In my Classical Studies seminar, we listened to President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech to analyze the argumentative and rhetorical strategies he used. I thought it would be interesting to analyze his speech with the focus of blog post #2 in mind: repetition and word choice.
What stood out to me the most when listening to the speech and reading the transcript was the repetition of the word “pledge.” President Kennedy uses it 7 times, more often than any other specific word. One of our critical readings, “President Kennedy’s Inaugural Address” by Burnham Carter Jr., notes that “pledge” is associated with happy contexts, such as “swearing allegiance to the flag, making a gift to the church or other charity, drinking to a friends health, and even in the marriage ceremony” (Carter 36).
I want to suggest that the word “pledge” is also distinctly American and reciprocal, in comparison to synonyms like “oath” or “promise.” We’re all taught that we pledge allegiance to the American flag. Pledge carries connotations of loyalty, faith, and duty. On the other hand, swearing an oath usually exists within legal contexts, connected with swearing an oath in court or during an inauguration. Additionally, as Carter notes, “promise” evokes the cliché of empty promises and is a bit less rigid in its connotations. The word choice here was deliberate – a pledge seems unbreakable and everlasting, something we make to our country and, in turn, our country should make to us. We pledge allegiance to the flag, and therefore the presidency, and here President Kennedy is pledging allegiance to us.
But let’s dive beyond the word itself into the context in which it is used in the speech. Kennedy begins his speech by utilizing the word towards American allies and other countries. He extends a pledge of support and allegiance to all those who are fighting for liberty, fighting against the powers of colonial control, and fighting against communism. In other words, he pledges to those who share American values, even if they may not live within our borders. In this way, he expands the pledge of loyalty and service the country makes to Americans to a wider “us,” an us that includes South American countries, those in poverty, and those fighting the U.S.S.R. He furthermore emphasizes the solemnity of a pledge when he says “to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request.” Those not a part of “us” are not awarded the same word choice, the same loyal bond; instead they are relegated to a request, a one-sided question rather than a reciprocal promise.
At the end of the speech, Kennedy really reinforces that a pledge, which he has deliberately and consciously repeated throughout his address, is a two way street – both parties must uphold their end of the bargain. With our allies, that means we pledge support while you pledge a commitment to liberty. For the people, it means pledging allegiance to your country while it pledges allegiance to you. It carries connotations of fighting for one another, of sharing the same values, of working towards whatever you pledge to do. I think Kennedy plays into this idea of a reciprocal pledge when he utters the now-famous phrase “ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.”
Works Cited:
Carter, Burnham. “Kennedy’s Inaugural Address,” College Composition and Communication, vol. 14, no. 1, Feb 1963, pp. 36-40). https://www.jstor.org/stable/355297.
Speech transcript: https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/historic-speeches/inaugural-address
I really like how you close read President Kennedy’s use of the word “pledge” in his inaugural address. I think it is interesting how often he uses the word in his speech and how you define “pledge” as a two way street rather than a promise. Looking at it that way, it puts “the Pledge of Allegiance” in a new light for me where it is essentially saying that we are pledging ourselves to a country that has already pledged itself to us. I find that very interesting especially since this is something that we have to repeat constantly; in school, at sports games, I’ve even had to say it at concerts.