Essay about John F. Kennedy and Largest Steel Companies
Submitted By mayday1234321
Words: 992
Pages: 4
On April 10, 1962, as the United States was emerging from a recession, the nation’s largest steel companies raised steel prices by 3.5 percent. President John F. Kennedy, who had repeatedly called for stable prices and wages as part of a program of national sacrifice during a period of economic distress, held a news conference on April 11, 1962, which he opened with the following commentary regarding the hike in steel prices. Read Kennedy’s remarks carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies President Kennedy uses to achieve his purpose. Support your analysis with specific references to the text.
Simultaneous and identical actions of United States Steel and other leading steel corporations, increasing steel prices by some 6 dollars a ton, constitute a wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance of the public interest. In this serious hour in our nation’s history, when we are confronted with grave crises in Berlin and Southeast Asia, when we are devoting our energies to economic recovery and stability, when we are asking Reservists to leave their homes and families for months on end, and servicemen to risk their lives—and four were killed in the last two days in Viet Nam—and asking union members to hold down their wage requests, at a time when restraint and sacrifice are being asked of every citizen, the American people will find it hard, as I do, to accept a situation in which a tiny handful of steel executives whose pursuit of private power and profit exceeds their sense of public responsibility can show such utter contempt for the interests of 185 million Americans.
If this rise in the cost of steel is imitated by the rest of the industry, instead of rescinded, it would increase the cost of homes, autos, appliances, and most other items for every American family. It would increase the cost of machinery and tools to every American businessman and farmer. It would seriously handicap our efforts to prevent an inflationary spiral from eating up the pensions of our older citizens, and our new gains in purchasing power.
It would add, Secretary McNamara* informed me this morning, an estimated one billion dollars to the cost of our defenses, at a time when every dollar is needed for national security and other purposes. It would make it more difficult for American goods to compete in foreign markets, more difficult to withstand competition from foreign imports, and thus more difficult to improve our balance of payments position, and stem the flow of gold. And it is necessary to stem it for our national security, if we are going to pay for our security commitments abroad. And it would surely handicap our efforts to induce other industries and unions to adopt responsible price and wage policies.
The facts of the matter are that there is no justification for an increase in the steel prices. The recent settlement between the industry and the union, which does not even take place until July 1st, was widely acknowledged to be non-inflationary, and the whole purpose and effect of this Administration’s role, which both parties understood, was to achieve an agreement which would make unnecessary any increase in prices.
Steel output per man is rising so fast that labor costs per ton of steel can actually be expected to decline in the next twelve months. And in fact, the Acting Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics informed me this morning that, and I quote: “Employment costs per unit of steel output in 1961 were essentially the same as they were in 1958.”
The cost of the major raw materials, steel scrap and coal, has also been declining, and for an industry which has been generally operating at less than two thirds of capacity, its profit rate has been normal and can be expected to rise sharply this year in view of the
Related Documents: Essay about John F. Kennedy and Largest Steel Companies
Architect James Hoban The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800, and the term is often used by journalists as a metonym to refer to the acts of the President and his top advisors. The house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban[1] and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia Creek sandstone…
communication – telegraph, telephone c) industrial technology – factories, use of steel d) rise of banking and financial institutions 2) growth in number of firms engaged in manufacturing, distribution of goods 3) need for more skilled workers 4) expanding markets for goods 5) growth of cities a) often too fast, creating over crowdedness C) Growth of corporations (especially oil, steel, railroad) 1) one form of business organization 2) many firms kept traditional ways…
STAMP: Structure/Thesis/Author, Argument, Audience/Motives/Primary Sources. ***Chapter Titles, Topic Sentence 1. Reconstruction, 1865-1877 Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse. Lincoln is assassinated 5 days later on April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth who acted as a spy for the south at Fords theatre. Booth opposed abolition and Lincoln’s plan to free the slaves. He hoped to create a new civil war; he also planned to kill the VP and sec of state but that plan failed. African American…
deal sizes have skyrocketed during the year given the many large-cap and transformative transactions. The biggest deal for October is the almost US$12bn acquisition of New Jersey-based medical equipment company Becton, Dickinson and Co (BD) of San Diego-headquartered medical technology company CareFusion Corporation. CEO confidence in the M&A market has boosted the number of these mega transactions in 2014. Playing right into this mega deal trend is the Energy, Mining & Utilities sector, which saw…