The Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy

John Kennedys inaugural address is one of the most memorable political speeches of the past century. The young presidents reliance on biblical quotations, metaphors, parallelism, and antithesis recall some of the powerful speeches of Abraham Lincoln. The most famous line in Kennedys address (Ask not . . .) is a classic example of chiasmus. In his book White House Ghosts (Simon Schuster, 2008), journalist Robert Schlesinger (the son of historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., a Kennedy adviser) outlines some of the distinctive qualities of John Kennedys oratorical style: Short words and clauses were the order, with simplicity and clarity the goal. A self-described idealist without illusions, JFK preferred a cool, cerebral approach and had little use for florid expressions and complex prose. He liked alliteration, not solely for reasons of rhetoric but to reinforce the audiences recollection of his reasoning. His taste for contrapuntal phrasing--never negotiating out of fear but never fearing to negotiate--illustrated his dislike of extreme opinions and options. As you read Kennedys speech, consider how his methods of expression contribute to the forcefulness of his message. The Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy (January 20, 1961) Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning--signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago. The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God. We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge--and more. To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder. To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required--not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge: to convert our good words into good deeds, in a new alliance for progress, to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house. To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support--to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective, to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak--and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run. Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction. We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed. But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course--both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankinds final war. So let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms, and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations. Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce. Let both sides unite to heed, in all corners of the earth, the command of Isaiah--to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free. And, if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor--not a new balance of power, but a new world of law--where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved. All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin. In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe. Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are--but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation, a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself. Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort? 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. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking his blessing and his help, but knowing that here on earth Gods work must truly be our own. NEXT: Ted Sorensen on the Kennedy Style of Speech-Writing

Essay about Corruption and Neoliberalism in the Philippines

International Development SIS 637-002 International Development Paper #2 November 17, 2013 Despite this year’s onslaught of devastating earthquakes, factional rebel sieges, and most recently, record breaking typhoons, the Philippines is doing surprisingly well for itself. In fact, The Economist Intelligence Unit reports that though the wreckage caused by last week’s Supertyphoon Haiyan will likely slow GDP somewhat, economic damage will not be significant, the Eastern Visayas region accounting for only two per cent of the country’s GDP. Economically, at least, the Philippines has had a good year: the first half of 2013 saw GDP growth at 7.3 percent, the highest growth rate in Asia; it saw seen record foreign direct investment†¦show more content†¦Most recently in the news is the Pork Barrel Scandal, where President Aquino and the ombudsmen have charged 3 senators, 2 former lawmakers, and a businesswoman for misusing over $200 million in state funds (Hookway). Pork Barrel is a state allocation of funds set aside for senators t o use on development projects of their choice, of which the president says the accused used for fabricated project proposals to take personal kickbacks. Public protests against the scandal have been massive, and the people are calling for not only the eradication of the Pork Barrel fund itself, but of the president’s own spending fund as well. President Aquino faces the dilemma of upholding his strict anticorruption agenda, appealing to the public, and maintaining support of powerful lawmakers and congressmen (Hookway). James Hookway argues that Aquino’s decision on the scandal will heavily determine foreign investor confidence in the Philippines, influencing the path of the country’s development. Indeed most development professionals agree that corruption and bad governance are inversely related to the development of a country. The worst indicators in the Philippine Failed States Report outwardly suggest governance issues are a threat to the state and a major c ause of internal violence and conflict. Good governance has been the recent focus of many World Bank projects, the group stating that,Show MoreRelatedThe Roots of Poverty and Globalization2272 Words   |  9 Pagesdeveloping countries exports were of manufacturers (9) entering the neoliberal project. Neoliberalism: opening up markets to trade by privatization. The neoliberal project was seen as a way to aid the financially broke countries. It is economic growth and not redistribution that is the answer for eradicating poverty, according