imson, and aptly concentrated his studies in the field of government.After graduating cum laude at Harvard, Kennedy was faced with the problem of choosing a career. He worked for several months as a reporter for the Hearst newspapers until he ultimately decided to return to Boston and concentrate on politics. Kennedy viewed government as an honorable profession - one that could place a party or man in the position to make changes for the better (Salinger, 65). At the time, Kennedy was viewed as a man who did not enjoy public speaking and needed much improvement, but he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and then to the U.S. Senate. Then problems with his back caused Kennedy to undergo several surgeries. During his extensive convalescence he occupied himself by composing a study of noteworthy political acts of bravery by eight United States Senators (Summers). Profiles in Courage received the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957, and, in turn, served as a main source for the material in many of Kennedy's subsequent speeches as a politician.Four years after nearly receiving a Democratic nomination for Vice President, Kennedy began his campaign for the presidency in 1960. As his career progressively grew broader and more successful, so did his abilities as a public speaker. He traveled across the country, speaking on a hundred platforms or at airports, memorials and auditoriums. Kennedy began to develop with emphasis a distinctive style, identity and appeal, and with "his voice twanging and rapid, his sentences punctuated by the staccato movement of the outthrust arm and the pointed finger, his argument so intent the flow of his discourse often smothered the bursts of applause," he defined the issues and charmed millions (Schlesinger, 68). Despite minor criticisms pertaining to his projection, speed and word pronunciations, Kennedy, who took voice lessons early on in his campaign, managed to construct an accepted de...
