Kennedy Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis

Words: 615
Pages: 3

On a cold day in January of 1961, the United States was covered with an air of hope for, both a new year and a new President. The past decade had seen the start of two international races, an arms race and a space race, which pit America against the USSR. Tensions were steadily rising and, for some, a nuclear apocalypse seemed inevitable. The new President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, had his work cut out for him. In light of these events, Kennedy uses rhetorical devices such as the antithesis, anaphora, and religious language in his “Inaugural Address” to call for greater peaceful civic engagement of the US around the world and convince his audience to heed this call. The first rhetorical device used by Kennedy to persuade his audience