D-Day, Ronald Reagan made a speech to honor the soldiers who so bravely fought for our country in World War II. In his speech, A Vow to Our Dead, Reagan uses parallel syntax and 3 unique tones to communicate his purposes to commemorate the American and allied heroes of the Second World War, to convey America’s desire for peace to the Soviet Union, and to unite the allies.

On snowy, freezing cold January morning in 1961, five hundred thousand people lined Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The temperature was only twenty-two degrees Fahrenheit and eight inches of snow blanketed the ground in the American capitol that morning, causing even more traffic than usual, but that didn’t stop these hundreds of thousands of people from attending John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s inauguration ceremony. Little did they know, they would be hearing one of the most famous and memorable speeches of all time. Out of all forty five presidents, the inaugural address that American citizens would remember more than all the rest was that of John F. Kennedy. But what made it so memorable? After all, each president has given at least one, sometimes even two or more, inaugural address. Kennedy’s speech was neither the most elaborate nor the longest; it had one thousand three hundred and sixty four words and took thirteen minutes and fifty five seconds to read and it used relatively simple language. The importance of the address laid not in the length or the intricacy, but in the theme and the rhetoric. With figurative language, themes of unity and freedom, and appeal to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos, Kennedy’s address became not only one of the most memorable inaugural addresses, but one of the most memorable speeches of all time.

President Kennedy utilizes rhetorical appeals and a variety of figurative language to formally express his beliefs and goals in a strong and eloquent manner.

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

Similarly, Robert Kennedy’s speech also concerns with the assassination of a great man – civil activist Martin Luther King. In his speech, Kennedy, as in Mark Antony’s eulogy, also uses repetition, especially anaphora, to augment and stress the purpose of his speech – that peace and solidarity, instead of anger and division, should be the response to such a devastating event. In his speech, he describes the appropriate course of action in response the recent assassination, “What we need in the United States is not division;” urges Kennedy, “what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and

In his farewell address to the American people, President Dwight David Eisenhower enumerated his fears for the country. More than this, he told the American people that it was their responsibility to be vigilant, to ensure that the government acted for the betterment of the American people and not for the politicians who held office. During this address, President Eisenhower gave a warning to both the citizens of the United States and to the leaders of the nation. It is all too easy to fall into patterns and to allow for others to acquire power beyond the parameters of what is either fair or just. The only means of fighting the potential challengers of freedom and justice both within and without the United States is vigilance and dedication to independence and personal freedoms.

Obama’s use of parallelism brings the speech together and implies a sense of power and instruction.

The overall theme in this speech unifies the whole speech. JFK's speech shows a theme of progression. This is the perfect theme for an innaugural speech because the whole goal of the country is to progress as a whole once a new president is elected. He shows this theme of rhetoric in his quote, "We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom—symbolizing an end as well as a beginning—signifying renewal as well as change" (JFK). He uses the word, "we" and "progress" to help signify unity. Repition is combined into the speech to make the theme stand out. "Let both sides" (JFK). is a start to a few paragraphs in this speech, these three words combine the two political parties and is the start of progress and teamwork to making this country stronger. Last but not least, the most important quote in this speech is, "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country" (JFK). This famous quote is appealing to the mind because one, JFK says "my fellow Americans" enforcing the fact