JFK Speech

How Did Kennedy Do It? What kind of person do you want running your country? President John F. Kennedy, born in 1917, was America’s 35th president. Two years before his assassination in 1963, Kennedy delivered one of the most inspiring inaugural addresses in American history. Kennedy had a very distinct purpose while delivering this speech: to inspire the country to become united in order to achieve a greater peace in the world. Kennedy works to inspire the country, or even the world, to capture the American people. From “old allies” to our nation’s “adversary,” Kennedy addresses that the evil present in this world will eventually lead to our fragile world’s “self destruction.” Through the use of hortative and imperative sentences, Kennedy is able to establish his plans for society, while at the same time encouraging his people to assist him. He is also able to emphasize certain selections in his speech while keeping his audience involved through the use of parallelism. This allows his audience to clearly understand the main purpose of his speech, even though his audience might not even realize that he is doing so. Another way Kennedy was able to appeal to his audience was through the usage of sentences that varied greatly in length. This contrast in length demonstrates how someone would actually talk rather than how someone would read a script. In this way, Kennedy made it seem as though he was speaking from his heart when delivering his speech. This pattern of syntax gave Kennedy the advantage of keeping his audience in tune and involved while he delivered his address. Doesn’t everyone want to gain a greater peace in the world? John F. Kennedy labels his new role in society as “a celebration of freedom- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning.” What Kennedy means by this “new beginning” is that his new order will vanquish the “dark powers of destruction” in order to form a new, peaceful beginning in the world. He does an excellent job of defining