It was 1961, the height of the Cold War, and the United States and Russia were locked in a nuclear arms race. John F. Kennedy had been elected president of the United States by less than one quarter of one percent of the popular vote. In his inaugural address President Kennedy uses repetition, alliteration, and antithesis and parallelism in his first chance to try to convince his country and the world to unite to solve their common problems of atomic weapons and poverty. Repetition is used by Kennedy to both unite large sections of the speech and emphasize small parts of it. Anaphora is used for both of these purposes. The word “to” is used at the beginning of each of the longer paragraphs six to ten, each of which is a pledge to a different group. The anaphora makes each paragraph seem to be part of a single thought that ends in the next paragraph, which, although it starts with the same phrase, transitions into Kennedy’s request for peace from, “Those nations who would make themselves our adversary.” This transitions into …show more content…
Another example is, “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” This make the point of the speech more powerful by uniting the two extremes, and, by extent, everyone in the middle, in the problems that he hopes to solve. This also happens in paragraphs six and seven when Kennedy references “those old allies” and “those new States.” At the end of his speech Kennedy uses antithesis to encourage people to think of helping everyone instead of just themselves by asking Americans to, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country,” and for everyone to, “Ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of
On January 20th, 1961, John F. Kennedy gave an assertive inaugural address to an audience of more than twenty thousand people about strengthening the American military, as well as providing a tough stance against the Soviet Union. Many rhetorical devices were used in his speech, but the main two devices that John used are repetition and metaphors to get the audience intrigued. One of the rhetorical devices John F. Kennedy used in his address was repetition. In paragraphs fifteen through eighteen, John constantly uses “Let both sides”. He uses this device to draw attention to a minor detail which is both nations coming together in peace.
Alysia Bamesberger Rhetorical Analysis January 20, 1961, the day that President John F. Kennedy gave his inaugural speech. The time that Kennedy took office, America wasn’t in the best position. They were lacking hope, confidence and power. With that being said, he had to use a mass of rhetorical devices that helped persuade the people of the United States, as well as other countries. Which lead Kennedy to convincing the audience using ethos, pathos, and logos.
JFK knew how important this speech is and chose his words very meticulously conducive to the current situation in the nation and world. His first concern was to reach out to his American citizens, and he did that using abstract words such as “freedom”, “loyalty”, “sacrifice”, etc. Not only are they easy to talk about, but abstract words are also easier to stay general than getting into specifics. They are more difficult for people to oppose and set a strong tone for the speech that Kennedy sets out for. JFK continues on laying out a strong persona with the figure of speech saying, “Bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe.” creating a pattern of connecting and bringing together to symbolize how he wants the citizens of America and other democratic nations to face the threat of communism joined together as a “beachhead of cooperation” to push back “the jungle of suspicion”.
Furthermore, JFK addresses another subject of split: poor versus rich. “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” Emphasis is put on the need for both the wealthy and those in poverty. Without aiding the one, the other cannot prosper. Powerful speech is also incorporated such as the “jungle of suspicion”.
Kennedy uses many rhetorical devices in his speech to help ease the citizen’s minds while maintaining a conversational tone a well as a clear and compelling structure. One example of a rhetorical device that JFK uses is anaphora. The purpose of his use of anaphora is to add significance to his message. He begins numerous paragraphs with the phrases “To those old allies…. To those new states….
Possibly the most known example of antimetabole is “..ask not what your country can do for you, but for what you can do for your country,”. Kennedy here stresses with the utmost finality what the citizens could do if they could unite together with him, and further inspires them to help by asking for a change in their actions. He takes his statement to the world even, saying, “...ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedoms of man,” He called upon not only the citizens of America, but also called upon from people around the world to come and strive for a world of peace, and it will only be possible if they all
We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.” This statement not only embodied the message that JFK advocates for in his inaugural address but this statement is also an example of an aphorism. Throughout his address, JFK utilizes rhetorical devices for various micro-purposes but for the macro-purpose of strengthening his position and furthering the endless mission of mankind: global equality and prosperity.
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms- and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations. ”(16) JFK uses parallelism, phrases in the statements that are repeated and identical in structure, in this quote to introduce the idea of justice and liberty between the nations. When he applies parallelism as a rhetorical device, he uses it to build up the thought of what we can accomplish together as a world instead of against each other. He stacks these motivational statements up to catch the audience's attention, in order to fulfill the purpose for his speech which is to create unity.
John F. Kennedy discusses and analyzes on how the nation differs from the past and present day in that time period. Kennedy narrators on the division and war in the the world to appeal to the audience patriotism by using pathos and logos. In this speech President Kennedy states “to thoses who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request; that both sides begin the quest for peace, before the dark power of destruction unleashed.” He uses this quote to obtain a logical appeal to the appeal to the people. Kennedy uses logos to show that he wants the nation to come together and be humble together in one peace.
But let us never fear to negotiate.” President Kennedy wanted to insure the people of our country that by being a unified whole we can be stronger and use that strength to help others. By using anaphora in this section of the speech, he creates a sense of unity amongst not only Americans, however, between
Kennedy often sets himself equal to his audience, as if saying that he is no better than anybody else, gaining their respect and support. For example in Kennedy’s inaugural speech, he states, “ United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures.” In this Kennedy is placing himself in the same category as his audience and saying that he needs them, just as much as they need him. Another example of Kennedy setting himself equal to his audience is, “ In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course.” In this statement, John F. Kennedy is saying that the people of America, united, have more power than him.
In his speech Kennedy uses different rhetorical devices to unify the citizens of both the United States and the world. Kennedy was giving this speech after winning by a very small margin of votes so he was trying to unite the people of the United States and show he was the correct choice for the president. This speech was given during the Cold War so he was trying to connect the people around the whole world and establish peace. Kennedy was able to unify the people and try to establish peace while at the same time making himself seem like a very competent leader. In his speech Kennedy tries to build his credibility as a personable leader by creating ethos.
Kennedy can see that the country is afraid of the future that will present itself after the Cold War and beyond. It is clear that with war and chaos, it is easy for citizens of the world to turn into their own beliefs and stray away from each other. When using antithesis, Kennedy juxtaposes what being divided or united can do for all citizens. Starting his speech, JFK states, “United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do (Kennedy 1)…”
His diction is very inclusive; he commences his speech with several uses of the words ‘we’ and ‘our’, which makes way for inclusivity. JFK is blurring the distinction between citizen and superior governor by including the people in his proclamation. While describing the hardships and challenges that the country is facing, Kennedy mentions how imperative the occasion is on a global level; in the midst of the Cold War, he reminds his audience of the importance of uniting. Through the use of the lexical field of danger — words such as: ‘defiance’, ‘serious’, ‘risk’, and ‘sacrifice’ — he creates a feeling of tension and urgency, and engages his audience to the concern. To conclude his speech, the President mentions self-guilt on the part of the country on how they had not displayed the “sense of business responsibility” that they should have, a rhetorical strategy that approximates the audience to the government.
However, in parts of his speech Kennedy talks about how certain groups in the nation are working to help the people of America. For example in line 92 Kennedy talks about the Department of Defense. He talks about what they’re doing to figure out why the prices of steel are rising so quickly and what needs to be done to protect the public interest. By using positive and negative words Kennedy is able to make his opinion clear. The audience is able to see Kennedy’s negative opinion on the rising steel prices and his positive opinion on what different organizations are doing to help with the current steel crisis.