SPEECH

Based on the historical context, what do you think the speech will be about?

Rank the purposes of the speech in order: 

• To publically, formally, legally, 'sign in' the US Executive Government - to take office

• To make a statement of the aims and objectives of the new administration

• To establish JFK as a leader of America and 'the free world'

The speech was in its entirety a Cold War speech.  One has to wonder if the intended audience was actually the American people or the Soviet Politburo.  Competition with the Soviet Union over influence throughout the world had become a monomania for Americans since the end of the Second World War and this intense focus on foreign affairs was the theme of the address.  The address was perhaps Kennedy’s—he of the generation who had fought the gruesome and perhaps unnecessary war against fascism—chance to mark the line in the sand to a despotic Soviet Union in 1961 that should have been marked by the Western powers to the despotic Axis powers in 1938.  (To be sure, Kennedy had spent much of his political life running from his father’s record as an appeaser in the run-up to the war, and thus the urge to foster an ostentatiously belligerent attitude towards the enemies of freedom was pronounced within him.)  Today we find ourselves befuddled trying to chart a clear path in a chaotic multipolar world of rising powers and an ever-increasing number of non-state actors.  It feels almost quaint to listen to the words spoken during the most bipolar era this planet has ever known.  Kennedy’s recurring admonitions to “both sides” demonstrate acutely that there were none but two forces in the world that really mattered in 1961.  This highlights another audience Kennedy was addressing:  the scores of independent nations in Africa and Asia that had won their independence from the Western empires since 1945.  Early in his congressional career, Kennedy had known that the United States would have to campaign proactively to the newly independent nations to win their support and alliance.  The creation of what became the Peace Corps, long a goal of Kennedy and other policymakers, was one of the outgrowths of this aim for mutual benefit between the First and Third Worlds expressed by the new president. 

 Finally, besides examining the great uplifting messages within the inaugural address, attention must be paid to the sad gaping hole that existed within it.  Although the address was almost entirely devoted to foreign policy, there was a domestic issue deliberately avoided by Kennedy that was rapidly metastasizing into an existential threat for the United States government:  the struggle for civil rights by black Americans.  Because the Kennedy Administration began their term so focused on the freedom and human rights of the peoples across the seas, they were woefully inconsiderate of the enemies of freedom operating within their own government.  Indeed, the power of the reactionary southern Democrats in government made the liberal Democratic president sadly beholden to their interests in order to advance his other priorities.  There had been an attempt to include a reference to struggles black Americans were making to gain their rightful share of dignity as citizens.  One line was included in an early draft of the speech which did allude to the ongoing civil rights controversies:  [so that] “our nation’s most precious resource, our youth, are not developed according to their race or funds, instead of their own capability,” but it was dropped from the final version.  Two of Kennedy’s advisors (Louis Martin and Harris Wofford) did manage to convince Kennedy to add the phrase “at home and around the world” to his statement about defending human rights.* 

Guided Annotations:

HOMEWORK:

Write a comparative analysis of the two speeches, considering the following:

• Exploration of genre-specific concepts, purpose and audience

• Application of a vast range of linguistic devices in analysis

• Analysis of the writer's craft and voice and exploration of how meaning is shaped

• Fully relevant quotations

• Detailed awareness of the links between the texts and their contexts. Context of production and reception need to be explored

• Consistent comparisons and connections across both texts

• Effective structure to your argument with carefully chosen language and terminology.