A comparison of these two great orators of the 1960’s with particular reference to Kennedy’s inaugural speech in January 1961 and King’s Lincoln Memorial speech in August 1963. I will consider the role of language within the text and how their characters are represented through their speech, with particular consideration for whether they conformed to, or subverted stereotypes: Kennedy the white politician, King the black activist. I will examine the historical, social and cultural context of the speeches, how their ideologies are represented in the text and how their speech acts reflect or promote these ideologies.   

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on the 29th November 1917, the second son of Joseph Kennedy, a successful businessman and politician, and Rose Kennedy the daughter of the Mayor of Boston.  He grew up in a privileged world of the wealthy and influential Kennedy clan. His father, father in law and both his grandfathers being prominent politicians, the democratic ideology was deep rooted in the culture of his family. After studying at Harvard, Kennedy served in WWII, returning home a hero. He stepped onto the political stage in 1952 as governor of Massachusetts winning re-election in 1958 by the largest majority in the States history. He went on to  defeat Richard Nixon to become, at 43, the youngest and first catholic President of the United States. In January 1961 he made his inaugural speech. 

Dr Martin Luther King Jnr. was born on 15th January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. Like Kennedy, King followed in the footsteps of his forebears, his father and his grandfather both being Baptist ministers. King received his BA from Morehouse College and, in 1954, became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery. In 1955 King became active in the civil rights movement heading the Montgomery Bus Boycott that protested the trial of Rosa Park. Quickly becoming a leading figure in the civil rights movement, King’s ideology of non violent activism was forged in the beliefs of his Christian upbringing and inspired by his hero, Ghandi, whose birthplace he visited in 1959. King continued his policy of peaceful demonstration and when, in 1960, King was jailed for a traffic offence, Kennedy, then presidential candidate, secured King’s release. Despite being jailed for his part in the Birmingham protests of 1963, King continued to preach his ideology of non- violence. On August 28th 1963, the historic March on Washington drew more than 200,000 people. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King made his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech.

Kennedy began his term as president when the cold war was at its height and the Cuban missile crisis on the horizon. He is keen to show to the world and the Russians in particular that he prefers the path of diplomacy whilst not showing any sign of weakness. During the course of preparing his inaugural speech Kennedy and Theodore Sorensen, his main speechwriter, consulted several colleagues and advisors including John Kenneth Galbraith, an economics professor at Harvard University, and Adlai Stevenson, former governor of Illinois. (Analyzing the rhetoric of JFK’s inaugural address, no date) Many of their suggestions found their way into the speech but it was Kennedy’s own ideology that would be woven into the final text. We can see Kennedy’s choice of language is inclusive, implicit and encourages co-operation not confrontation stressing what can be achieved together. His speech acts are mainly suggestive, rarely demanding or commanding. This is illustrated in the following examples from Richard J Tofel’s 2005 book, Sounding the Trumpet (Tofel, 2005) where he compares the suggestions made by Galbraith and Stevenson to the final text Kennedy chose to deliver in his inauguration address. Stevenson: ‘I would like to see permanent joint commissions at work… to undertake interstellar exploration, to conquer the deserts and tap the riches of the oceans…’. Kennedy: ‘Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce’. 

In the words and phrasing suggested by Stevenson and Galbraith the meaning tends to be explicit, whereas in Kennedy’s final choice the meaning is implicit, the language of diplomacy, reflecting his ideology of co-operation.   Stevenson is clear where the threat lies. ‘…we cannot deal with the Communist challenge divided and in disarray.’ Kennedy’s meaning is implicit, ‘[F]or we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.’(ibid) Kennedy’s ideology and diplomatic skills were soon to be tested to the limit as the Cuban missile crisis loomed.

Kennedy’s speech is littered with rhetorical devices designed to strengthen his arguments and promote his ideology: arguably the most powerful being Antithesis. Examples include ‘Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.’ ‘We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom...’, and perhaps the most famous of all ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’. The controversy surrounding the source of this phrase rumbled on for many years. But the source of inspiration, or actual words: and they are after all just words, are not necessarily the reason why this illocutionary speech act gained such propositional force.  Was it the fact that Kennedy, a charismatic and erudite politician, chose them and delivered them in the context of an inaugural speech?  Was it not only the words, but also the timing and the context in which they were used that made them powerful and memorable, just as Marcel DuPont’s Fountain (a urinal fixed to the wall of a gallery) was considered Art because DuPont, a respected artist and philosopher, had chosen it and displayed it in the context of an art gallery? Both Kennedy’s words and DuPont’s Fountain became a source of controversy and a force for change. Compared with the rest of his speech this phrase is unusually commanding. At a time when the electorate are saying ‘OK!  Now we’ve elected you, what are you going to do for us’, Kennedy cleverly turns the question back on the American public and at the same time moves the focus of any implicit mutual commitment, from the president and the electorate, to the country and its people. King's message on the other hand is very personal, ‘I have a dream’.

