John F Kennedy Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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As an American tradition, presidents give an inaugural speech to the public on behalf of their election and the start of their term. John F. Kennedy gave his iconic speech in 1960 on a cold January morning in Washington, D.C. The president asserts his intentions to build the country and unify the people to help not only the nation, but the universal community as well. The speaker begins his speech with thoughts of peace and ambitions to heal those around him and a promise to aid countries and the people struggling. The devotion is followed with a rhetorical thought of what the citizens can do; the start of the term starts not just his presidency, but the foundation of a worldwide goal for peace that shall be carried for generations to come. President John F. Kennedy uses an ethos point of view and historical reference to have readers emotionally attached to the idea of peace he is enforcing, a variety of figurative language and inspirational word choose to further his idea across, and uses these …show more content…
Kennedy begins his speech by mentioning his term marks both an end and a beginning for the beloved nation, which is further analyzed to start his ambitions to help those in need. He describes the poor conditions of other countries to create sympathy from the audience; encouraging support out of guilt and a new-grown desire to help the less fortunate. Kennedy desires to improve the character and morals of the nation, and his use of ethos effectively persuades people to better one's morals and provide assistance to these third world countries he suggests. Another tactic used in the beginning of his speech is referencing the nation's history to help unify the people with common ground. With revolution in our blood, he states, “we dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution." Kennedy says this as we all have nationalism in our history who fought for the same common values of freedom, liberty, and justice from evil doings of