John F. Kennedy in his speech, the Inaugural Address, explains his dreams and plans for the United States as he attempts to unite the citizens. Kennedy supports his ideas on the future of the country and conveys his message by using rhetorical appeals such as ethos, pathos and logos, good structure and figurative language. Kennedy’s purpose in this speech is to persuade and inspire citizens to unite and strive to keep America a peaceful and stable place to be. While the speech’s respectful eloquence is appropriate for the occasion of an inauguration, its youthful energy and look to future make it distinctly John F. Kennedy’s. Because Kennedy is the new president, he has to establish credibility with the citizens and ultimately the whole world by appealing to ethos. In his speech, he tries to gain peoples’ loyalty and trust when he says “For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed.” Kennedy shows sympathy by including himself in the group of regular Americans by using the first person “we” throughout his speech. In doing this, he makes people feel that he understands their place in the world and experiences struggles …show more content…
For example, he says “man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life” and “All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, not in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.” Kennedy focused on the importance of working as a united country in order to solve their problems. He shows his reasoning by elaborating generally on why they must begin and by mentioning the effort and time it will take to get there. Kennedy makes these persuasive appeals more effective by ordering them in a well-organized