Rhetorical Techniques Used In Speech By Robert F. Kennedy

In the 1960’s during the era of the Civil Rights movement, America had been divided by the voting rights that were not given to the African Americans. Although, a decade ago the African Americans had been freed from slavery, but they were still not considered “equal” because they weren't able to vote. The discrimination in the area even had political leaders affected, therefore many of those political leaders during that time attempted to put an end to the several agonizing events going on. Lyndon B Johnson, a white persistent president speaks out to the lawmakers using compassionate encouraging appeals about voting for Civil Rights, in order to unify the nation “to build a new community”. President Johnson utilizes many devices in his speech such as anaphora, emotional appeals, and

Martin Luther King Jr. was extremely passionate about nonviolence. He just wanted people of all color to get along. In 1978 a guy by the name of Cesar Chavez read a speech about how important Martin Luther King's beliefs were. In his speech, Cesar Chavez uses hypophora, pathos, and repetition to support his opinion on non-violence. One of the rhetorical strategies Chavez uses is Repetition. Throughout the essay, Chavez kept using words and phrases like “we are convinced,” or the word “nonviolence” to keep his opinion about nonviolence more clear and straightforward. He is trying to get the point across that you have more opportunity with nonviolence than if you take the violent path. Another way Chavez uses rhetorical strategies is though pathos.

John F. Kennedy’s was known as a very patriotic person, and that would raise the question why. Well, the answer can simply be found in his inauguration speech. He gave the speech to bolster the fighting spirit and act as an inspiration for the Americans. How he does this is interestingly simple by smart actually. He used a plethora of stylistic devices extensively in his speech. However, he has proven his strength and resourcefulness especially in his usage of stylistic devices such as antithesis, parallelism, pathos, and ethos, and these are his stylistic devices of strength he possesses. He easily uses them to gain his advantage from the audience and he is capable of fully expressing his message in a patriotic fashion. One of the examples of this usage of antithesis is when Kennedy is referring to “a new generation of Americans” where he flat-out, vividly shows the separation between the old and the new breed of Americans through this technique. He utilizes antithesis once more when he uses the lines, “Symbolizes an end as well as a beginning…….”. As well as, “signifies renewal as well as change….” for the same reasons as stated previously. This antithesis is used to solidify, and band the young and the old people together and make them work together to achieve Kennedy’s ambition of creating the perfect and powerful nation, where his people would be united with brotherhood under one purpose, seeing themselves as equal beings, setting their differences aside and this

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 uses the words we twenty eight times, us twelve times and our twenty one times.

J.F Kennedy, the president of United States wanted to put the first Americans to the moon-America exploring the moon, so he directed his speech to the people of taxes and Rice University to promote his space exploration program that will help America to be the first country to explore the moon. He believes that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Throughout J.F Kennedy's speech, the speaker makes effective use of evidence, reasoning, rhetorical elements, and rhetorical devices that together form his argument to gain people support for his space exploration program.

The Civil Rights Movement was a mass popular movement to secure African Americans equal access to opportunities for basic privileges and rights of U.S. citizenship.1 In 1963, a crisis occurred at the University of Alabama as two African American students were turned down from admissions although they were formally certified. The Civil Rights Address,2 presented by former president John F. Kennedy, was given in the Oval Office on June 11, 1963, shortly after this crisis was dragged out. Kennedy delivered this speech on both radio and television, so his message would extend to not only the citizens of America, but also other nations around the world. Kennedy addresses the reoccurring issues regarding race equality in the United States, and hopes to change the mindset of the American community in respect to these issues. In his Civil Rights Address, John F. Kennedy uses rhetorical appeals to convey that there must be a change regarding equality in America.

John F. Kennedy uses literary devices to capture the attention of the audience, sets himself equal to his audience getting their attention and support, and uses the christian religion to strike the emotions and gain the support of his audience.

