JFK Inaugural Speech it Was a Very

JFK Inaugural Speech

It was a very cold day on January 20th, 1961, when John Fitzgerald Kennedy took the oath of office, was sworn in as the new president, and delivered a rousing speech to a shivering audience and to a television audience worldwide. The young president was forceful, quite eloquent and used phrases that have become iconic in the American experience. This paper reviews and critiques the speck.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy -- His Inaugural Speech

After being sworn in by Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Earl Warren, Kennedy got everyone's immediate attention when he removed the partisanship from the issue. Kennedy in effect tossed out a gesture of peace to the Republicans. This is not a victory of a party he said; it is a victory for democracy. It is an end and a beginning, he said, meaning an end to the GOP leadership and a beginning of Kenney's democratic legacy.

His use of inflection (combined with his accent) was powerful. When he spoke, he emphasized each phrase, paused for a couple seconds, letting the words sink in for the listeners. Then he began again, forcefully stating a unique idea. This cadence he used throughout his speech very effectively. His New England / Boston accent was decisively different and hence had a curious appeal to Midwesterners, Southerners, and those in the Western United States. Kennedy's speechwriter Ted Sorensen put together phrases that were in sharp juxtaposition. Sorensen used bold contrasts effectively.

Kennedy said that society now had the potential for abolishing "…all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life…" (he was contrasting good with evil, as he referenced the in the second couplet the possibility that nuclear warfare could destroy the world). Kennedy made the point that the American Revolution was still alive and well, which was a way to instill a theme of change and historical context at the same moment. Then he in effect demanded that the whole world listen as he promised to be tough on his Cold War competitors, which everyone knew was the Soviet Union.

Clearly Kennedy was using the concept of ethos throughout his speech. He wanted his audience -- which included of course the Soviet Union and people all over the world who found it fascinating that a younger man like Kennedy could rise to the presidency -- to believe that he had the credibility, the authority, the trustworthiness to lead America.

"Let the word go forth, from this time and place… to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage and unwilling to witness or permit the small undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed." Kennedy was forcefully throwing down the gauntlet at this point, sounding firm and confident, and he received the first applause of the speech after that declaration.

The U.S. will "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty," Kennedy emphasized. After each carefully enunciated phrase he lightly pounded his right hand (as a partial fist) on the podium. He got his second applause after that powerful promise to the world and to the American people.

Kennedy shook a clenched fist when he said that nations emerging from "tyranny" should be fighting for their freedom. Those who "foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger," Kennedy loudly proclaimed, "ended up inside."

The constant rhythm of juxtaposing one idea with another contrasting idea in the subsequent phrase made Kennedy's speech memorable and dramatic. He used pathos to make his emotional connection, bringing compassion and sympathy into the speech. He said that if a "free society" cannot help "the many who are poor," then it "cannot save the few who are rich." That shows the use of irony as well. Kennedy got one of his biggest moments of applause when he warned the world that the Americas ("this hemisphere") fully intends to "…remain the master of its own house." That was a call to action, logos, because Kennedy promised to cooperate with and defend the interests of America's neighbors, specifically Mexico.

Kennedy's speech used cultivation analysis to synthesize concepts into short, blunt, but well-written phrases. He knew that most people get their news and information not from reading scholarly books or from even reading the newspaper from cover to cover. He knew they get their news and information from television, from radio, and so he used drama and brilliant narrative to not only get the public's attention, but to leave them with words they could never forget.