The Civil Rights Address was one of the most influential speeches President John F. Kennedy has ever presented to the American people, and was one of many of his many accomplishments during his presidency. America was experiencing racial discrimination and racial inequality, and Americans needed a leader who would unite them. John F. Kennedy was a sincere, honest, inspirational individual whose duty was to influence equality to Americans. President John F.
Kennedy’s address inspires and pulls on the passion of Americans; he wants all Americans to promote and protect and protect the rights that all men are free, he addresses this a sectional issue and that and our task; our obligation, is to make that revolution, and that everyone in America is special and should be treated equally. Kennedy accomplishes this through the use of pathos, logos, and ethos, the use of quotations, and creates an inspirational tone. The use of pathos in Kennedy’s speech strengthens the idea of liberty and freedom which all Americans should have.
He explains that we should promote and protect the rights that all men are free. Kennedy addresses to the nation that “this nation was founded by men from many nations and backgrounds” (2). Kennedy tries to pull on the pathos or passion of all Americans that we should unite as one nation; even though everyone comes from different backgrounds. Kennedy explains “the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened” (2).
This is also an example of a synecdoche because Kennedy refers the word “men” as a representation of men, women, and children in America. Kennedy says that “every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated “(3). The words of freedom pulls on the passion that all Americans want to live in a free and equal community. The most important statement Kennedy addresses is that all Americans should enjoy the privileges of just being an American without regard to his race of his color but should be treated as he would wish to be treated. Kennedy addresses that this is not a sectional issue.
He uses logos to prove his purpose of addressing this speech of Civil Rights. President Kennedy explains that “The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the State in which he is born – one-third as much chance of becoming a professional man, twice as much chance of becoming unemployed, about one-seventh as much chance of earning $10,000 a year, a life expectancy which is 7 years shorter, and the prospects of earning only half as much “(4). Kennedy uses evidence and logic that African Americans don’t nearly have the same rights and freedoms as whites.
This proves that Americans should realize this inequality among them and put a stop to it. Kennedy also states that “segregation and discrimination occurs in every city of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics this is a problem which faces us all – in every city of the North as well as the South”(18). He uses evidence that explains that this not just a problem in the South but also in North and is a problem all over the nation. Kennedy addresses that “negroes unemployed, two or three times as many compared to whites” (18).
He uses statistics to thoroughly state his argument that all Africans Americans are facing the obstacle of segregation and discrimination. With the use of logos Kennedy does a good job at proving to Americans that racial segregation needs to end. The final way John F. Kennedy states that everyone in America is special and should be treated equally. He states that all of us and all the people who came here had an equal chance to develop their talents. He wants all Americans to provide the” kind of equality of treatment which we would want ourselves ()”.
Kennedy explains that every child should have an equal ability or motivation to be successful. Should have the equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves. President Kennedy was the one of the most influential leaders during the Civil Rights era. Without his dedication and determination to diminish segregation and racial discrimination America would not be the way it is today. Finally on July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act was a crucial step in achieving the civil rights movement’s initial goal which was full legal equality.
In President Kennedy’s Civil Rights Address he states that we should promote and protect the rights that all men are free, that this is not a sectional issue, and that everyone in America is special and should be treated equally. The use of pathos, logos, and ethos establishes his passion for all Americans, evidence that America needs to be legally equal, and the sincerity of him wanting to unite Americans and eliminate racial discrimination. Without President John F. Kennedy all Americans wouldn’t we granted the freedoms and liberties that are available today, especially Africans Americans.
