John F Kennedy's Ethos Pathos Logos

John F. Kennedy will always be remembered for two things; his triumphant inauguration and his tragic assassination. After being sworn in, Kennedy gave the traditional inaugural speech. He addressed America, as well as the rest of the world, to inform them what his intentions were during his presidency. By referencing current events such as the Cold War, he was able to identify dilemmas in need of a remedy. Kennedy's overall message was meant to inspire his nation and convey strength and hope to the world abroad. At the beginning of his speech, Kennedy condensed his message. He stated the problems in need of fixing during his presidency while also proposing solutions for them. By doing this, Kennedy was able to evoke confidence from Americans that he will follow through with his claims. Kennedy used anaphora, allusions, and emotional appeal to create an effective argument in the first half of his inaugural speech.

In 1961, John F. Kennedy sought to inspire the nation in the Inaugural Address, by sending a message abroad signaling the challenges of the Cold War and his hope for peace in the nuclear age addressing not only Americans but to people all over the world. In his speech, he used many rhetorical devices, such as metaphor and anaphora, to make his speech effective, easier to understand by being brief, and captivating his audience. A metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things or the representation of one thing by another. John F. Kennedy’s speech is composed of short phrases and words, making it easy to understand. By comparing two unrelated things, his message to the audience is even stronger.

On Friday, January 20, 1961, in the midst of physical cold and mental Cold War fears, John F. Kennedy gave his inaugural address to the citizens of America and the world, assuring his audience that peace will prevail, and that America, as a unified superpower, will lead the world once again into a new era of peace. His speech, infused with rhetorical appeals, has an anxious and discontent tone, calling for change and the implementation of his vision. To express his vision, Kennedy used various tools such as anaphoras, diction, and antithesis to form rhetorical appeals that effectively communicate his vision of peace.

Throughout Kennedy’s speech you can see many different types of these devices first off, I would like to bring your attention to parallelism. The definition of Parallelism is “Uses of words or phrases in a similar structure”. In his speech he come right out of the gate in the first 5-6 paragraphs and begins to show this. For example on Page (283) Kennedy says, “To those who old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty for old faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of co-operative (SAS) ventures. Divided, there is little we can do, for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder”. Furthermore he then directly goes into his next statement by saying “To those”. I also think that one of the man reasons his speech captivated not only America's people but many other nations, was due to how he connected with the audience.

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.

This previous knowledge and image of JFK builds up his ethos before the address was even given. The speech has many quotes that are still well remembered and hold a deep impact in many American lives today. Most notably was the qoute, “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”(JFK Library). This quote is a prime example of how JFK bridges appeals, pathos and logos, it creates a middle ground and commonality between JFK and the citizens. Also the sense of patriotism brought from this quote is a great example of pathos.

Prior to 1962, America was beginning to combat its recession. In an attempt to accelerate the process, President John F. Kennedy called upon the nation, to make sacrifices for the benefit of this country. Now, Kennedy is forced to address the nation once again to secure his beliefs, by using diction, repetition, appeals to authority, logic, and emotional appeals. Kennedy’s speech stirred the nation and furthered his dream because of his strategies.

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.

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.

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

President Kennedy conveys to the audience about the subject of unity through the rhetorical device known as Ethos. An author that is credible or well-known is likely to persuade an audience into believing his argument, as this is what ethos essentially is. Throughout the speech Kennedy addresses numerous topics and goals he has in mind during his time in the oval office. The result of this speech leads to Kennedy’s legacy being world peace due to the countless mentions of peacetime within the speech. Kennedy mentions the topic of peace in hopes of gaining the support of Americans due to the extreme

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.

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 John F. Kennedy discusses the rise in steel prices in a news conference on April 11, 1962. In this conference, he maintains a strong diction in order to convey a critical tone towards the steel companies. He also includes himself within his audience - which was the American people of the time - to appeal to them and show that he is just as mad about this as they were. He combines logos and pathos to appeal to his audience in order to get to the steel companies directly. He connects directly with his audience in order to bring into light the greed of the steel companies at the time and put a stop to it.

An analysis of John F. Kennedy reveals a myriad of ideas that he had for the people of America. This is despite the rhetoric that was present in his speech; three dominant themes emerged from his Inaugural address. These are freedom, leadership and the use of rhetoric in addressing multitudes.