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Diego Guevara
Professor Jillian Canode
English Composition II
13 October 2013
A Farewell to Invite for Balance and Peace
During a tense and difficult time in the U.S., a time for a new leader to take the reins in
the destiny of the most powerful country in the world arrived. He became president of the U.S. in
1953, and his second period of presidency was about to conclude so that John F. Kennedy could
become the 35th president of the United States. Since Eisenhower commanded the D-Day
invasion at Normandy which signified the victory over the Nazi regime, he became an admired
and inspiring political figure. Due to his military background, most people saw him as a
formidable and protective leader. Also, the Soviet Union and the U.S. involved in the Cold War
and Eisenhower, a beloved leader to many Americans, was about to end his presidency; for these
reasons, Dwight D. Ike Eisenhowers gave his so called Farewell Address on January 17th in
1961, three days before finishing his administration, and such address was of extreme
importance for many American citizens. In this essay, I will discuss the rhetorical aspects of his
speech, explains his arguments, and the importance and effectiveness of such arguments.
First of all, lets talk about the intended audiences of Eisenhowers speech. At the
beginning of his rhetoric, he pronounced the following words: Good evening fellow Americans
(Eisenhower). With these words, he made it clear that he was addressing all American citizens as
his main audience. Eisenhower also spoke to the Congress when he talked about his good
relationship with the Congress and what the people expected from them, so the Congress of the
U.S. was the second audience in his Farewell Address. Throughout the whole speech,
Eisenhower had the upcoming administration, a government by the Democrats with John F.
Kennedy as president, as another intended audience. President Eisenhower wished to prepare the
future government by giving some recommendations about current problems. The last of his

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intended audiences was the rest of the world; when he said To all the peoples of the world We
pray that peopleshave their great human needs satisfied shall come to enjoy it to the full;
that all who yearn for freedom may experience its few spiritual blessings; Eisenhower meant to
highlight the image of the United States to the rest of the world in those difficult times, after
World War II, during the Cold War. Eisenhower had many different intended audiences during
his Farewell Address because he had different purposes while directing to each one of them.
Eisenhower, in his Farewell Address, had two main arguments from start to finish, which
were as follows: the importance of maintaining the right balance between all the aspects
regarding governmental decisions and the thin line between military and peace. For the first
point, he made an interesting and constraining suggestion in a specific paragraph in which he
repeated the word balance all through that paragraph. He claimed that every proposal must
consider the need to maintain balance between the private and the public economy balance
between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the
individual, balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future; also,
he finished this thought by affirming that Good judgment seeks balance and progress. Lack of it
eventually finds imbalance and frustration (Eisenhower). He explained that in every decision
taken by government regarding economy, the citizens, or any other it was important to maintain
an accurate balance, especially during the current situation back then; Furthermore, he concluded
his idea about balance by asserting that if the right balance is not achieved, then the country
would not prosper nor advance, instead it would be stuck. Additionally, Eisenhower refers to the
thin line between military and peace when he stated that a vital element in keeping the peace is
our military establishment. Although this may seem contradictory at first, we are about to see
that he was right and precise because he continued saying that our arms must be mighty, ready
for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

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Eisenhower meant to say that arms will prevent the U.S. from being attacked, while maintaining
the peace by not using them unless it was completely necessary.
Moreover, Eisenhower used rhetorical tools in his search for approval and to persuade his
listeners; he employed ethos, pathos, and logos in order to convince his audience that his
arguments were correct. He utilized ethos, a way to influence of people by showing that the
author is trustworthy and reliable, during his whole speech. As we know he was a president who
was about to leave presidency and to become a regular citizen, the way he refers him to self in
his monologue, so Eisenhower managed to win peoples trust by using an appropriate language,
showing that he was a very experienced man who knew what he was talking about, and referring
his audience in a direct way by saying you and I, as in the following quote: we you and I,
and our government must avoid the impulse to live only for today (Eisenhower); when he
referred to himself and the audience as one by saying you and I, he established a close and
direct connection with his audience by showing that he was no different from them and that they
could trust him. In addition to that, Eisenhower made use of pathos, the use of the human
feelings of his audience as an attempt to convince them of something, when he pronounced these
words: To all the peoples of the world We pray that peopleshave their great human needs
satisfied shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its
few spiritual blessings all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the
binding force of mutual respect and love. With these final words, he intended to have his
audiences feel emotional about the subjects of equity for all peoples of the world, world peace,
and many other blessings or benefits that America would guarantee these people all over to
world to have because the U.S., as he presented it, was a nation with open arms for peace,
freedom, and love for everybody to share them. Lastly, Eisenhower also employed logos, the
usage of facts for appealing to logic or reasoning, when he stated that there is called for, not so

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much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry
forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle
with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted
course toward permanent peace and human betterment. He described the necessity of a nation
as a whole and only unit for moving on and prospering; besides, he highlighted that the
government must confront its threats not so much with an emotional approach, but more
importantly using a more responsible and analytical way which includes economic decisions; at
the end, he argued that if the latter was not done, then the so called peace and human
betterment (Eisenhower) would not be accomplished.
Therefore, Eisenhowers Farewell Address as whole was very persuasive due to use of
different rhetorical tools throughout the entire speech. The author gave many reasons and
explanations to support his main points, which were the seek for peace and balance. The
arguments he provided is well supported since he has a military past and he had been president of
the U.S. for 8 years then. Eisenhower used, what I believe was the most effective way to
approach his audience, pathos which made it easier for him to make an impact in his listeners
and to convince them immediately. Moreover, the use of the phrase you and I in his speech
clearly did its job managing to engage the audience with him and proving him to be someone
they could believe.
To sum up, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his Farewell Address, spoke to many different
audiences, each one with different purposes; purposes which, at the end, tried to merge into a
unique universal purpose for each of those audiences. Also, he used rhetorical tools, such as
ethos, pathos, and logos, in order to make his Farewell Address more appealing, convincing, and
engaging. Throughout his speech, Eisenhower mainly focused in two crucial arguments which
were how importance balance was in the U.S. and the thin line between peace and military.

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These two ideas, together with the whole speech, were of great significance to his audiences
because the U.S. was in a difficult time, a time between wars, and he was a very beloved political
figure, a strong leader, who was about to leave his presidency; in this context, people needed
something to guide them during the next few years and to relief them from such agony and
uncertainty the end of Eisenhowers administration was about to leave them. Furthermore, Ike
Eisenhowers address was very persuasive because he included rhetorical tools to convince his
audiences, very structured ideas, and well supported arguments to accomplish his goal of
relieving American from uncertainty, as I explained earlier in this essay.

Works Cited
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Farewell Address. American Rhetoric.com. 17 Jan. 1961. Web. 10
Oct. 2013.