In 1962, the United States was emerging from battling recession. As a response to this recession, many private business began to raise prices to make as much profit as they could. In President John F. Kennedy’s eyes, taking these desperate actions were ludicrous. Kennedy was struck with disbelief when he witnessed a private steel company raise steel prices to the American public, wholly ignoring Kennedy’s wishes for stable prices and wages. These actions prompted the President to address the American populace about this decision. Throughout his speech regarding this hike in prices, he expresses his uttermost disgust at the steel companies’ actions. He displays his contempt in order to urge the people of the United States to support his position …show more content…
In the second paragraph of his speech, his thoughts remain continuous; the only thing that separates one thought from another are commas and dashes - all which create a prolonged idea. He begins, “In this serious hour in our nation’s history...” and extends this same thought until the end, “..for the interests of 185 million Americans.” Another example is lines 99-106, where there is no finalizing period until the last thought. Hence, by using these lengthened sentences, Kennedy demonstrates the passion he possesses; he does not “stop to breathe,” indicating that what he is saying is so important to him that he cannot seem to find an appropriate time to stop. Thus, the syntax utilized creates a fervent tone. Herewith, Kennedy shows that - in his eyes - the raising of prices by the steel company is so absurd that he he deems it necessary to assert these feelings onto the people. As a result, Kennedy’s manipulation of tone created by syntax brings out similar feelings from the audience, as they began to relate to their President by witnessing someone with so much power and influence feel the necessity to make his contempt clear. Which, in turn, furthers Kennedy’s purpose by revealing his passion toward the subject and therefore allowing Kennedy to gain to support from his …show more content…
He lists off what will happen if this exploitation continues: “... would increase the costs of homes, autos, appliances… it would increase the cost of machinery and tools… it would… handicap our efforts to prevent an inflationary spiral from eating up the pensions of our older citizens,” “it would add… an estimated one billion dollars to the cost of out defenses… it would make it more difficult to withstand competition… and thus more difficult to improve our balance of payments position… it would handicap our efforts to induce other industries… to adopt responsible price and wage policies.” By means of this, Kennedy creates a vision in the American public, one that is not so desirable. This directly shows his scorn for their actions. since he ties these unwanted situation to the recklessness of the steel company. With this, Kennedy stimulates fear into his audience. By describing the unwanted possibilities from the type of behavior the steel company is exhibiting, Kennedy causes many of the people in the audience to realize that the corporation's choice can affect more than just the government. Kennedy extends the effect of the decision to the personal lives of his audience, and the fear of possibility of losing their homes and money causes many people to begin to agree with Kennedy’s point of view. This “scare tactic” allows Kennedy to, in a way, pressure people into
In the final paragraph, President Kennedy connects everything together to reach the conclusion. He creates a judgemental and disappointed tone when discussing what “a few gigantic corporations have decided to” do rather than what “they could” do. He once again paints this narrative that steel companies don’t act out of public interest, and that the the audience must force them to. The “Steel Workers Union”, “Department of Justice”, “Federal Trade Commission”, and “the Department of Defense” can “be proud” of what they are doing, however, it is not enough. This is key in Kennedy’s speech, because it is the final reason why the public needs to retaliate against the recent greedy actions of steel corporations.
He used a very selective vocabulary, purposely using emotionally charged words such as: “wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance” (lines 4-5), “ruthless disregard” (line 82), and “restraint and sacrifice” (lines 14-15). By using words with strong connotation, he powers the emotions of his audience once again directing support for himself and appearing as the calm figurehead amongst the emotional chaos. He also makes his speech very personal by mentioning individual American families, literally using the phrase “every American family” (line 25). He appeals to the strong sense of patriotism in the American public by mentioning the four servicemen who died in Vietnam. Despite the fact that they are almost completely unrelated to the rise in steel prices and, if they were alive, would be unaffected by the rise in price, either. And yet, Kennedy mentions the servicemen to make the situation appear that much more dire. By mentioning the tragic deaths of these men, Kennedy aims to trigger a strong emotional response in his audience that would turn into support for
In paragraph two he states ”when we are confronted with grave crisis in Berlin and Southeast Asia, when we are devoting our energies to economic recovery and stability, when we are asking reservists to leave their homes and families for months on end…” President Kennedy starts each of his statements with “when we are” to address the sacrifices the people are making while the steel companies prioritizes in this dark hour, which shows they don’t care about their nation. He then shows us how this would be worsened even further if the steel companies maintained the high prices. Kennedy also states “It would make it more difficult for American goods to compete in foreign markets, more difficult to withstand competition from foreign imports, and thus more difficult to improve our balance of payments position…” He then repeatedly starts off with the phrase “more difficult.” This repetition, incorporated with facts, proves his point that the steel companies were unpatriotic and greedy because he shows how much trouble and difficulty the rise in steel companies would cause. Besides using the strategy of repeating words and phrases, Kennedy also uses statistics to achieve his argument.
