Rhetorical Analysis of John F. Kennedy's Civil Rights Address

At this time of the speech the world was very segregated and the whites would treat African Americans like they weren't even a person. On June 11 1963 in the Oval Office, Washington, D.C.  President John F. Kennedy gave a speech entitled ”Civil Rights Address”, which approaches the issue of “separate but equal.” Kennedy’s purpose is to explain how African-Americans are treated wrongly and the lack of rights they have compared to white people and he wanted to change how they were getting treated. Kennedy wrote the speech for the people of America to help change their hearts and open their minds to all people are equal. Kennedy creates a sympathetic tone when he is talking about African-Americans and how they are treated. Kennedy uses pathos by showing his emotion for the African-Americans about how they were not being treated equally. He also claims that this will only be fully fixed if people change the way they think about African Americans. He uses logos by stating the statistics of how an African-American man has less of a chance of completing college and making money and how they have twice as much of a chance of becoming unemployed and a life expectancy of seven years shorter than a white man.

Kennedy discusses how all men and Women are created equal in the “Civil Rights Address“. In his speech, Kennedy talks about how segregation is worldwide and it is a struggle to encourage people to support that everyone is equal and protect the rights of African-Americans. Kennedy describes if African-Americans can fight for the country then they should be able to be treated equally in public facilities like hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and vote in the election. He explains that it doesn’t matter what race you are, everyone should have equal rights and every American should be treated well. In the beginning of the paper Kennedy states, “When Americans are sent to Vietnam or West Berlin, we do not ask for whites only” (1). ”It oughta to be possible for American consumers of any color to receive equal service in places of public accommodation”(1). 

In the next section of the speech, Kennedy uses logos by stating that it does not matter what state you were born in an African-American baby will grow up and most likely not complete high school and have an even less of a chance of completing college and having a good job but is more likely to become unemployed. “The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the State in which he is born, has about one­half as much chance of completing a high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day, one­third as much chance of completing college, one­third as much chance of becoming a professional man, twice as much chance of becoming unemployed” (2). 

Kennedy expresses that to protect the safety of the public it is better to settle the disputes in court and not on the streets and that we need new laws. He also explained that it’s not just laws that are needed but also the moral of the man that needs to be changed. In the beginning to middle of the paper Kennedy expresses, “New laws are needed at every level, but law alone cannot make men see right. We are confronted primarily with a moral issue.” (2). Kennedy states that it has been one hundred years since President Lincoln freed the slaves and still African-Americans are not fully free and that one thing America encourages all around the world is freedom but yet the African-Americans are not treated and given the same rights as everyone else. Kennedy encourages legal action from the legislative body to help calm the violence and protest that threatens people's lives. Kennedy wants to change this; he wants the violence to be gone, for everyone to be equal. He encourages that we can do this and we should do this to make a change and make our world better. 

Kennedy informed, that he was going to take action that he was going to ask The Congress of the United States,” To make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law” (3). Kennedy wants Congress to enact legislation to give all Americans the rights no matter what race they are. Also to be able to be in all faculties that are open to the public. Kennedy will also ask Congress to participate more in lawsuits to help end segregation in the public education system. Kennedy also informed the public that many districts are starting to disaggregate voluntarily and admitted African-Americans voluntarily with no violence but the pace of this is going very slow. Kennedy goes on in his speech to say some people are willing to disaggregate some of their facilities but they don’t want to do it alone. This is why we need nationwide legislation and move the problems to the courts. 

Kennedy uses pathos in his speech by talking about how legislation alone can’t fix this problem. It also has to be solved within the person and community. They can create laws that people have to follow with segregation but to truly end segregation people will have to change their hearts and open them up to the idea that we are all Americans and it does not matter the color of our skin. He pays a tribute to the people in the north and south who have been working in the communities and not just legally but opening up their hearts to disaggregating their towns. Kennedy discusses how African-Americans are two times more unemployed and how they are denied the use of facilities and education even though they are qualified. Along with how not only legally can help change this but we as a person can help to change it. In this he affected the audience with pathos and showing the emotion he has for African-American. 

Kennedy ends with, not every child that is African-American will have the right to get to their full potential and it’s up to us to change that. He asks the people of America to help make it easy to desegregate by thinking about how you would want to be treated and how you would want your child to be treated. At the end of the speech Kennedy states, “Therefore, I'm asking for your help in making it easier for us to move ahead and to provide the kind of equality of treatment which we would want ourselves; to give a chance for every child to be educated to the limit of his talents. As I've said before, not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but they should have the equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves“ (4).

In conclusion, Kennedy meets his purpose because he was able to say what he wanted to say . It did make a change and affected the people. He’s purpose was to explain how African-Americans are treated wrongly and the lack of rights they have compared to white people and he wanted to change how they were getting treated. Kennedy does a good job using pathos by showing his emotion for the African-Americans about how they were not being treated equally. He uses logos by stating the statistics of how an African-American man has less of a chance of completing college and getting a good job. Kennedy does a good job addressing segregation and not only uses emotion but also statistics. He persuaded me and the people of America because after the speech a lot of people desegregated their facilities.