Jfk Civil Rights Address Rhetorical Analysis

Picture being 10 years old in 1963. After eating dinner with the family, your mom turns on the TV and John F. Kennedy pops up on the screen. He is giving his Civil Rights Address that will go down in history. Hearing him talking with a stern disappointing voice anyone could tell that Kennedy wants change, but the little hope he has is showing through all of the disappointment in his voice. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States; he is the first and only Catholic president. Born on May 29,1917, he was the second oldest of Rose and Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Kennedy was a democratic president and proud liberal. He was a proud activist of the civil rights movement and the1960’s space race. Kennedy worked very closely with Martin …show more content…
Kennedy uses to appeal to his audience is logos. Using logos, Kennedy appeals to the logic of his audience by providing specific reasoning through using statistics and solutions to help with the racial inequality in the country at that time. After his series of repetition, he starts to tell the audience of the current events “this afternoon the series of threats in Alabama”(“American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy”). At the time Kennedy was giving this speech students that were accepted to the University of Alabama were being denied their acceptance, “Alabama National Guardsmen was required on the University of Alabama”(“American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy”) to make the final decision on rather the two “young Alabama residents who happened to have been born Negro”(“American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy”). Kennedy talks about what happened to the two African American students , because he is try to make the other races realize that their prejudice against that particular race is hurting their chance of getting an education. When Kennedy is on this topic he uses more logos, “ A Negro baby born in 1963”(“American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy”) to tell the struggles of a Black baby growing up has to deal with. When telling his audience about the typical disadvantages a African American baby born at that time goes through , he also gives a comparison between those babies and White babies. Kennedy tells the audience that African American babies “[have ]about one-half as much chance of completing a high school”(“American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy”). While, a White baby “born on the same day at the same time”(“American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy”), has a “one-third as much chance of completing college” (“American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy”). Kennedy proposes to “ Ask congress to act on the discrimination on African Americans” (“American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy”) to resolve all of the disadvantages . Telling his audience the events of the two