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US president Johnson inaogeration speech
Speech made by lyndon b johnson
Lbj's inagural speech
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Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 speech “The American Promise” is a powerful, emotive address to the nation that declared the United States' commitment to ending poverty and racial injustice. In this speech, Johnson paints a vivid picture of the progress and potential of America, and issues a passionate plea for the nation to embrace its collective promise to protect and advance the rights of all Americans. Johnson's speech is an example of powerful rhetoric, as he uses a range of persuasive devices to appeal to the nation's sense of morality and justice such as connotative diction and allusions. In his speech, "The American Promise," Lyndon B. Johnson used connotative diction to evoke an emotional response from his audience.
Martin Luther King Jr. has written many inspirational pieces during his lifetime while fighting for African American civil rights. Two of his most inspirational writings are his I Have A Dream speech and the Letter From Birmingham Jail. The only question that remains is “which one takes the cake,” meaning, which one conveys the deepest, most meaningful message about the fight for equal rights? It is clear, however, that the Letter From Birmingham Jail shows itself to be the true winner because of its powerful message and great detail involving the issues of segregation and the unequal rights that African Americans faced everyday, which stirred and appealed to the emotions of his audience.
In the 1960’s during the era of the Civil Rights movement, America had been divided by the voting rights that were not given to the African Americans. Although, a decade ago the African Americans had been freed from slavery, but they were still not considered “equal” because they weren't able to vote. The discrimination in the area even had political leaders affected, therefore many of those political leaders during that time attempted to put an end to the several agonizing events going on. Lyndon B Johnson, a white persistent president speaks out to the lawmakers using compassionate encouraging appeals about voting for Civil Rights, in order to unify the nation “to build a new community”. President Johnson utilizes many devices in his speech such as anaphora, emotional appeals, and
King inspired millions to change the situation they were in and end discrimination with his emphatic diction. Unbeknownst to many, allusion was one of King’s most powerful and persuading forms of rhetorical devices in his, I Have a Dream,” speech. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” is guaranteed to both black men as well as white men, was a phrase spoken by King
Prejudice is a major issue that has dominated the society for years. Many have spoken up against this discrimination, making their voices heard over the views of numerous people. Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist in the mid-1900s, spoke and acted strongly against injustice against African Americans. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he uses powerful and eloquent language to display an ardent desire to influence people’s judgments and to encourage others to join him in making the society one of equality and justice rather than one of bias and hatred. Martin Luther King Jr. uses rhetorical strategies, purposeful word arrangement, and other literary devices to passionately express criticism against injustice.
Overall, in “We Shall Overcome,” President Johnson uses rhetorical appeals to convince the congress and American citizens to fix the struggle in a society, which is the inequality between the different races. Through this speech, he tries to change the bias of color of people, and remind the citizens that the basic principle of the U.S. is equality by using concerned and formal tone. He claims that the inequality towards the African Americans is against the constitution and the oath before God by using religious and relationship diction. President Johnson’s speech took a first big step towards the equality of mankind by using Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals, tone, and compelling diction.
Deluged with remarkable linguistics, King’s rhetoric wholly epiphanized and unified a country that had been stricken with unrest by war and hate and thus became the epitome of the March on Washington and the summation of the Civil Rights Movement Summarized Speech The speech encapsulates the desire to remain equal among the exalted American people, those of White color. At the outset King utilizes a policy signed 100 years ago as reference to a declaration of freedom that has only been contorted to produce new boundaries on freedom;
The usage of personal stories creates depth and dimension to the position he’s taken on the nation’s bigotry; the addition of quote for other significant civil rights activists add to his knowledge base and give Johnson a stronger foundation for his beliefs. He uses Abraham Lincoln’s civil rights movement to back up statements and positions he has taken on the horrific incident in Selma, Alabama. Appealing to Lincoln creates a precedent about his stance because of Lincoln’s impact on the civil rights movement; the usage of his name and actions builds Johnson’s credibility by using Lincoln’s as support. This speech was a call to action of the nation’s congress on racial differences, most bigotry was found in the south. “As a man whose roots go deeply into Southern soil…” was a portion of Johnson’s speech.
Previously, Carson discussed Thomas Jefferson’s declaration’s of equality — notably ‘all men are created equal.’ However, this argument is weak, due to Jefferson having been a slave owner. The author, uses the President’s line because it, “was balanced against widespread belief that some people, were more talented,” without understanding the context behind the message, (Carson). When Jefferson said his famous quotation, he meant to white, landowning, males; who are exactly the people that had to later extend basic rights to groups who were discriminated against. This lack of research, sticks out to any person with a basic understanding of history, and makes Carson’s argument seem weaker — that some founding fathers were messiahs of
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s speech “We Shall Overcome” focuses on the issue at hand African Americans rights as not just people but citizens of the United states. Delivered in 1965 he aimed at the issue that happened in Selma, Alabama where civil right activists were protesting for their right to vote but were brutally beaten. Johnson’s audience is everyone. He wants the suffering of people to come to an end and form that nation that once chose to right the wrongs of the world.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech had a great deal of logos and pathos appeals to persuade his audience to speak out against segregation and to give all men the rights they deserve. He often gave a clear line of reasoning supported by evidence in his speech, like when he says: “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”... America has defaulted on this promissory note, ... given the Negro people a bad check… which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” (King para. 4)
When arguing for racial equality, James Farmer Jr. quotes St.Augustine, “An unjust law is no law at all.” He claims that just laws are meant to protect all citizens; whereas, unjust laws that discriminate Negroes are not laws to be followed, thus raising awareness of racial discrimination by using emotional and logical appeals. In The Great Debaters, Henry Lowe appeals to the audience’s emotions during a debate about Negro integration into state universities. To challenge his opponent’s claim that the South isn 't ready to integrate Negroes into universities, he affirms that if change wasn’t forcefully brought upon the South, Negroes would “still be in chains,” which is an allusion to slavery. With this point, he is able to raise awareness of
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech had a great deal of logos and pathos appeals to persuade his audience to speak out against segregation and to give all men the rights they deserve. He gave many reasons in his speech to make the audience excited and want to take action, like when he says: “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”... America has defaulted on this promissory note, ... given the Negro people a bad check… which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” (King para. 4)
In the 1960s the African Americans were freed, but did they really have all the rights they were promised? Racial conflicts were everywhere. Lyndon B. Johnson was current president and was trying to encourage congress to pass a bill called The Voting Rights Act. To influence the vote he gave the speech “We Shall Overcome.” In “We Shall Overcome” President Lyndon Johnson used ethos, pathos, logos, and other rhetorical devices such as allusions, repetition and appeals to authority to persuade congress to pass the act.
(pg 302) This speech was given in 1963 yet today people of color are still being oppressed. The fight for accepting every human being for who they are is an ongoing battle. Language has created stereotypes towards each race that have made them look low. Racial oppression is a social