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John F Kennedy Antithesis In Jfk Inaugural Address

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In 1961, during the Cold War, John F. Kennedy addressed not only America, but all nations in his inaugural address. As the 35th president to be sworn into office, Kennedy was the first Catholic and youngest president to be elected. When giving his speech, he provided his audience with reassurance for the future to come, even with so much change. Throughout his speech, Kennedy relies on the use of antithesis to provide a sense of unity to the public. By strategically depending on antithesis during his inaugural address, John F. Kennedy was able to bring his audience together by emphasizing the importance of unification between all. 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)…” With such a simple statement, the audience is able to see that by coming together to face bigger challenges they can do a lot more than they would be able to do if they were divided. Kennedy makes many remarks on how key being united is because he can see how divided the country is close to becoming. Even as John F. Kennedy’s speech progresses, he always refers back to how the audience needs …show more content…

Kennedy realized how easy it was for a country to break apart in a time that they needed to come together. Being sworn into office, he could see the fear of the future in the eyes of the nation and truly wanted to reassure them that by being willing to face change as one, success was possible. Kennedy was able to assertively get his point across by emphasizing how prioritizing unification of the country is by relying on

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