What Is The Ethos In John F Kennedy Steel Speech

On April 10, 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech in which he attacked steel companies for raising the price of steel by three and a half percent. America had just climbed out of a recession, and President Kennedy believed that having stable prices and wages would help America recover. President Kennedy uses alliteration, anaphora, repetition, logos, and ethos to vilify steel corporations for their abuse of power and questionable ethics.

John F. Kennedy uses alliteration to commence his speech. He repeats words that start with the letter “s”: “simultaneous… States Steel… steel … steel…” (ln 1-3). This starts the speech off smoothly and grabs the audience’s attention.

Throughout his speech, President John F. Kennedy used many anaphors. He said, “When we are confronted with grave crisis … When we are asking reservists to leave their homes and families for months on end” (ln 7-11). He starts each of these statements with “when we are” to give a description of what is going on in the

Kennedy uses ethos to get the American people on his side. This speech is given by the President of the United States. He has the people’s respect and he’s someone worth listening to. He also puts himself on the side of the people, using terms like “we”. He uses diction he knows will garner negative emotion against the steel companies and uses that to persuade the people to his side. He draws a line between them, the “185 million Americans” (ln 20-21) and a “tiny handful of steel executives” (ln 17) who don’t have a “sense of public responsibility” (ln 19). Kennedy concludes his speech by saying, “Some time ago I asked each American to consider what he would do for his country. I asked the steel companies. In the last 24 hours, we had their answer” (ln 107-110). This jab at the steel companies also helps to make a point that the American people are doing more for their country than the steel companies are. This also calls out the company and demands a