Other frequently used rhetorical devices include Anaphora. He opens four consecutive paragraphs with the word To. ‘ To those old allies ‘, ‘To those new states…’, ‘To those people…’,  To our sister republics…’, To that world assembly...’. He goes on to use this device again, opening four further paragraphs with the phrase ‘Let both sides…’. The Metaphors he chose to use are particularly interesting in that they illustrate a commonality between his own ideology and that of King, foreshadowing his own struggle to bring civil rights to the American people, ‘… if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion…’, ‘…the bonds of mass misery’, ‘…casting of the chains of poverty’.  Further examples of rhetorical device include Parallelism: ‘United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do...’.  Paradox: ‘Only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed’. Repetition: ‘For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life’. Assonance: ‘...the steady spread of the deadly atom’. Consonance: ‘[W]hether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall…’. Alliteration: ‘Pay any price, bear any burden...’. Anastrophe: ‘Ask not’, Dare not’.   

This wide use of rhetoric, as well as being powerful devices in strengthening his arguments and promoting his ideology, were also representative of Kennedy’s desire to display his eruditeness.  For the same reasons he was renowned for the frequent use, and often misuse, of quotations. In June 2006, Ralph Keyes wrote in the Washington Post that ‘The most glaring example [of Kennedy misquoting] is ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’, which Kennedy attributed to British philosopher Edmund Burke and which recently was judged the most popular quotation of modern times in a poll conducted by editors of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Even though it is clear by now that Burke is unlikely to have made this observation, no one has ever been able to determine who did. (Keyes, 2006) 

Like King, Kennedy is aware of the power of invoking God, the American Constitution and Bill of Rights, all deities enshrined in the hearts and minds of the American people. He manages to include them all in one sentence in the opening paragraph of his speech, ‘For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago’. He goes on to include them once again in the second paragraph and ends his speech with ‘…God's work must be truly our own.’ He uses historical references throughout the speech. ‘With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds’. He even quotes (correctly this time) that most revered of all American leaders, Abraham Lincoln. ‘With malice toward none, with charity toward all…’. 

At 43, the youngest president in American history, Kennedy was elected on a programme of reform, some quite radical, and he is aware that there will be skepticism of this to a young, new and untested president.  By associating himself with all that the American people hold dear and respect, he gives credibility to his administration and assurance to the American people that they and their country are in safe hands. To re-enforce this message he swears and pledges his own commitment four times before going on to ask the American people for theirs.‘ In your hands my fellow citizens, more than mine’, and of course, ‘Ask not…’ The inclusion of emotive words and passages  (‘freedom', 'liberty’) appeals to a new generation of Americans who, like himself, are the son or grandson of immigrants and to whom he owes a debt of gratitude for his election victory. 

The perlocutionary force created by the different speech acts in Kennedy's inaugural speech: Propositional, ‘our sister republics south of our border’; Assertive Illocutionary, ‘The world is very different now’; Directive, ‘ask not what America will do for you’, can be judged by the 75% approval rating (Coleman, 2012) he received from the American people shortly after coming to office, and their support for his policies and actions during his short three year term. These include the Cuban missile crisis, healthcare, education, civil rights reforms and, unfortunately, as it turned out, American involvement in Vietnam. With an average approval rating of 70.1 % during his term in office, Kennedy was the most popular president since World War II, the others averaging only 54`% (ibid). There are no statistics readily available that show the breakdown of this poll, but with such a high approval rate it is safe to say that his inaugural speech and subsequent term in office must have appealed to a broad cross section of ethnic and social groups in American society.   

Although originally Irish immigrants, by the time John F Kennedy was growing up, the Kennedy family had adopted the accent of the privileged and influential Boston Brahmins denoted by the dropped ‘r’, as in ‘pahk the cah’. In an attempt to sound more ‘English’ early generations of Brahmins transformed the New England accent into something resembling English received pronunciation. For a politician with ambitions for the presidency this prestigious accent commanded respect and gave authority and credibility to his carefully chosen words. His wide use of rhetoric and literary quotations typifies the sociolect of the educated and erudite Bostonian class of which Kennedy was part. The upper class Boston dialect, is typified by its lack of slang and use of Standard English. It is denoted more by the pronunciation of the words than the choice of words themselves. His own preference for particular rhetorical devices, his choice of inclusive and non confrontational language and his inclination to suggest rather than command, are illustrated in the changes he made to the words of Stevenson and Galbraith and are indicative of Kennedy’s idiolect reflecting his liberal ideology. (Greenberg, 2013)  

Like all successful politicians Kennedy code-switched according to his audience, the context and the timing of his speech. The statesmanlike rhetoric of his inaugural speech contrasts with those of his election campaign, and in particular those made to blue collar workers. In his speech at the United Chemical Workers convention in Sept 1960, his language was simple, conversational and humorous with references aimed at the particular audience : ‘…dozens and hundreds of men and women working in those plants’, ‘In your paper, The Chemical Worker…which I was just looking at...’ ,’…standing pat with McKinley…, or keeping cool with Coolidge’. (John F. Kennedy speeches - John F. Kennedy presidential library & museum, no date) His ideology on civil rights, as well as reflecting those of the Democratic Party were re-enforced by his own family history, and reflected the prejudice his father felt as the son of an Irish immigrant American growing up in old school Boston at the turn of the previous century. (Life of John F. Kennedy - John F. Kennedy presidential library & museum, no date) Kennedy along with King was one of the most prominent activists for Civil Rights in the 1960's. 

