Kennedy Inaugural
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John F. Kennedy, a senator from Massachusetts, was elected president of the United States in November 1960. He was the candidate of the Democratic Party and he won only by a very narrow margin. He was replacing one of the most popular presidents of the century, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and wanted to use the occasion of his inaugural speech to make a very strong impact. The speech was delivered on January 20, 1961 and made more of an impact than most inaugural addresses do. This essay discusses the ways in which Kennedy made the most of the 13 minutes that it took to deliver his speech. The analysis is conducted following the division of the elements of effective rhetoric described by the philosopher Aristotle: ethos, logos, and pathos. The first section, ethos, discusses Kennedy's background and the circumstances surrounding the speech including the expectations of the people who had elected him and how the public perceived him. The second portion, logos, discusses the content of the speech and the rhetorical means Kennedy used to accomplish the ends he had in mind. The third section, pathos, concentrates on the reception of the speech by an audience that extended far beyond the one immediately present on a very cold day in Washington D.C. Kennedy won election by the narrowest margin ever up to that time and his defeat of the popular vice-president, Richard Nixon, was accomplished partly because of the influence of television. This was the first election in wh
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the impression he would make, the new president wore only the thinnest of coats in the bright sunshine and if it were not for the trail of vapor coming from his mouth, might have looked as though he was speaking on a summer day. Kennedy smiled a great deal, pleased with the day's events and yet as soon as he began to speak he assumed a very serious demeanor. Throughout the speech his gestures were kept to a minimum as he punctuated various points by applying the side of his hand, fingers-closed, to the podium. He glanced at his text only a few times--particularly using this gesture during breaks of applause.
The President's energy was high and his eagerness operated as an effective contrast to the sobriety of his expression and the look of intense concern that increased as he moved toward the more dangerous subjects on his list. For the speech was organized into a number of paragraphs in which the president addressed different groups of foreign nations, culminating, of course, with the Communist bloc. This scheme, as well as the careful choice of words and the manner of their delivery, operated to provide the impression of a man whose command of vast reaches of foreign policy were appropriate to the situation in which the p
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Approximate Word count = 2045
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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