Rhetorical Analysis Of Jfk's Inaugural Address

Register to read the introduction… This inaugural address was so influential that Pope Paul VI "reread the text numerous times over the years" and his 1967 encyclical "echoed its themes and language" (Clarke 6). Also noted by Clarke is former White House Aide Arthur Schlesinger in his 1965 memoir of the Kennedy administration, A Thousand Days, where Schlesinger goes on to say that "the energies that Kennedy released, the purposes he inspired, the goals he established would guide the land he loved for years to come." Kennedy's speech was so compelling that Senator Barry Goldwater, former leader of the Republican Party's conservative wing, commented "God, I'd like to be able to do what that boy did there" (Clarke 7). In my opinion, our adversaries, either political or otherwise, have no choice but to be moved by a piece of literature as momentous as that of President Kennedy's inaugural address. President Kennedy's inaugural speech had many purposes but most importantly it gave him positive …show more content…
Such emotions as those exhibited by President Kennedy throughout his speech can only be the product of an individual with a great passion for humanity. And I do not believe that a man who possessed a demeanor such as J.F.K. could be capable of delivering such a famed address if the words he were reading were in fact not of his own sentiments. The immortalization of the words, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" (Kennedy, 1961), which will thrive in the hearts and minds of Americans for generations to come, further reinforce the genuineness, veracity, and disposition of President Kennedy and the promises he set forth to accomplish for the freedom of