to neoliberalism. Development is a necessary form for the welfare of the countries. Neoliberalism is the core of what happened in the 1980s and it is here where globalization reallyRead MoreWorld Trade Organization ( Wto )2137 Words   |  9 Pagesunions, universities, and regional development agencies with a real commitment to the overall goals of local and national economic development. The reform policies Vietnam had established a project to transform the nation afar from most of the neoliberalism ideals and guidelines introduced during the Post-Washington Consensus while upholding some. Although the state gradually began to give space to the market as it allowed private-owned corporations into the industry, the state and politics of VietnamRead MoreU.s. African Development Foundation6843 Words   |  28 Pagesunder extreme poverty, which basically means under the least amount of income per day per person. For instance, when we look at East Asia Pacific, there are six countries listed on the chart (Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) and almost all of them, except for Lao PDR who have a population between 20-40 percent who live under $1.25 a day, have a population of less than 20 percent living under the $1.25 poverty line. However, under the $2 a dayRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the Worl d Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesof global liberalism (after 1950 and more worldwide after 1990) did not stop the multiplication of migration controls, the proliferation of identity documents, and ever more complex laws to sift and select the optimal migrant. In this sense, neoliberalism has proved to be more â€Å"quasi† than â€Å"neo,† promoting the free movement of goods, capital, technologies, information, and culture, but not of people. At the most brutal level, the consolidation of borders and purification of   national spaces

Learning Goals Reflection for Knowledge and Skills - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theLearning Goals Reflection for Knowledge and Skills. Answer: Introduction The academic goals of an individual are achieved through the use of a learning plan which provides guidelines on the functions of each day. A reflection of what one wants to achieve makes it possible to identify and attain goals in school. This study focuses on developing my learning experience by achieving the set learning goals (Komarraju Nadler, 2013). My learning goals include; developing my academic writing skills, develop time management skills, learn how to reference and develop critical reading and thinking skills. My learning barriers to the achievement of set goals are identified to ensure that I develop strategies and resources to overcome the barriers. The set learning goals make it possible for me to attain the required skills and concept taught in school for personal development. Develop critical reading and thinking skills Critical thinking makes it possible for an individual to acquire required knowledge and skills for problem-solving (Street, 2014). My goal of developing critical reading and thinking skills will improve my skills of successfully submitting the school assignments as required by the instructor. The barriers to achieving my goal include an unwillingness to read, copying past study and being depends only on notes. These barriers will be handled by strategies such as thinking outside the box and reading more material to acquire required critical knowledge. Critical thinking and reading skills make it possible for a student to submit a standardized assignment (Fairclough, 2014). A student can improve critical knowledge and skills through a continuous research on different topics in the course. The perception about studies requires being improved to ensure that one positive action towards the achievement of set goals. Discussions with other students will improve my critical thinking and rea ding skills due to the additional information acquired from the group discussions. Critical thinking involves evaluating, assessment and interpretation of information by an individual (Kong, Qin, Zhou, Mou, Gao, 2014). This is where one is supposed to have required skills and knowledge to differently integrate information to ensure that there is an improvement of the critical thinking process. Critical thinking and reading are vital in problem-solving through to quality judgment information acquired from different learning materials (Weinberg Gould, 2014). The performance of an individual is improved through quality submission of assignments by developing required critical reading and thinking skills. Develop my time management skills Time management is important in ensuring that I complete my assignment at the stated time by the tutor. This requires one to prioritize academic activities compared to the social activities in ensuring that there is a continuous improvement in school performance. It is essential for a student to have experience of time management to ensure that there is a proper functioning of the individual (Mukhtar, Ramzan, Kaneez, 2016). The students are required to reduce the time used in social media, which have been made widely accessible to the young people. I will use the strategy of prioritizing strategy to social media in ensuring that my performance improves in school. The internet will be used to gather required information from books, articles and YouTube videos which relate to class courses (Nickerson Zodhiates, 2013). Time management will make it possible for me to have a brighter future due to the improvement of academic performance. An increase in time of study makes it possible fo r an individual to research on assignment for quality academic work properly. In coming up with a proper study timetable, a student is supposed to have an insight on the strategies, resources, and barriers to time management. This will improve the need of a student to get the study materials such as lecture slides, books, and article journal to improve the study outcome of the courses (O'Donnell, Hmelo-Silver, Erkens, 2013). I will improve my time management skills in