Comparison between John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama

Running head: COMPARISON BETWEEN JOHN F. KENNEDY AND BARACK OBAMA
COMPARISON BETWEEN JOHN F. KENNEDY AND BARACK OBAMA
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1COMPARISON BETWEEN JOHN F. KENNEDY AND BARACK OBAMA
Introduction
The American rhetoric of Presidents like Barack Obama and John Fitzgerald Kennedy
who both served the United States of America have been identified as the cornerstones of
America’s political history. The voices of both the leaders in their respective inaugural addresses
have been highly influential which even the younger generations could easily fathom (DuBrin,
2015). The paper will evaluate the compare and contrast of the leadership styles and techniques
of John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama by shedding light on the significant accomplishments of
the leaders. In addition to this, the paper will examine the effectiveness of both Kennedy and
Obama and the way they have been influential to the lives of others. Furthermore, it will focus
on the way these two leaders will be predominant in America’s political history and adapt their
leadership styles and techniques.
Discussion
Kennedy and Obama’s Key Leadership Skills
John F. Kennedy as a President has been significantly recognized for his immense
competence to handle issues which were perceived to be much more crucial to be handled by a
mortal man. John Kennedy thus proved this through his immense dedication and commitment as
a leader and the high level determination towards his role as a President (Barber, 2017). The 35th
US leader who had his presidency for the span of around 1000 days was well-competent of
posing challenges towards the influenced or subjective advice and assumptions of the dominant
experts (Brinkley, 2013). John Kennedy effectively exhibited his charismatic transformational
leadership styles from the initial phase of his Presidency (DuBrin, 2015).. Kennedy’s

2COMPARISON BETWEEN JOHN F. KENNEDY AND BARACK OBAMA
authoritative leadership trait can be perceived as an example whereby The New Frontier, as his
program was styled and attained considerable degree of achievement since during its first year.
Regardless to the varying opinions of the US populace which he encountered during the
government, Kennedy proficiently managed to rise above the average political leaders. The 35th
US President took into consideration, the needs and value of the nation during his speech on civil
rights and privileges (Sabato, 2013). He witnessed the way the turbulence segregation has been
developing among the marginal sections and attained greater degree of knowledge that for a
nation in order to be well-established must be united and acknowledge high level of integration
in various spheres.
At this juncture it is significant to observe the strong and immensely prominent
leadership skills of Barack Obama II, the 44th President of United States. On the very first note, it
has been recognized that both Obama and Kennedy has extensively embodied factors related to
‘transformation’ and ‘hope’ which were common themes during their campaigns (Obama, 2015).
Both these leaders exhibited high level of discontentment and disapproval with the recent
government and financial status of the US and further revealed potential threats and risks to the
populace (Skinner & Cheadle, 2016). Furthermore, drawing similarities of Obama’s leadership
styles with Kennedy it can be stated that both the political leaders have efficiently motivated the
youths to proactively participate in the election system. Kennedy had been recognized as one of
the first political leaders to make television as a significant impact on young voters and further
transformed the prolonged election campaigns as norm. Similarly Obama used various social
media platforms in order to inform as well as mobilize young supporters (Goldsmith, 2016).
However, despite all these factors of correspondence, there had been identified certain areas of
divergences whereby the speech provided by Kennedy revealed a rhetorical structure which led