John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address

Presidential inaugural addresses are composed for two primary audiences. The first audience is the president’s own people, with whom he makes a kind of contract: “This is what I will do with the power you have given me.” The second audience is overseas, especially in foreign capitals, where whole staffs of political analysts spend many hours trying to decode the inaugural text. Those foreign diplomatic readers try to extract every possible nuance of meaning, searching for clues to how the new president will use his power for or against other nations. Kennedy’s address can therefore be read at two levels: first, as an inspiring speech for domestic consumption, and second, as a document that can be dissected for deeper themes and purposes.

Although widely recognized as well phrased, Kennedy’s inaugural address is also well organized. Somewhat like a standard high-school essay, his speech has five parts: an introductory preamble, a valedictory conclusion, and three main parts in between. Kennedy’s preamble is brief but important. He name-checks the key notables in the audience—two past presidents, two vice presidents, the chief Supreme Court justice, and the speaker of the House of Representatives (Paragraph 1).