Reaction Paper for John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address Speech

John F. Kennedy Inaugural address speech

Introduction

Within this paper a focus on a speech given by John F. Kennedy given during his inaugural speech given on a cold bitter day snowy day in Washington DC on January 20, 1961 and will be judged using transformational leadership theory. Within this paper criteria written by Kouzes and Posner (2007) will be used. Tenants of Charismatic and/or Transformational Leadership Theory outlined by them are Model the way, Inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act and encourage the heart.

Reaction

Model the Way

Upon reviewing and watching President John F Kennedy speech he did model the way. President Kennedy not only spoke of what he would do for the country he had the supporters in the audience that believed what he spoke of. JFK spoke from the heart and believed what he was saying and had the audience also believing what he was saying. As an effective leader having this confidence in yourself and that of the people you lead is crucial. President Kennedy’s actions spoke much louder than his words.

Inspired a Shared Vision

President Kennedy used his words during his speech to inspire a shared vision and breathed life into that vision and that of the audience. He was able to make the audience look forward into the future of what his beliefs where making it seem like it was a reality that was about to set it. President Kennedy spoke with much enthusiasm in his voice that took over the audience and drew them into the speech. His personal feelings on matters helped set the tone not only from the beginning of the speech but thru ought the entire speech.

Challenge the Process

My personal feelings again opened a lot of opportunities for America by the words of President Kennedy. He believed lots of things could be accomplished but at the cost of other things suffering. President Kennedy not only believed that he could change the now facing problems that America had and turn them into...