Rhetorical Devices In Jfk Inaugural Address

On a cold January day in 1961, 20,000 people gathered to listen to a speech that would be remembered years later. John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address projected youth and vigor to inspire his audience, not only those people present but people who listened all around the world. What made his speech so thought evoking and effective was his skill at applying schemes such as parallelism, antimetabole,and anaphora to create a sense of unity between his audience and furthermore the United States and other nations. Moreover he appealed greatly to ethos, logos, and pathos, making his speech personal and persuasive to his audience.

Speaker, audience, and context are important in this speech. Kennedy is the speaker and also the next president of the

The speech is given during the Cold War so he is addressing conflicts involving communism and the nuclear arms race.

Parallelism aides in making Kennedy’s speech effective. This can be seen when he states, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” The parallel structure is a verb, “any”, and a noun. The use of this structure helps him portray to his audience what he will achieve for the country in his presidency. It also serves to establish that the

United States will ensure its promise of liberty, and will not succumb to any nations that threatens to destroy it. The additional use of asyndeton gives the sentence a rhythm that makes it more memorable to the audience. From Paragraphs fifteen to eighteen, Kennedy uses anaphora. At the beginning of each clause he repeats, “Let both sides”. After doing this he goes on to mention all the great things that can be achieved if both sides cooperated. He says that both sides should use science with good intentions, not to cause destruction. This use of