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JFK Inaugural Speech

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How Two Speeches Can Change the World During the 1960’s there were many issues in the U.S. that had the nation terrified. Two speakers confronted these issues head on by delivering two awe-inspiring speeches to their audiences that appealed to them emotionally and ethically. Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American who was a civil rights activist that led peaceful protests and presented fantastic speeches. One of his most famous speeches being his “I Have a Dream” speech spoken in Washington D.C. in front of many black and white people to present his idea of equality. John F. Kennedy was a young, white American who possessed incredible charisma that got him to the oval office in one of the closest presidential elections. He knew his Inaugural Address must …show more content…
His Inaugural Address tackled hot topics such as the Cold War and how the U.S. can help the world. Although both speakers were very different, they both captivated their audiences with their use of appeals towards emotion and ethics. Their speeches were so effective due to their use of anaphora and parallelism because they caught the audience’s attention and connected them to the speaker and the issue. In comparison of the two speeches, JFK’s Inaugural Address appealed to people's values while MLK’s speech used appeals directed towards their fear and terror. In JFK’s speech, JFK encourages people to help the less fortunate by saying, “We pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves… but because it is right” (Kennedy 28-30). Ethos is used in this statement to try to attract the audience towards the subject by talking about a subject concerning their ethics and morals. It is effective because it makes people want to do the right thing which is try to help those who are less fortunate. In the “I Have a Dream” speech, MLK explains the horrors about what happens to negroes by explaining, “... Negro is the victim of unspeakable

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