Essay Example on President Kennedy's speech regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis

STEPS 1 Print out the speech you selected from this link 2 Read it once without making any annotations on it Focus for reading identify rhetorical devices 3 Find what you consider to be the main claim of the piece 4 Thoroughly annotate the speech for Evidence being used to support the claim statistics anecdotes etc Rhetorical devices Use of ethos pathos and logos the rhetorical triangle 5 After you have done this thoroughly answer the following questions 1 Who is the audience of the speech Be specific The audience of President Kennedy's speech regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis are the American people and the Soviet Union as well as other world governments 2 What is the purpose of the speech Be specific The purpose of Kennedy's speech is to address the Cuban Missile Crisis and the dangers it poses to the world It also calls for peace and negotiations to defuse the crisis 3 What is the main claim in this speech 

What are they where are they used and how does the how of the speaker's delivery reinforce the what of the speech In his speech Kennedy uses the rhetorical device of repetition as shown in the quote many months of sacrifice months in which both our patience and our will be tested months in which many threats and denunciations will keep us aware of our dangers Kennedy 5 Kennedy uses repetition when addressing the future after the Cuban Missile Crisis His use of repetition aims to emphasize the importance of the months to come and the steps everyone has to take to stay safe Another rhetorical device Kennedy uses in his speech is hyperbole This is demonstrated in the quote We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of worldwide nuclear war in which the even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth Kennedy 3 In this quote Kennedy warns of worldwide nuclear war Though this is unlikely Kennedy s exaggeration succeeds in grabbing his audience's attention and getting them involved in the issue A third rhetorical device used in Kennedy's speech is parallel structure This is demonstrated in the quote capable of striking southeastern part of the United States in Central America or in the Caribbean Area Kennedy 1 Kennedy uses parallel structure during the introductory part of his speech to tell his audience that everyone is affected by the Cuban Missile Crisis pointing out a few key locations to support his argument 6 Does the speaker appeal most to ethos pathos or logos throughout the speech 

Explain your answer Overall Kennedy seems to appeal the most to Logos Throughout the majority of his speech Kennedy presents his audience with statistics and facts as shown in the quotes That statement was false Kennedy 2 and a threat to hemispheric security and to invoke articles 6 and 8 of the Rio Treaty in support of all necessary action Kennedy 4 His intentions were to build a solid foundation to make his claim and arguments sound while emphasizing the alleged treachery of the Soviet Union In the process however Kennedy simultaneously appealed to Logos and logical thinking NOTE Responses to questions 4 6 will be long and thorough If you do not go into depth you will not get credit If you do not go into depth you will not know what you are talking about when you are called upon to discuss your specific speech in class If you have any questions while we are doing this just ask and I will be happy to help you