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Rhetorical Analysis Of John F. Kennedy's Moral Address

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The goal of most political speeches is to persuade others to agree with or follow the plans and beliefs of the speaker. In John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address in 1961, he addresses the many problems that America was facing during that time, such as tyranny, poverty, and the country’s adversaries. JFK ended the speech with a call to action to both America and the world to work towards peace and freedom for all. Years later in 1968, Robert F. Kennedy, JFK's brother, would also give a speech that focuses on the importance of unity. The topics that RFK dealt with in his speech were more domestic than JFK’s, with his focus being the violence between citizens due to race, creed, and class. RFK’s goal with his speech was to simply unify the country first during its times of violence, and to become a country that works together instead finding of against each other. Both Kennedys use rhetoric such as parallel structure and allusions to support their overall need for their country and the world to unify against the issues they face. In both speeches, the Kennedys used intensive parallel structure to define the stances they took on the topics they choose to talk about. In JFk’s speech, he uses the phrases, “To those” and “Let both sides,” to bring notice to the problems in the world and the people who can solve them. When JFK says, “To those,” he is speaking about countries that have recently gained independence, people who suffer from poverty, to the countries of the world that

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