Jfk Inaugural Speech Analysis

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.

Eleanor Clift’s, Inside Kennedy’s Inauguration, 50 Years On, had the same overall style of unity as Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961, yet took a much different approach to transmit this style. Clift’s technique included the use of prolonged, personal accounts from citizens during JFK‘s inauguration, and the use of pathos. Personal accounts such as one from Richard Goodwin stating, “Dick, did you see the Coast Guard contingent in the parade? There was not a single black face in that delegation, and I want you to do something about it right away.”, emphasizes Goodwins trust in Kennedy to unify races. Clift also added pathos throughout dialogue between Rep. Charles Buckley and Seigenthaler that articulates ”What’s the best inaugural you’ve been to?” he asked. “the one we’re going to tomorrow,” said Rep. Charles Buckley’s New York. … “ We forgot, looking back on it, how powerful the anti-Catholic effort was,” Seigenthaler says now. “There were frozen tears of joy in the cheeks of Irish Catholics that day.” While adding another source for reliability, Clift also used a rhetorical device to emphasize not only Kennedy’s goal for unity, but her inclusive style of unity.

JFK uses anaphoras all throughout the speech as a way to establish a connection with the common people. This intelligent approach works because anaphoras base themselves off of repetition of a beginning phrase such as we; therefore JFK's use of the repeated words we, fellow, our, and both sides causes any person listening to feel connected with the president. This only adds to JFK's purpose of trying to unite America towards a singular positive goal because the people feel as though the new president is one of them; and the new president will have their best interest at hand. Moreover, JFK proves this with his statement, "...we dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution." This not only unites the people but creates a call for action to unite like the founding fathers. This furthers the sense of equality created through anaphoras because it establishes that everyone shares a connection through their ancestors. By connecting to the founding fathers, and to people themselves, JFK keeps a

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.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, arguably one of our greater presidents in our nation’s history, was assassinated on a Friday in the early stages of winter in 1963; however, he had accomplished much more than a man with lesser courage could have in his services to our country. One of President Kennedy’s most memorable actions while in office, actually took place very early on in his presidency; his Inaugural Speech in January of 1961. When attempting to motivate our citizens, Kennedy speaks of our citizens being “tempered by war,” and “proud of our ancient heritage,” he very successfully appeals to the emotions of his audience. Furthermore, his use of ethos quite effective when he speaks of

The tone of JFK’s speech is reassuring and inspirational. Kennedy's diction along with many imperative sentences instills a high spirited feeling in the reader, while becoming very personal. Through the use of parallelisms and anaphoras Kennedy arrives as a confident president while constantly questioning the reader what he or she is or can be doing to for the peace of our word. By remaining extremely inspirational Kennedy is able to demand from the reader in a very personal uplifting

“John F. Kennedy will always be remembered for two things- how his presidency started and how it ended.” As the thirty-fifth president, John F. Kennedy presented the citizens of the United States with an inaugural speech on January 20, 1961. His memorable speech consisted of goals Kennedy was determined to achieve in order to promote peace. Standing on the podium before his audience, Kennedy spoke with certainty and confidence. Because of his appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos, John F. Kennedy gained the people’s trust. The rhetorical devices of allusions, juxtaposition, antitheses, anaphora, and parallelism, emphasizes his primary goal of uniting the nation using strength and power, eventually leading to the establishment of a presence in the world abroad.

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

Compared to Kennedy’s speech, Eleanor Clift’s, “ Inside Kennedy’s Inauguration, 50 Years On,” utilizes a journalistic approach while still appealing to ethos and pathos to achieve her purpose. Clift establishes her credibility through the use of many direct quotes within her article rather than establishing shared values like within Kennedy’s speech. The article is structured so that each paragraph of the article is the recollection of a different person who attended; a different perspective of the inauguration is discussed each time in chronological order rather than the use of parallelism and climax. At the same time, Clift appeals to pathos, similar to Kennedy, but instead uses anecdotes rather than figurative language. An example of which is seen in the quote, “We forget, looking back on it, how powerful the anti-catholic was,” which states the difficulty Kennedy faced in the election due to his affiliation with Catholicism. The quote is then followed up further in the text with the quote, “We had to win in West Virginia to prove that a Catholic could win because there were so few Catholics there, only 1 or 2 percent.” A feeling of inspiration and respect toward Kennedy is created similar to the feelings patriotism stirred during his inauguration speech. Clift establishes her article in a different

On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy presented a world-famous inaugural speech. People all over the nation and world were overtaken with a feeling of new hope and inspiration. The three documents presented in this activity, John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech, Eleanor Clift’s “Inside Kennedy’s Inauguration, 50 Years On”, and the photo captured by the United States Army Signal Corps all convey the feelings felt during the moment of Kennedy’s inauguration. John Kennedy, Eleanor and the United States Army Corps all used different methods of style for influencing their audience, however they all had a similar purpose to draw out emotions from those reading and looking at their work.

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.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered one of the most important American speeches after being sworn in as president on January 20, 1961. His inauguration speech was so influential that it seized the nation’s attention, and quotes from it are still clearly remembered by people today. It is considered one of the best speeches ever written and ever delivered. It presents a strong appeal to pathos, ethos, and logos and accomplishes what any speaker strives for – it speaks straight to the heart of the audience and inspires people.

"Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country," is a well-known quote among Americans that has so much meaning behind it. John F. Kennedy was a president for the United States and loved among many American citizens. His speeches were always thought out and used many rhetoric devices to reel his audience in. Therefore, making his speeches brilliant and known the citizens of America. By going over the main points of rhetoric JFK used in his innagural speech like antithesis, pathos, and the theme one can realize how deep the speech actually is.

One of the most influential presidents in United States history, John F. Kennedy was a brilliant politician and public speaker. In his inaugural address, he sparked hope around the world by discussing the hardships faced by all of society in the present time and then leaving them with a message of freedom, power, and hope. This measure of impact is not achieved easily; Kennedy masterfully utilized the art of rhetoric to emphasize his message and win the hearts of his people. In the middle of the speech, he discusses the dangers of the modern world and his drive toward international peace and cooperation. These messages are stressed through his use of charismatic language to signify his vision of a new and better world.

Unlike Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961, Eleanor Clift’s, Inside Kennedy’s Inauguration, 50 Years On, used only pathos and personal accounts from citizens to narrate their similar overall style of unity persuasion. Clift added personal accounts such as one from Richard Goodwin stating, “Dick, did you see the Coast Guard contingent in the parade? There was not a single black face in that delegation, and I want you to do something about it right away.”, to emphasize Goodwins trust in Kennedy to unify races. This statement, concluded that the author had faith in Kennedy, and was persuading her audience to do so too. Pathos was also utilized briefly throughout the dialogue between Rep. Charles Buckley and Seigenthaler that articulates ”What’s the