John F Kennedy Inaugural Address

1961

Speaker

• John F Kennedy

• Youngest and 1st Catholic President

• Had a large position he had to pull during the Cold War

Purpose

• Improve relations with Soviet Union

• Stop the development of nuclear war

• Stop the spread of communism (secretively)

• Gain the respect and support of the nation

Audience

• USSR (stop the development of nuclear war)

• US at the Capitol (red scare)

• The world (stop the spread of communism)

Medium

• Shown over television

• Heard over the radio

• Millions of people heard the speech even from other nations

• Due to government restrictions within the Soviet Union those in USSR did not view it

Rhetorical Appeals• Ethos ( credibility of speaker)

– Page1

• JFK respectfully acknowledges all the prominent and average citizens at his inauguration. (paragraph 1)

• Kennedy speaks of the oath he took as well as our forefather. (paragraph 2)

• Promises the world that he will do whatever it takes to help each nation a high level of freedom. (paragraph 5 and 6)

• Pathos (emotional appeal)

– Page 1

• Our hands have the power of great destruction and the ability to solve problems. (paragraph 3)

• “Heir of that first nation”….”Let the word go forth from this time a place” (paragraph 4)

Page 2• Soviet Union and US are wasting

money and time on making weapons to destroy all life. (paragraph 5)

Page 3• Now we as Americans have a call to

service and our nations final success and failures lies within our generations. (paragraph 1)

• Protect our nation from war and battle all common struggles. (paragraph 2)

• Not many other generations have the opportunity to serve their nation in its greatest time of need. (paragraph 4)

• Logos (reason)

– Page 1

• We will preserve freedom by having all the free nations unite. (paragraph 7 and 8)

Page 2

• Not just going to provide freedom to these new developing nations in order to prevent the spread of communism. (paragraph 1 and 2)

• Message to the Soviet Union saying that we need to pursue peace. (paragraph 4)

• JFK shows negotiating as civilized progress towards our goals instead of a weakness. (paragraph 7)

• JFK speaks of how we must not look at our differences but instead learn to solve the common problems that are present in our societies.

• Nuclear regulatory committees

• Freedom throughout the world for every single individual. (paragraph 8-12)

Rhetorical Devices

• Anaphora

• Antimetabole

• Hyperbole

• Kenning

• Rhetorical Questions

• Allusion

• Asyndeton

• Polysyndeton