Rhetorical Essay

When Sarah McLaughlin’s “In the Arms of an Angel” plays, it keeps you crying and wishing for that last teary-eyed puppy to come live with you. When the chubby old man with the deep voice and white handlebar mustache (aka Wilford Brimley) comes on TV proclaiming “Dia-beat-is is not a joke”, viewers want to donate to the nearest diabetes foundation they can get their hands on. Fifty years ago when this John F. Kennedy for President 1960 Campaign Ad aired on TV, I can’t imagine that viewer’s wouldn’t have reacted in the same passionate and dramatic way. In 1960 Massachusetts Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy campaigned to be the President of the United States. The commercial is appealing to all voting-age Americans, promising a bright future with this fresh and handsome man as their president. The commercial ran through pictures of the president, his family, and eager supporters. A song that tells about voting for “Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kenn-ed-y” is persuasively playing in the background. The commercial borrows some of JFK’s personal attributes as well; he had his fair share of quirks. At forty-three years of age he would become the youngest President ever to be in office. He was also Catholic unlike any of the thirty-four presidents before him. JFK and his wife Jacqueline Bouvier were also more than just political figureheads, they were celebrities that the whole nation welcomed and enjoyed. With all this in mind, the Kennedys shared values and hopes like the rest of Americans; the Kennedy Administration knew this well and created this commercial and accompanying song that directly personified the ideals of the rest of the country. Through the logical use of word repetition, appeal to the exigence that voters face, and embodiment of the American Dream commonplace the John F. Kennedy for President 1960 Campaign Ad correctly uses Rhetorical techniques and proves to Americans why JFK would be the best president. The booming repetition