Analysis Of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech
John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural speech was given on January 20th, 1961. He spoke to the entire world, not only to the people that he addressed in the beginning of his speech. It is easily seen that his aim was to bring all the people together and make the world a peaceful place. John F. Kennedy was appointing to all Americans to be the change that they want, to stand firm, and to do what is truthfully right. As he uses logic and powerful emotions throughout the speech, his sense of honour is established, the arguments he then provides and the words that he chooses prove to be quite effective in the merging the people of the United States and the rest of the world together.
Kennedy’s speech provides a sense of utopia. He talks about his administration as being the beginning of improvement of society that must go on. President Kennedy said that as Americans, they believe in liberty and justice for all people, he makes a connection with the people by stating that they are all descendants of the soldiers who fought in the revolutionary war to uphold such principals. Using this he unifies the people even more by their civic sense of duty; he asks them not to be selfish and instead of thinking what their country could do for them, to think about what they could do for their country. Through this he emphasizes that if the citizens of the United States and the rest of the world unite they could surely make a difference.
Furthermore President Kennedy uses pathos and ethos by explaining that all Americans share certain morals, values and ethics which unite them even more. Kennedy establishes his call to duty and by doing so he gives himself credit that is quite effective.
Kennedy was trying to unite Americans and all people as well as wanting bring the audience to his call to duty. He used their shared values and backgrounds to strengthen his call to duty and also reinforce the country as one. His call to action is based on the three rhetorical appeals, as I mentioned earlier: ethos, pathos and logos. Kennedy uses the contrast of feelings such as pride and fear and pity. He then uses these negative emotions of pity felt by the audience for parts of the world that have people living in poverty which push people further into his call to duty. Kennedy creates these unwanted feelings trying to make people rid themselves of emotions such as those. Then, in contrast, he continues to use emotional appeals by insinuating pride in people for unifying America and the world.
Last, but not least, he has used reason in how he used American values and the cause and effect of the revolution in America to becoming a country who believes in liberty and justice for all. His whole speech is easy to follow for everyone and it makes sense as he uses uncomplicated language. He does an incredibly good job appealing to his audience as his main goal is making a point about unifying America with the rest of the world. Kennedy makes himself look like a very dignified man that has a lot of integrity leaving the audience with no other choice but to trust him.
In my opinion, since he appeals to people of many backgrounds and looks as if he has a perfect vision of the world, this speech was executed very well having good logical structure and flow. He proves that people should trust him in creating a better world for everyone to live in.
