1. Rhetorical Analysis Revision
2012 Prompt: JFK’s 1962 Speech
AP English Language and Composition

2. General Notes Avoid using the terms ethos, pathos, and logos.
Instead, label the specific rhetorical technique being used.
Do not organize your paragraphs by appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos UNLESS you have something substantial to say about each type of appeal.
Who is the audience? (There is often more than one group in the audience)
What is a press conference?
Parenthetical citations are not necessary when we only have one source. If you want to use citations, cite the lines.
Remember, the purpose of a text is to change the audience’s heart, mind, or actions. Identify the purpose in your thesis statement.

3. Thesis statements
Inadequate: Kennedy uses logos, pathos, and ethos to appeal to his audience about steel prices.
Adequate: Kennedy uses rhetorical appeals to convince his audience that the rise in steel prices is harmful to the country.
Effective: Kennedy utilizes his public platform to shame the steel executives into reversing the price increase and reassure his American audience that he has their best interests at heart during this time of crisis.

4. Body paragraphs: inadequate
Main idea: Kennedy uses ethos to improve his credibility.
Evidence: He uses information from Secretary McNamara, the Wall Street Journal, and the Acting Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics to prove he knows what he’s talking about.
Analysis: This evidence proves Kennedy has done his research and his audience should believe what he has to say.
Purpose: (none)

5. Body paragraphs: adequate
Main idea: Kennedy cites information from credible sources to support his logical argument that there is no reason to raise steel prices beyond simple corporate greed.
Evidence: According to the Acting Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost to make steel has remained steady for the last three years. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal reported that the steel companies earnings would be “among the highest in history.” This move is especially heinous when the public considers that “a hundred thousand steel workers [have been] thrown out of work in the last three years” during the recession.
Analysis: The only logical conclusion that the American public can make, contends Kennedy, is that the “tiny handful of steel executives” raised prices in the “pursuit of private power and profit” in a “ruthless disregard of their public responsibilities.”
Purpose: The use of statistics and reporting provide clear evidence of Kennedy’s argument that the steel executives have no financial reason to raise prices.

6. Body paragraphs: effective
Employing evidence from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Wall Street Journal, Kennedy proves corporate greed is the motivating factor for the steel price hike and underscores the dichotomy between the “fat cat” steel executives and the long-suffering American public. According to the Acting Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, since 1958, the steel industry has benefitted from increased output per man; in fact, “a hundred thousand steel workers [have been] thrown out of work in the last three years.” While unions are delaying wage requests for the good of the American economy and many blue-collar workers find themselves unemployed, the steel companies have lined their pockets, enjoying a time of steady profit, which is projected to rise, according to the Wall Street Journal. Emphasizing this disparity, Kennedy scorns the “tiny handful of steel executives” choosing to raise prices in the “pursuit of private power and profit.” Lest it may be argued that Kennedy should not meddle in the economic affairs of a free-market economy, especially in light of the Red Scare still echoing in the American psyche as a justification for military presence in Vietnam, Kennedy concedes that “[p]rice and wage decisions…ought to be freely and privately made,” but argues that right must be tempered with the “responsibility for public welfare.” By contrasting the sacrifices of the American public during a time of crisis with the gluttony of the steel companies’ “utter contempt for the interests of 185 million Americans,” Kennedy both shames the steel executives’ avarice and celebrates American resilience to reinforce his position as a man of the people and pressure the executives to reverse their actions.