<P> As a president coming into power at the height of the Cold War, President Kennedy's duty of maintaining peaceful international relations with representing the United States as a force to be reckoned was daunting, at the very least . It is this overarching goal of his presidential term that dominates his inaugural address . Kennedy highlights the newly discovered dangers of nuclear power coupled with the accelerating arms race, and essentially makes the main point that this focus on pure firepower should be replaced with a focus on maintenance of international relations and helping the impoverished in the world . </P> <P> The main focus of the speech can crudely be boiled down to one theme--the relationship between duty and power . This is emphasized by Kennedy's strong use of juxtaposition in the first part of the speech . For example, he states in the second passage, "...Man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life," a clear calling - out of not only America, but also other nations of power for skewed Cold War priorities . He again employs the strategy in the fifth passage when he says, "United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures . Divided there is little we can do," again appealing to the idea of refocusing of international values . Again, after exhorting "both sides" to action, he calls on all of "us" "to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle...against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself," though the phrase "long twilight struggle" came to be associated with the cold war struggle against communism . </P> <P> One of the main components of classical rhetoric, to prepon (the appropriate), is also extremely prevalent in this address . Recognizing the fear and anxiety prevalent in the American people since the start of the Cold War, Kennedy geared his speech to have an optimistic and even idealistic tone as a means of providing comfort . He does this by quickly moving the time of the speech into the future, and invokes repetition of the phrase "Let both sides ..." to allude to how he plans to deal with strained relations while also appealing to the end goal of international unity . He also phrases negative ideas in a manner so as to present them as opportunities--a challenge, appealing to innately American ideals . A great line to emphasize this is in the fourth from last passage, where he states, "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger," a simple twist of words that challenges the American public rather than frightening them . </P> <P> It was also in his inaugural address that John F. Kennedy spoke his famous words, "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country ." This use of chiasmus can be seen even as a thesis statement of his speech--a call to action for the public to do what is right for the greater good . (This appears to be an elegant rephrasing of Franklin D. Roosevelt's acceptance speech at the 1936 Democratic National Convention: "To some generations much is given . Of other generations much is expected . This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny .") </P>

Jfk ask not what your country can do