Compares 2 Inaugural Speeches
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A certain mystique attaches to the inaugural address of an American president. The address is the first official pronouncement made by the new president to the people, and generally it is intended to set the tone for the four years to follow, indicating in broad strokes how the president views the task facing the nation. This is not the occasion for specific statements of policy, though newspapers and other commentators will comb through every word looking for some indication of the direction policy may take. Every inaugural address develops from the political culture and turmoil of the time in which it is delivered, and the incoming president tries to reassure the nation, set a tone for his presidency, and perhaps to offer a challenge to his enemies all at the same time. Presidents have had differing skill in shaping and delivering their addresses, drawing on rhetorical devices to convey a message, communicate a sense of meaning and value, and at times to create a slogan that will carry them into their first days in office. A comparison of the inaugural speeches of President John F. Kennedy and President Bill Clinton will show how some of these devices have been used to good effect.Before considering the nature of these two specific addresses, it would be well to consider the importance and role of the inaugural address. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson state, "The presidential inaugural address is a discourse whose significance all recognize but few p
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ing. His speech seems to be the speech of one who is speaking for the audience rather than to the audience. He consistently includes the audience in his statement of what will be and should be done. After detailing some of the values of the American Revolution, he states that "we" will uphold those values: "This much we pledge--and more" (Podell and Anzovin 604).
In detailing what "we" will support, Kennedy uses a rhetorical device that infuses this particular speech--parallelism, derived from Lincoln's speeches. Parallel constructions are used to offer a series of ideas, or to set forth an idea and its opposite. Janet Podell and Steven Anzovin also note the use of biblical phraseology and the frequent use of contrapuntal clauses, or clauses in which there is a counterpoint of ideas or constructions. The parallelism can be seen in Kennedy's challenge to the rest of the world:
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty (Podell and Anzovin 604).
Another series of parallelisms is seen in the paragraphs beginning "To those old allies. . .," "To those new states.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1982
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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