America: As Tough As Steel… If Our Industries Allow It As an unexpected move from U.S. steel manufacturing companies drove prices of steel in
America up by 3.5 percent, John F. Kennedy, then-president of the United States of America addressed this move by the steel companies through a commentary given on April 11, 1962 during a news conference. Kennedy, through this commentary, attempts to persuade the accused companies to lower the prices of steel for the benefit of the American people through a mix of allusion, logical appeal via statistics, parallel structure, and the use of possessive plural pronouns in the given commentary. Kennedy alludes to notable occurrences in U.S. history in an attempt to convince U.S. steel suppliers to drop …show more content…
He mentions how, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employment costs per unit of steel output in 1961 were essentially the same as they were in 1958”. By using this statistic, Kennedy is trying to get the American steel companies to think: If the cost to keep an employee working in our business today is the same as it was back then, and our profits have been increasing every year, it would be reasonable to heed the president’s words and decrease our prices on steel as we’re making enough already that price cuts would be negligible to our profits. And in addition, this statistic is not just from the mouth of Kennedy. He quotes this statistic from the official U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, so that steel companies know that he is not “tricking” them into cutting their profits for a malicious cause, but that he is trustworthy and can be believed when he says that he wants these companies to cut their prices on steel in the name of the people and the nation’s economic wellbeing. Kennedy also quotes the Wall Street Journal, which said steel industry “…earnings in the first quarter of this year [1962] were estimated…to be among the highest in history”. He is leading the steel companies into the logical thought process that since the sales of steel in America are already so successful, that-coupled with the low labor costs mentioned previously-they should be able to lower the prices of their steel to help the American people keep the nation’s economy stable. Steel companies should have no trouble following Kennedy’s persuasion as it comes from a trusted source, the Wall Street Journal, which instantly adds to his credibility. Both of these quotes are very effective in getting across Kennedy’s logical thought processes to the steel companies in an attempt keep America’s economic prospects in
America up by 3.5 percent, John F. Kennedy, then-president of the United States of America addressed this move by the steel companies through a commentary given on April 11, 1962 during a news conference. Kennedy, through this commentary, attempts to persuade the accused companies to lower the prices of steel for the benefit of the American people through a mix of allusion, logical appeal via statistics, parallel structure, and the use of possessive plural pronouns in the given commentary. Kennedy alludes to notable occurrences in U.S. history in an attempt to convince U.S. steel suppliers to drop …show more content…
He mentions how, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employment costs per unit of steel output in 1961 were essentially the same as they were in 1958”. By using this statistic, Kennedy is trying to get the American steel companies to think: If the cost to keep an employee working in our business today is the same as it was back then, and our profits have been increasing every year, it would be reasonable to heed the president’s words and decrease our prices on steel as we’re making enough already that price cuts would be negligible to our profits. And in addition, this statistic is not just from the mouth of Kennedy. He quotes this statistic from the official U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, so that steel companies know that he is not “tricking” them into cutting their profits for a malicious cause, but that he is trustworthy and can be believed when he says that he wants these companies to cut their prices on steel in the name of the people and the nation’s economic wellbeing. Kennedy also quotes the Wall Street Journal, which said steel industry “…earnings in the first quarter of this year [1962] were estimated…to be among the highest in history”. He is leading the steel companies into the logical thought process that since the sales of steel in America are already so successful, that-coupled with the low labor costs mentioned previously-they should be able to lower the prices of their steel to help the American people keep the nation’s economy stable. Steel companies should have no trouble following Kennedy’s persuasion as it comes from a trusted source, the Wall Street Journal, which instantly adds to his credibility. Both of these quotes are very effective in getting across Kennedy’s logical thought processes to the steel companies in an attempt keep America’s economic prospects in