studies by coming up with a realistic and flexible schedule that will make learning effective to achieve higher grades in the class. Develop my academic writing skills Academic writing skills make it possible for an individual to communicate to the teacher and other students effectively. This is where the content in assignment and quizzes are of high quality to clarify ideas to the targeted individuals (Bailey, 2014). My barriers to developing academic writing skills are that I do not know how to write academically and do not have enough English knowledge. To effectively deal with the barrier I will study academic writing from different sources and gather enough information about English. In coming up with required academic writing skills, one is supposed to identify targeted audience to come up with the required points for the assignments (Robson McCartan, 2016). I will use books and other learning sources to ensure that there is a supportive audience about the research. After writing one is required to proofread to ensure that the paper is credible with no grammar and spelling errors. Proper punctuation when coming up with an academic paper make s it of high quality to achieve higher grades. I will continually read the book, article journal, and websites that teach English to improve my language for a smooth academic writing in accordance with the course. The paper should have proper sections that will communicate the required information to the targeted audience (Biggam, 2015). I will make sure that I read a lot to ensure that I come up with an assignment that is of high quality for the achievement of the goal of developing academic writing. Learn how to reference Referencing is essential in reducing cases of plagiarism in assignment through the development of unique work. In handling the barriers of referencing, I will use tutorial referencing guides and make an assignment to know referencing practically. Plagiarism is cheating, according to the university rules requiring an individual to have the required skills of referencing to give credit to the author of books, websites, journal articles and websites used in the research (Foltynek Glendinning, 2015). The required knowledge in referencing makes the assignments and quizzes to meet the required standard of learning. I will use the guides to have the required referencing knowledge of reference content written in a particular research. Referencing the source of the information is important in research as it appears of high quality to the targeted audience (Canagarajah, 2013). The university assignment requires one to use another individual ideas and words in completing the assignment requiri ng one to reference for a smooth flow of the learning process. I will follow the set referencing standards to make it possible to achieve high grades from researches and assignments in the school. There are different styles of referencing which include; Chicago, MLA, APA, Harvard, Oxford, and Vancouver (Bell, 2014). I will use the online guides to acquire the required knowledge and skills to use the different referencing styles to complete assignments. Learning the diverse referencing styles will improve my overall school performance through submission of quality and unique work to the lecturers for higher grades from standard assignments. Conclusion From the reflection, it is clear that an individual is supposed to set learning goals to improve the grades acquired in school. My learning goals are developing critical thinking and reading skills, develop time management skills, develop academic writing skills and learn how to reference. These goals are valid in improving my academic performance in the university through submission of standardized assignments. Recommendation The learning goals will positively impact my future by being successful in the university. The skills acquired in a university such as time management and critical thinking will be used in my career. This is where I can come up with a realistic and reliable plan when working to achieve the career goals in the future. Critical thinking will improve my ability to deal with other staff from different ethnic background. The skills will make me have the ability to solve problems in an organization to become a leader in future. Bibliography Bailey, S. (2014). Academic writing: A handbook for international students. Routledge. Bell, J. (2014). Doing Your Research Project: A guide for first-time researchers. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Biggam, J. (2015). Succeeding with your master's dissertation: a step-by-step handbook. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Canagarajah, S. (2013). Critical academic writing and multilingual students. University of Michigan Press. Fairclough, N. (2014). Critical language awareness. Routledge. Foltynek, T., Glendinning, I. (2015). Impact of policies for plagiarism in higher education across Europe: Results of the project. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 207-216. Komarraju, M., Nadler, D. (2013). Self-efficacy and academic achievement: Why do implicit beliefs, goals, and effort regulation matter? Learning and Individual Differences, 67-72. Kong, L., Qin, B., Zhou, Y., Mou, S., Gao, H. (2014). The effectiveness of problem-based learning on the development of nursing students' critical thinking: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International journal of nursing studies, 459-469. Mukhtar, U., Ramzan, S., Kaneez, F. (2016). Analysis of Employees Time Management Behavior Skills and Strategies (TMBSS) in Pakistan. Strategic Management, 12-21. Nickerson, R., Zodhiates, P. (2013). Technology in education: Looking toward 2020. Routledge. O'Donnell, A., Hmelo-Silver, C., Erkens, G. (2013). Collaborative learning, reasoning, and technology. Routledge. Robson, C., McCartan, K. (2016). Real world research. John Wiley Sons. Street, B. (2014). Social literacies: Critical approaches to literacy in development, ethnography, and education. Routledge. Weinberg, R., Gould, D. (2014). Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology. Human Kinetics.