Kennedy Essay

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Pages: 4

Kennedy Essay John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, The article “Inside Kennedy’s Inauguration, 50 Years on”, and a photograph of the swearing-in ceremony all contribute to an understanding and appreciation of the legacy of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. All three of these documents contribute to the legacy by their different styles. These documents all have differences, but the one thing that makes them the same, describes that they all convey the legacy of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The first document, The Inaugural Address, given by John Fitzgerald Kennedy on January 20, 1961 conveys the legacy of John F. Kennedy by the speech’s very different style then the other documents. To start off with, Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, described as a speech, demonstrates the major difference of the three documents. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address purpose states the act of joining together and reuniting. John F. Kennedy creates an archaic diction through the use of the words “asunder”, “foe”, “writ”, and “forebears”. This use of diction emphasizes the formality and sets the formal tone that Kennedy uses. John F. Kennedy creates his syntax through his variety of sentence types. He has many short, declarative sentences, a few compound and more than 20 complex sentences. Many of his sentences begin with coordinating conjunctions such as “so”, “for”, and “but”. His complex sentences usually begin with a subordinate clause to allow steam to build in order to energize the sentences main idea. He uses short paragraphs and in each it reveals another one of Kennedy’s principles or promises. The speech’s syntax reveals other meanings and adds to the development of the tone. Kennedy also uses figurative language such as personification, “our sister republics” and metaphors such as, “bonds of mass misery”, “beachhead of cooperation”, and “jungle of suspicion”. Finally, the use of his rhetorical questions reminds us that the young president builds consensus rather than dictating. The second document, “Inside Kennedy’s Inauguration, 50 years on”, written by Eleanor Clift conveys the legacy of John F. Kennedy by the speech’s very different style than the other documents. This article, in which friends and family of John F. Kennedy share their memories of the inauguration, originally appeared in January 2011 on the Web site Daily Beast and then reprinted in Newsweek. Clift’s purpose in this article states the fact that she provides her readers with examples of him on a personal level. This way, the readers can get to know him as a person, not just a president. The tone remains cheerful at first, but halfway through it changes to a more serious tone. Clift creates an abstract diction, different from the diction that Kennedy used, through the use of the words “contingent”, “gallantly”, “impromptu”, and “rotunda”. Her diction helps set the cheerful then serious tone of this article. Clift creates her syntax through the variety of her types of sentences and paragraph lengths. Many of her sentences are long with a few short ones here and there. She has17 paragraphs, some short and some long. She starts her article off with a one sentence paragraph. Clift does not use as many metaphors as John F. Kennedy did, however, she allows us