The emotion battle:

John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro

Bruno Betancourt del Toro

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“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.”
John F. Kennedy

All along the history of the humanity the world has experienced the great speakers that change history and hoe they have motivated people, armies and even countries with their speeches. These speakers have been very different from each other, but there are two that characterize themselves for using the emotional appeal to create an environment that helps their message get between and inside the listeners. These are John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro.

Both of these speakers where two great leaders, John F. Kennedy, one of the most loved presidents of the United States of America, and Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator that has been the face of the island for decades. Both of them made a reputation for themselves as good speakers, and lots of their speeches are now motivation to the growing generation of leaders.

Most of their success as speakers comes from their abilities to use emotional appeal, and we´re are going to analyze two specific speeches that are characterized by that. The “Ich bin ein Berliner” of John F. Kennedy, speech given in the city of West Berlin in 1963, and the speech given in the United Nations in New York by the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in 1979. This two speeches have always been an example to young speakers on how to use emotional appeal to create an environment where the people that hear them get involved and motivated with the speaker´s words.

We can see this in several number of examples in both speeches. Inside the “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech we can find lots of phrases that emphasize the emotional appeal, perhaps the most obvious is the phrase that titles the speech. “Ich bin ein Berliner”. I am a citizen of Berlin, Kennedy says. This phrase becomes important and popular because of the moments that the citizens of Berlin where going through, most importantly the separation in the city, and the differences between the communist and capitalist sides. This creates a reaction in the crowds so strong that you can hear the people screaming because of their excitement in the recording. Also, the second example inside this speech is the phrase: “… Let them come to Berlin…” John F. Kennedy repeats this phrase whenever he refers to communism: “Whoever thinks that communism is the future, let them come to Berlin”, for example. This words became instantly famous, and because of the context and time when the speech was given, it became very important.

In the other hand, there are also lots of examples of phrases that characterize Castro´s speech. First of all, all along his speech he refers to the United Nation´s president, and before every topic he touches and speaks about he says: “Dear President; …” and “President…” this is very important due to the fact that the UN´s President is the biggest authority in the organization, and the fact that Castro refers to him and recommends the president things about the world, becomes very emotional. Similarly, Castro repeats in some parts of his speech the words: “It must cease”, for example;

“The unequal exchange ruins our people. And must cease!

Inflation ruins our people. And must cease!

Protectionism ruins our people. And must cease!”

And again, all this word are dedicated to the UN´s president, which make the speech way more emotional.

Lots of phrases that both speakers say create enormous emotions between the listeners, and in Castro´s speech there are lots of other examples; “The exploitation of poor countries from rich countries must stop!” “Let’s say goodbye to weapons!” etc… In the other speech; “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words: Ich bin ein Berliner!".

There are also differences between both speeches, starting from the purpose of the same. John F. Kennedy speaks and defends capitalism and why it is better from communism, and Castro talks about all the problems that societies have to battle with nowadays. These are two very different purposes, and speeches. Also, we can notice that the speech given by the American is way shorter and direct, talking about only one thing, while Castro´s speech is way longer and speaks of a lot of different things that refer to the health of humanity.

To conclude, we can notice that both characters where very important to their nations and to the whole world. The way they could manage the emotional appeal in their speeches was very important to their success. John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro. Two big characters with two big voices.

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