Logos in jfk inaugural address

Each of these responses should be at least 150 words.

In your response to your classmates, find a student who wrote about a different persuasive American speech, and comment on your classmate’s discussion of his/her chosen work. Do you agree with his or her analysis of this speech? Why? The ‘why’ is key – please post a rich response to your classmate. Write the response as if you we talking to them please.

1. Zachary

For this week’s forum I chose to write about John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address. The purpose of this speech was to lay out Kennedy’s expectations for his administration in the coming presidency. Additionally, Kennedy speaks to the citizens and America and of the world about the standard America will hold during his presidency. The claim for this speech is, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes is well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear and burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose and foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” (Kennedy) I believe this is the claim because it is the focus of what the entire speech is about. I think the speech uses pathos, ethos, and logos. An example of pathos in the speech is, “The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.” (Kennedy) I think the use of Ethos is simply because he is giving his inaugural address and is the President of the United States. The speech uses logos throughout, but specifically, “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” (Kennedy) Kennedy is using a mix of both the Toulmin method and the Rogerian method in this speech. He has a clear stance and is persuading his audience to take a stance and unite, but he is also showing "common ground" with any force that would call America an adversary.

2. Nichoas

For this week’s forum I chose to write on John F. Kennedy’s “Inaugural Address” which he delivered on Friday, January 20, 1961. The purpose of this speech is to address the American public for the first time after taking the oath of office and becoming the president of the United States. This is obviously one of the most important days for a president to lay out his plan for the future, but also to mend the fences that might have been broken during the campaign for office. I think that in nature, this speech should and has to be a Rogerian method speech. President Kennedy used pathos and logos to unite the public and strengthen the country based off his concern that a divided America was a weaker America during the Cold War. I believe the claim of his speech is, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” (Kennedy). This sentence contains all the components of the message the president was trying to convey. One of the supporting elements I found came in this passage, “Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.” (Kennedy). This shows that he is being more of a mediator than an aggressor towards his goals of ending the Cold War, which reinforces his claim, and further solidifies this speech as Rogerian method in my opinion.