Abstract
On June 10, 1963, John F. Kennedy delivered a commencement address at American University. This speech marked a turning point in U.S.-Soviet relations, leading to an easing of East-West tensions and eventually a nuclear test ban treaty. Sixteen days later, on June 26th, Kennedy delivered another speech at the Rudolph Wilde Platz in West Berlin. The topic of the speech was similar, to the commencement address but its focus was a pointed attack on the Eastern bloc. Both speeches, while contradictory in content, were hailed as major rhetorical successes. Within each speech are imbedded values that make these contradictions more risky than they seem. In his commencement address, Kennedy asked the American people to commit themselves to certain values necessary for establishing peace between the United States and the Soviet Union. Furthermore, he made several commitments in them that he later violated in his West Berlin speech.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Speech Communication
Volume
23
Issue
1
First Page
23
Last Page
28
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Thomas, Douglas
(1991)
"Ethical Implications of Policy Reversal: An Analysis of Kennedy's Speeches at American University and in West Berlin,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 23:
No.
1, Article 5.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol23/iss1/5
Copyright
©1991 Iowa Communication Association
