JFK Speech Fallacy

1) Write a quote from the speech that commits a fallacy. 2) Tell what fallacy it commits and explain why it is guilty of committing that logical flaw. 3) Explain why a speech that blatantly commits so many fallacies can still be so effective and so famous.  


1) "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." page 1, paragraph 8

2) This statement commits a non sequitur fallacy because there exists a disconnect between the premise ("a society can't help its poor") and the conclusion ("therefore, it cannot help the rich"). While the two statements both discuss an economic class, and therefore may appear to be related, in reality they have nothing to do with each other. A society being unable to assist the "many poor" does not guarantee that they will also be unable to help out the "few who are rich".

3) JFK manages to use rhetoric in such an inspirational, patriotic manner that people are riled up before they even have time to think about the many fallacies in the speech. The speech is designed to breed feelings of "Americanism" and pride for both the president and the country; listeners aren't exactly looking to the speech as a source of evidence-supported argument. Finally, after a president is elected, the majority of people are still focusing their attention and topics of discussion on the president himself and what they think he will do in office; they aren't absorbing the inauguration speech critically, looking for logical errors.