Jfk Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis

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.

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

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.

Kennedy recognizes his presidential duties and acknowledges the trust that has been placed in him to lead the country when he stated: “I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it” (Kennedy par 24).

Through his use of the anaphora, John F. Kennedy implies that a part of his vision is to unify the country and the world under a banner of fearless peace. As an example, he addresses the world, piece by piece, “To those…, we pledge...”(2). The antecedent to which “those” refers varies, but it always retains a respectful tone of logos, occasionally supplemented by pathos due to specific wording. For instance, “sister republics”(2) creates a sense of family, leading to a pathos appeal. One of the “pledges” Kennedy makes is in the form of an anaphora too: we will “help them help themselves, for whatever period is required -- not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right” (2). With this assertion, Kennedy emphasizes that the United States has no ulterior motives for

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.

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.

Kennedy's speech so successful was his use of Anaphora. By using anaphora he made sure to repeat common words to not only keep the attention of the crowd, but to also emphasize the point he was trying to get across. An example of Anaphora can be found in the eleventh paragraph of Kennedy’s speech, “We will have difficult times. We’ve had difficult times in the past, but we -- and we will have difficult times in the future.” His use of the word “difficult” shows that there will never be a time without a struggle and the public should become comfortable with struggles and that it is nothing that as a united nation we can not overcome.

I just did a short analysis about the strategies John F Kennedy used. He pays attention on not only the content and theme, but also those rhetorical devices on language. There is no doubt that those rhetorical devices are beneficial on improving the expressive and persuasion of the

For instance, parallelism such as the statement, “whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, hear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe,” gives flavor to the speech by pointing out opposite words within a single sentence but still making it work. A few antimetaboles are used in the speech, such as “let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate” and “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” make the speech more effective by twisting around the order of the words, or syntax, to get people to realize a point. Additionally, what makes Kennedy’s speech so effective is that he can transition from a simple sentence to a more complex, meaningful one in a matter of lines of the speech. In accordance to the diction, the words in his speech (freedom, poverty, devotion, and loyalty) are considered abstract. This is because they all convey a tone of desire and significant qualities held by friends. They strengthen and add more feeling to the speech as well. However, the archaic words, such as writ and forebears, are used in a manner to bring in the old language as well as the new, therefore there is sophistication as well as understanding. Kennedy also uses juxtaposition when he says, “peaceful revolution,” and this adds spice to the speech because of the contradiction of the two powerful words. Yet

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, wanted nation’s to come together and be civil with one another. To not show fear of negotiating with them the idea. He explains how he wanted this to be done, yet he knows this wouldn’t happen during their time, but he wanted to be the start of something new. During his speech he used the rhetoric device chiasmus which is to rephrase what was said in the previous sentence. Here is an example of what he said, “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” It is the same thing just switches it to make it sound how can you help, instead of how they can help. Basically, kennedy is saying to be more involved in our country.

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

JFK had many great speeches, the biggest and best arguably being his Inaugural Address. If you think that giving a speech to gather followers is easy, you’re wrong. It is an art, there are many trick to it. Some people have mastered this, and JFK has mastered this by using the ethos of ethos a lot in his speeches. The idea of teamwork is a common theme to him.

Kennedy’s use of anaphora emphasises the idea of coming together and moving forward. Anaphora is shown