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” and “I Have a Dream” speech he uses many different rhetorical devices. He uses rhetorical devices such as repetition, analogy, and rhetorical questions. In each writing, he uses the devices for many different purposes. These purposes can be similar, or different. In short, Martin Luther King Jr. includes rhetorical devices in his writing.

Robert Kennedy’s speech was given during a campaign rally in 1968, he broke the news to a crowd of supporters that MLK had been killed. This speech was analyzed through a PDF copy of the text.

The Inaugural speech by John F. Kennedy is a landmark type of speech that was given to the American populace in order to inspire confidence and to provoke them to take immediate action. His speech made extensive use of rhetorical devices in order to successfully express his goals. His stylistic devices include antithesis, parallelism, and varying structure flows in order to attract attention and to show what his service will accomplish. Kennedy details “a new generation of Americans” by contrasting old and new with his antithesis. He states, “Symbolizes an end as well as a beginning” and “signifies renewal as well as change” in order to do so. This connects the younger generation of Americans and the older generation. He unites them under one goal and one purpose by using antithesis, ignoring their differences, and prepares them for what’s there to come in the future.

On Friday, January of 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered a speech to the citizens of the United States of America and the world. Kennedy made a speech that he knew would be remembered for many years to come even after his presidential term. In fact, Kennedy accomplished his goal and is still remembered today, as the best speech ever written and delivered. Kennedy presents his speech with strong Aristotelian appeals of ethos, pathos and the stylistic devices of alliteration and antithesis. Kennedy accomplished what every speaker strives for and surpassed it by capturing the hearts of the audience and inspiring the people’s trust.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Junior’s, speech at his inaugural address in 1961 is undeniably a masterpiece of the persuasive arts. Although the speech is short as such speeches go, and although its main persuasive device is pathos alone, the masterful skill with which Kennedy’s speech is written makes it one of the most moving and effective political speeches to date. Kennedy’s vivid use of diction and metaphor, as well as his extremely memorable syntax, are particularly strong and successful.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy, a strong advocate for secure prices and wages, held a news conference regarding the inflation of steel prices and how it has impacted the American people. In order to achieve his purpose of convincing steel companies to reduce prices, JFK utilizes the rhetorical devices of anaphora, logos and pathos.

Kennedy also used syntax to support his purpose. One of the first things most people notice when reading his augural address is that he uses a mixture of extremely short and long sentences. The short sentences are used to introduce the audience to a new topic, or to shift their attention. Since these sentences are short, they allow for a dramatic pause at the end of each one, which adds emphasis to what he just said, and gives the audience more time to digest its meaning. Another possible reason why some sentences are short is that Kennedy did it for the public’s sake, since whoever watched it in person was standing out in the freezing cold. The purposes of his long sentences are to explain, or explore an idea. When John F. Kennedy uses the inversion, “United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do,” he switches up the usual sentence structure and re-captures the audience’s attention to deliver this powerful message. Since an inversion changes up the usual order of things, Kennedy could use this as a prediction for how he is going to act as president. The placement of his ethical and emotional appeals plays a large role in their effectiveness. John F. Kennedy first established his ethos as someone that is trustworthy and patriotic, and then he moves on to make emotional appeals. He does this because without his ethos, his audience would be less willing to

to the assassination of his own brother, John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Five years prior to Dr. King but still very difficult for the Robert to talk about. In fact, he rarely discussed his brother’s death which gives it more weight in bringing it up at this crucial moment. He states that he knows what Black America feels at the hands of a white man because his own brother was also killed by a white man. Kennedy stresses that he understands what the country is going through and he understands the state of division that the nation is in, and he invites the country along a path to unity and peace. At the end of this speech, he tells the people to go home, to stay out of the streets, and to most importantly say a prayer for Martin Luther King Jr. and his family, and to also say a prayer for our great country. The speech was a mere four minutes and fifty-five seconds, but it had a great impact on the country and made so many people realize what needed to be done to combat hatred in this