Rhetorical Analysis Of John F Kennedy Speech

When electing a president, citizens search for leadership, trust, and security in an individual to lead our nation. During the beginning of the 1960s, many problems had arisen; recovering from a recession, China and the Soviet Union splitting from communism ideology, threats from the Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam war beginning, etc. This left the American people perplexed and afraid, in this time we had a newly elected president, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy taking the step to help reassured the people with his speech on the issue of inflation of steel prices on April 11th, 1962. With his charisma and and knowledge, John F. Kennedy used ethos, pathos, and diction to develop his speech and inform the people of his abilities and love for the nation. During the year of 1962 the
Kennedy sets an intense tone in the beginning of the speech, “In this serious hour in our nation’s history..” (line 60) Doing so, Kennedy is letting the people know that this is a serious issue and needs to be addressed,. throughout the speech kennedy kept this tone consistent. He also ended his speech on an intense note by stating, “Some time ago I asked each American to consider what he would do for his country and I asked the steel companies. In the last 24 hours we had their answer.” (lines 107-110) Ending his speech with this statement Kennedy intends to leave a negativity against the steel companies, showing the people that the steel companies are egotistical and have, “..increased prices in ruthless disregard of their public responsibilities.” (lines 82-83) Kennedy uses strong diction throughout his speech to add emphasis on the current situation, some examples include: wholly unjustifiable (unable to backup your claim with a reason), grave crisis, rise sharply, gigantic corporations, ruthless disregard (no care), etc. Adding emphasis also can exaggerate the issue and have people realize the importance of what the outcome will be if the steel prices are