In his Inaugural Address, John F. Kennedy is attempting to reach Americans and the rest of the world and motivate them to fight for liberty, progress, and the ending of the Cold War. Kennedy uses strong rhetorical techniques through interpersonal and directive diction to connect his audience to himself (the speaker) and his goals for the nation and world (the subject).
To connect with his audience, Kennedy uses interpersonal diction in the form of presenting himself as an equal, using inclusive pronouns, and implying a common ground with the majority. Kennedy has only recently been elected to office and it is crucial that he connects with his audience by ensuring them he is both a “fellow American” and a “fellow citizen of the world.” Several times throughout the text, especially when introducing a new point or emphasizing a point, Kennedy uses the inclusive pronouns “we” and “us.” Such interpersonal diction challenges not only on the world but also himself. In order to relate the Christian majority to America, Kennedy makes references to the “Almighty God.” Including God in both the introduction and conclusion heightens his point of God’s importance. This reference can be contrasted to Bush’s speech, in which the god referenced is not solely the Christian God. Such a difference is based on the different audiences, as modern America has a greater religious diversity. Kennedy also uses an age-old technique, which can be found in speeches from revolutionary hero Patrick Henry to modern President Bush, of complimenting the audience so they are more willing to dedicate themselves to the speaker’s cause. Specifically Kennedy says, “only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom” to positively set the audience aside from the rest of mankind.
Kennedy utilizes directive diction to connect the audience with the subject by delivering a clear choice, using emotive diction and connotations, and presenting a personal challenge. Similar to Bush and Patrick Henry, Kennedy leaves the audience with no neutral ground between the speaker’s cause and the “enemy.” The choices in Kennedy’s speech are to “abolish all forms of human poverty” or “all forms of human life” and “the wonders of science” or “its terrors.” Not only is it clear to the audience that they must make a choice, but they are also shown the right choice, which consequently is Kennedy’s cause. Kennedy further connects the audience to the subject by using words with strong connotations, such as in “break the bonds of mass misery” and “casting off the chains of poverty.” These words, both of which relate to slavery, cause the audience to have strong emotions against misery and poverty, and, therefore have a desire to take action. In his Speech to the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry also uses connotations relating to the negative aspects of slavery. Breaks in parallelism are used in this Inaugural Address, as in Bush’s speech, to emphasize points such as “push[ing] back the jungle of suspicion.” To directly connect the audience to the subject, Kennedy presents them with the challenge of changing the world by using phrases such as “in your hands” and “now the trumpet summons us again.”
Kennedy’s word choice and rhetorical techniques are successful, as they leave the reader or listener with an understanding of Kennedy and his cause and a desire to face the challenges presented. His use of directive and interpersonal diction forms a sense of global unity. As Kennedy says, “ask…what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
