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Rhetorical Analysis Of Lyndon B Johnson Speech

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Former United States President, Lyndon B. Johnson, in his speech, Let us Continue, reflects on the assassination and presidency of John F. Kennedy. Johnson's purpose is to bring a feeling of peace within the American citizens and help them continue moving forward. He creates a nostalgic tone in order to convey a sense of sorrow and to resurface the dreams and aspirations oh John F. Kennedy in his audience. Johnson begins his speech by acknowledging that John F. Kennedy has been assassinated and reminds the Americans of Kennedy's aspiration by expressing his grief in the situation. He appeals to the emotions of the Americans by saying "No words are sad enough to express our sense of loss. No words are strong enough to express our determination …show more content…

Johnson reminds them that Kennedy had "The dream of conquering the vastness of space, the dream of partnership across the Atlantic.. the dream of a Peace Corps in less developed nations, the dream of education for all of our children, the dream of jobs for all who seek them, the dream of care for our elderly, the dream of equal rights for all Americans." (Johnson 9) The use of Anaphora arises a feeling of unification within all Americans by listing many different ages and social groups. Johnson then creates a tone of motivation by suggesting how the audience should move on, "We can derive from those differences strength, not weakness, wisdom, not despair." (36) Through the use of Antithesis Johnson is giving positive ways of growing and renewing instead of dwelling on what happened. This helps create a more positive tone in the speech and gives the audience a new perspective on things and a desire to continue on with life. By remembering who JFK was as a person and what he wanted, Lyndon B. Johnson is able to motivate his audience to continue on with life in a better way after a traumatic event. Through the use of antithesis, parallelism, and anaphora, Johnson evokes the feelings of inspiration that were once brought to the audience by JFK. Although sometimes in life people are taken away, never lose hope in the midst of sorrow. Use the tragedy as

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His diction is very inclusive; he commences his speech with several uses of the words ‘we’ and ‘our’, which makes way for inclusivity. JFK is blurring the distinction between citizen and superior governor by including the people in his proclamation. While describing the hardships and challenges that the country is facing, Kennedy mentions how imperative the occasion is on a global level; in the midst of the Cold War, he reminds his audience of the importance of uniting. Through the use of the lexical field of danger — words such as: ‘defiance’, ‘serious’, ‘risk’, and ‘sacrifice’ — he creates a feeling of tension and urgency, and engages his audience to the concern. To conclude his speech, the President mentions self-guilt on the part of the country on how they had not displayed the “sense of business responsibility” that they should have, a rhetorical strategy that approximates the audience to the government.

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