Kennedy Inaugural Address Comparison Essay

In the first half of his talk, Kennedy started each paragraph with a parallel structure. By using “to those” as a way of directly addressing different groups of people, he could more clearly identify with whom he would like to communicate his plan. The first group that he addressed was America's “old allies” (6). Throughout this section, he told the allies that America would be “faithful friends” (6) to them and that the U.S. needed to continue to be partners if everyone sought to have peace in the world. Kennedy expresses his plan for “new states” (7) in the

President Kennedy always wanted above average and never wanted to settle for good, but for greatness. His inaugural address was his first step into greatness. He was a firm believer in unity and being together as one in this country. Throughout his short, but successful presidency, he shows how important togetherness is to make the country strong. January 1961, John F. Kennedy became the 35th president of the states and was giving his inaugural address. John F. Kennedy’s pathos, logos, and repetition in the speech allow the American people to be eager for his presidency and allow them to see the changes he foresees for the country during his term.

The thesis of “President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address” speech is that united we (America) can do anything. He integrates the ideas of unity, helping others and power to help convey the idea of patriotism. Kennedy starts the speech by saying “We observe today not a victory of party” (1) which emphasizes the importance of America being united. Instead of saying “I think”, for example he said “we think” making everyone feel like they are included and that their opinions are significant. Further through the speech Kennedy comments on how much ability Americans have as “world leader”.

John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech is was one of the best speeches ever written. It wasn't just remembered for the length of the speech, but it was remembered for the speeches content . Kennedy said that he will unify the United States of America and the whole world. Kennedy also says that he will not allow the enemy to threaten the U.S. or its allies. Through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos, Kennedy strongly tells this message to the American people and to all the leaders of world.

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.

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.

Even though John F. Kennedy was well known as a man passionate about the United States, his family and friends recall the humanistic moments of Kennedy’s life, both of which are demonstrated repeatedly by the sources. One of the sources is Kennedys inauguration speech which showed is passion towards the United States and the feelings it evokes in the audience made it an important moment in history, the proud tone that Kennedy continues all the way through the speech also helps evokes emotion in the audience. Article two was a news article by Eleanor Cliff titled “50 years” that shows the memories from Kennedy’s family and friends 50 years later, the memories create a very nostalgic tone while also showing Kennedy passion and the importance of his inauguration at the same time. The photo of inauguration is comparable to the speech in a way that the photo shows the passion and the importance of the moment and the tone is dignified but also proud like the speech.

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.

Kennedy also brought the past into his speech. He spoke about Americas founding ideas and how the other countries did not support them. Kennedy wanted to change that. He hoped that every nation would put their differences aside and support each other’s views on freedoms.

Kennedy continues his appeal to emotion with a weaker, yet still successful attempt. Around election time, seemingly all American’s reveal their inner-patriot, understanding this Kennedy speaks to that inner patriot. Speaking of foreign affairs, he says, “…let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.”(3) This appeal is successful, as speaking of the Hemisphere as a whole represents unity, and also reaches out to the pride within the audience, stating that Americans shall remain in power of all they have worked so hard to obtain.

Kennedy’s speech was one of inspiration and hope. He wanted to win the confidence of his citizens by delivering a short speech filled with noble ideals (Matheson 11). President Kennedy starts his inaugural address by exclaiming his understanding that America was very different from that of the nation’s predecessors. The President also wanted to send out a warning to all other nations by letting them know that with him as commander-in-chief, America would “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe in order to assure the survival and success of liberty”(Kennedy 609). Basically he was stating that he would not think twice about using all possible forces in order to preserve peace and prosperity for the United States. He further goes on to offer his support to developing countries by pledging to help them help themselves but with a special stipulation. He warned these nations to not lean on America’s success but to form their own freedom when he stated, “remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought to find power by riding on the tiger’s back inevitably ended up inside” (Kennedy 609). Of all the very remarkable things that this president stated the thing that resonated with me was his backing of the United Nations which would have ultimately dissolved had we not given our support. As stated earlier, our nation was in an atomic war with the Soviet Union and the citizens of the United States were

and the Soviet Union had been stockpiling nuclear weapons, about to plunge the world into nuclear warfare, this time it was known as the Cold War. John F. Kennedy had not wanted the United States to engage in the war believing that it would destroy our country. In contrast to Roosevelt’s belief that war was necessary, Kennedy wanted a more peaceful resolution to the nuclear warfare surrounding America. “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us,” (J.F.K. 16). Kennedy had wanted the opposing sides to come together to find a peaceful solution. He wanted the opposing sides to come together and unite, instead of trying to blow each other away. He wanted the opposing sides to come together and lay down their weapons, perhaps to forge alliances. He did not want the opposing sides to invoke the terrors of nuclear weapons and fight each other, all in contrast to Roosevelt’s opinion that war is the answer. Kennedy speaks of freedom that goes back to the Revolutionary War, “And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe-the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God,” (J.F.K. 3). He speaks of freedom and rights as something that comes from God, not something that comes from the government. Kennedy states that

John F. Kennedy once said, “I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President, who happens also to be a Catholic.” In this single sentence, he uses a method of Aristotle’s persuasive speech making. One of the greatest examples of using rhetorical strategies is indeed John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address of 1961. John F. Kennedy uses diction, syntax, and Aristotle’s method of persuasion in his inaugural address that not only made it uniquely his own, but made it undoubtedly one of the best, emotion tugging, speeches ever.

JFK’s, Inaugural address states President Kennedy’s vision and mission for his term in office. Kennedy discusses important topics such as human rights and foreign affairs, voicing the common belief of hope shared by his audience.

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.