Kennedy, in his speech appeals mostly to logos by using hards facts and statistics. For example, in line 20 he explains how the inflation of steel is affecting “185 million Americans”. He continues using logos throughout his speech when he introduces Sect of Defense McNamara and tells the American people the steel inflation would an “estimated one billion dollars to cost of defenses, at a time when every dollar is needed for national security”. However, this is also an
It was on January 20th 1961 that John F Kennedy gave his inaugural address after winning the presidential race and beating future president Richard Nixon. President, John F Kennedy in his speech, The Inaugural Address, he describes his plans for growth in America. Kennedy’s purpose is unite the people of the U.S. and bring everyone together for the good cause of promoting growth in the country. He creates a very inspirational tone in order to establish a connection with the U.S. people. In his speech Kennedy really used several rhetorical strategies of persuasion to motivate and persuade the U.S. people that they made the right choice in choosing him.
He has the audience infer that the steel companies raising their prices was what they were doing for their country, and what they were doing was not helping like Kennedy has wished. This reference back to something that had a huge impact on many people strengthens Kennedy’s point of view and helps him achieve his
John F Kennedy delivered one of the finest speeches on January 20, 1961 after being sworn into office. His inauguration speech was so powerful that it captured the entire nations attention, and quotes from it are still remembered by people today. It is one of the finest speeches ever written. It provides a strong appeal to pathos, ethos and logos, and it is because of this that people who never heard the speech can quote lines from it.
To begin, Kennedy gave the exigence and explained what the current situation was in America. He gives his thesis to let the audience know what his feelings are, and what the main point of the speech is going to be. The first sentence discusses the steel companies raising their prices which, “constitutes a wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance of the public interest” (2-3). This sentence sets up the rest of the speech and what can be expected to follow. After giving the exigence and thesis, Kennedy expands on the issue in the paragraphs that proceed. His ideas flow right from one to the next. Beginning with the issues in America, the steel companies raised prices, national security, and finally how it affects Americans.
In conclusion, this speech was structured beautifully. Its use of figurative and expressive language makes it an unforgettable speech. Kennedy does a great job of using pathos, ethos, and logos to reiterate his commitment to the American public as well as discuss expected changes. Given the state of the world at the time of his inauguration, the decision to rely so heavily on pathos and ethos was a wise one which got the job done. His use of the rhetoric triangle effectively conveys Kennedy’s plan for America to not only her citizens, but to the world.
In focusing on the National economy and ending the recession, Kennedy accomplished a meek increase to the minimum wages for workers, during his presidency. But, he lost the confidence of business leaders in 1962, by seeking to rollback what the administration regarded as excessive price increases within the steel trade. Although, he succeeded in his direct objective, this did not come without a price. President Kennedy ultimately, alienated an important source of support by later calling for a large tax cut to grant capital to large corporations, meant for stimulating the economy (Hoagland, 2008).
The president’s inaugural address allows the president to lay out his plans and intentions to excite and motivate people across the country. Since the main reason for his sermon is to inspire rather than educate, Kennedy rarely uses any logical pleads. Yet, Kennedy adequately uses passionate dialect to make the people sense their involvement in what the President says. Kennedy composes the assignment to bring back tranquility and good-wealth as not only his aim, but of the public as well.
Overall, By appealing compellingly to logos, effectively to pathos, and rivetingly to ethos, President John F. Kennedy argues that the price increase of steel during the hard times by large companies has been a blatant disregard for their public responsibilities during a recession. This isn’t the first time big business and the rich have taken advantage of the economic situation to gain personal profit and power. Even today, there is plenty of corruption in businesses which needs to be kept in
On January 20th, 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy gave a speech to the nation, which encompassed a new vision for the country with a new generation. That speech was JFK’s Inaugural Address. As the new 35th president, JFK was the youngest president to enter the oval office at the age of forty-three ("Inaugural Address."). The nation was still in in the process of healing after World War II. In the eyes of the masses, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a breath of fresh air for the American People. He was a youthful president, with his youthful image; he was able to rally the younger generations with a progressive vision. This speech was a message to the nation in which JFK outlines a new direction for The United States by securing it’s freedom, being a competitive nation in all aspects, and rallying the citizens behind the government.
...very once in a while to maintain the formality of the speech and to convey imperative messages to his audience. Interchanging between the short sentences and the lengthy sentences grabs the audience’s full attention, permitting Kennedy to most persuade them that he qualifies for his position as U.S. President.
Kennedy uses refrences from past events in history to emphasize his point of taking a risk and trying something new, and inspiring his audience. An event from 1630 is used in JFK’s speech as an allusion to make the reader feel a sense of , “William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage” (Kennedy 2). He is proving that after all the hard work, it is succesful and worth it. William Bradford created a colony by the devotion and hard work. Kennedy is relating himself and the country to Bradford, showing the audience that it is possible. Using an example from history makes the audience more committed to landing on the moon when they think the probability for success is high. It gives off the encouraging thought of, “if they did it, we can do it”, which is exactly what JFK was trying to succeed. Kennedy also uses an allusion to exaggerate to sudden change in tecchnology and show how advanced this country...