It was at the end of a long peace march in August 1963, when Baptist minister, Martin Luther King took to his pulpit on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and addressed his 'congregation' with the keynote speech of the day. He had used the ‘I have a dream’ phrase in amphoral rhetoric before, notably in Detroit’s Como Arena in June of that year. The response was apathetic and his advisors had persuaded him to drop it from the text of the Washington speech. Legend has it that, seeing the protesters starting to drift away at the end of a long wet cold day, he set aside his prepared speech and with innate understanding of what was needed, spoke from the heart, arguably the most influential words in the history of American civil rights. (Younge, 2016) 

King’s ethos as a black Baptist minister and civil rights activist would not normally have the same credibility as that of Kennedy as President, but in the context of a civil rights demonstration his integrity, re-enforced by his references and allusions to God and the shared history of the American people, is indisputable. He begins his speech with a reference to Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation freeing Negro slaves.  ‘Five score years ago a great American…’.   He invokes God's approval of the changes he dreams of.  ‘The glory of the Lord shall be revealed’.  He finishes his speech with a reference to God in a popular Negro spiritual ‘Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’ 

Both King and Kennedy drew on the power of rhetorical devices and historical references differing only in their preferences. Kennedy chose the elegant and complex form of Antithesis as his favourite rhetorical device, where King chose the more direct and simple device of Anaphora, seeking to re-enforce the power of his message by repetition. In the second paragraph he repeats the phrase ‘One hundred years later’ to illustrate that nothing has really changed for the Negro. In a call to action, he begins six paragraphs with ‘We can never be satisfied’. As he builds to a climax ‘I have a dream’ is repeated nine times, describing his hopes for the end of segregation, alluding to the American Dream and a future where ‘…all men are truly equal’. He includes a call to action by inviting his audience to share his dream. Quoting from the famous patriotic song America (My Country, Tis of Thee) King borrows the last line of the first verse ‘Let freedom ring’, repeating it three times in his closing paragraphs.

Metaphors, over thirty in total, are a feature of his speeches that King shared with Kennedy. They are used extensively and enthusiastically. Sometimes just one, ‘Quicksand’ at other times, part of eloquent and lyrical passages. ‘great vaults of opportunity’,  ‘justice rolls down like the waters and righteousness of a mighty stream’. 

King relied heavily on pathos, appealing to the emotions of his audience. ‘ ‘[O]ne day… little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as brother and sisters’ This is also an example of King’s ability to code-switch within a speech, this simple down to earth desire that the ordinary man and woman can understand, compared to the aspirational and esoteric nature of ‘ …the sunlit paths of racial justice’ Although Kennedy also used pathos effectively, his arguments were sometimes formed more by logic, ‘both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons’.

Unlike his Black Muslim contemporary Malcolm X, who advocated violence, King’s ideology was enshrined in the principal of non- violent protest, ‘…meeting physical force with soul force’ (Mayeux, 2011), and like Kennedy, King’s language is inclusive, encouraging co-operation not confrontation. But unlike Kennedy, King was not afraid to name and shame his enemies, ‘… the winds of police brutality’, ‘…Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice. He was also more prone to make demanding and commanding statements when called for, ‘ We refuse to believe…’, ‘We have come to cash this check…’.Kennedy was referred to earlier as having the ability to code- switch when the occasion demanded. King, however, was the master, switching in and out of idioms as he moved between black and white audiences. Changing his black talk and his white talk, a man who blended all sorts of oppositions. The key crossings were not just between black and white but between raw and refined, scared and secular, prophetic and pragmatic. 

King's idiolect was demonstrated in his choice of words and devices described above. The highly educated King with a wide social network across all levels of society and race, consciously chose to use the dialect and sociolect of his regional and ethnic background as suited the occasion and audience. This can be seen when comparing the indicators from his Lincoln Memorial speech to that of his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. In the first the influence early background is more pronounced, demonstrated by the use of ‘in’ rather than ‘ing’ (endin for ending) and releasing the ‘t’ (  be…er for better ) Word- Final Cluster Reduction, frequently found in vernacular African American English, reflect the early social influences on King’s speech (Mis for mist and des for desk) (Wolfram et al., 2015).  In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, his education and social mobility are more apparent in his speech patterns, the idioms and accents of his ethnic and social origins less evident.(ibid) However, the written text of his speeches does not always reflect these differences in the delivery. 

Despite the similarities and differences described above, Kennedy’s Brahmin accent and erudite style confirmed social stereotypes where King’s eloquent and compelling manipulation of a multiracial audience by a black man from Alabama, subverted them.

Kennedy and King are inextricably linked in life through their struggle for civil liberty and in the nature of their untimely deaths (Kennedy in Dallas,1963; King in Memphis,1968) sparking conspiracy theories that still rumble on today.  Along with photographer Bruce Davidson, Journalist Gene Patterson, Lawyer Thurgood Marshall and Rosa Parks (The Girl on a Bus) they were amongst the most influential figures in the emergence of the American civil rights movement in the latter half of the last century.

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