Comparing and Contrasting Important Presidential Speeches by President Johnson and Obama

Hess argues that the threat of the USSR and Communism “left the US no choice but to stand up to the challenge posed by Vietnam”. Direct confrontation was impossible as the USSR was a nuclear power, therefore the only choice available was “a policy of containment”; previous success in Korea gives validity to this view. Hess states Vietnam was the centre of the “Domino Theory”, that a communist Vietnam “would inexorably lead to the collapse of other non-communist states”. All communist states were believed to be puppets of the USSR so an increase in Soviet allies would tip the global power balance against the US.

In her book The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990, author Marilyn Young examines the series of political and military struggles between the United States and Vietnam, a nation that has been distinctively separated as the South and the North. Young chooses to express the daily, weekly, monthly progresses of the affairs collectively called the Vietnam Wars, focusing on the American interventions in the foreign soil. She seeks to provide an answer to a question that has haunted the world for years: What was the reason behind the United States interfering in the internal affairs of a foreign country in which it had no claims at all? Young discloses the overt as well as covert actions undertaken by the U.S. government officials regarding the foreign affairs with Vietnam and the true nature of the multifaceted objectives of each and every person that’s involved had.

Johnson seems to understand the importance of establishing trustworthiness and credibility among his listeners, knowing that in order to be heard, he must prove that he is a reliable character. His allusions are both biblical and historical, to assure his audience that he does not stand alone in his cause—that many people, in his time or a century ago, also share this view. He does this biblically, when asking “what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Paragraph10), and also historically when he states that “all men are created equal” (Paragraph 12). He does this to create ethos, or an ethical appeal. When his audience, the Congress, is considered, these allusions become even more important to earning their

Johnson’s first step after becoming president was to help the citizens of the U.S. and the world cope with the death of JFK. “American people actually were 190,000,000 dazed individuals; he had to give them that unity and confidence; he had to represent it to the world” (Wicker, 161). This was a great task for any man to take on and he did so with care. He showed compassion and provided comfort for the people, promising to continue the dreams Kennedy had and to make them become a way of life. These dreams caused most people to look up to Kennedy, and it turned him into a legend in the history books even though he did not accomplish all he had tried. To achieve what Kennedy had set out to do would take a great man, and a great man Johnson showed himself to be. He also “carefully honored the Kennedy legacy…and remained deeply respectful of JFK’s cabinet and top officials” (Schulman, 69).

Johnson was a very confident person because he always believed that nothing can hold him back ever. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act which prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, for voting, education, employment, and other areas of American lives. After with the help of Johnson, Congress expanded the act by a short period of time, by moving towards more equality for African-Americans. He strongly believes that nothing has or will hold him back because he describes himself as “Liberated from the Southern political bonds” (Document E). By using that phrase he is trying to say that he is finally free, free like he has wanted to be. This shows that Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act because of principe because he worked for what he wanted not what the government wanted. Basically he did what he believed was the best for his people. Also he did not care what he would lose he took ever risk he had to face in order to be where he wanted to be. Lyndon Johnson tell Russell to get out of his way because Johnson will win but Russell tells him that if he does win it will cost him the South and the election (Document C). Lyndon B. Johnson did not care about that either all that was his mindset was doing what it has to take to help out the people: His

The Vietnam War lasted longer, bloodier, and more hostile than any U.S. President or American citizen imagined. Lyndon Johnson faced many other enemies during the war such as the duration, the immense number of deaths, and for the first time in most American’s history, failure. Through deep evaluation of Lyndon B. Johnson’s foreign policies as President during the Vietnam war, failure was a recurring outcome, as he faced military and political difficulties over having complete authority over political decisions made leading to the misuse of his respective power, receiving split support through torn Americans at home, and his accord to deport so many troops into combat in Vietnam.

In the first essay Fear, Ambition, and Politics by Robert Dallek, he talks about the way that the United States started to really conflict with Vietnam and how some of Lyndon Johnson’s issues led the U.S. into it. One thing was clear and it was that Lyndon Johnson did not want communism to spread. Johnson’s advisors would continuously report to him that things were starting to become more serious in Saigon. Johnson did not want to send troops though, saying the he would “not permit the independent nations of the East to be swallowed up by Communist conquest, and it would not mean sending American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing themselves.” Clearly his word did not last though. Dallek seems to have a rather negative view of Johnson because he wasn’t taking the precautionary steps to prevent certain events, and he could not keep his word. Johnson seemed to disagree with his own actions about what we should do in Vietnam because it was so unpredictable. He did not want American involvement, but the pressure ended up getting the best of him. He sent one of his advisors, McGeorge Bundy, to Vietnam to talk about what we should do to help alleviate South Vietnam. Bundy thought that U.S. action was a must or “defeat would be inevitable and there is still time to turn it around.” Johnson then decided to start bombing the North on February 8th, but he was not pleased with having to make this decision. This is known as the Rolling

Johnson. We simply did not have the knowledge and the man power to do it. Another point we wanted to make if we got involved in Laos was to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail to cut off the supplies coming in to South Vietnam from North Vietnam, thus winning the war. Some analysts have an interesting point to make as well, stating that “expanding the war would only be detrimental and have less of an impact.” Brigham states that “most leading military strategists in Hanoi agree that cutting off the Ho Chi Minh Trail would not have accomplished anything for the United States.” A third suggested strategy was the concentration of U.S. forces on defenses of “enclaves” close by strategic assets. This was just a more thought out and sophisticated way than the current invasion strategies. Analysts say that the reason this strategy would not have worked is because their superior fire power would not have been used to its maximum advantage if they were all being herded into these

Lyndon B Johnson became president in 1963 after the assassination of President John F Kennedy on November 22nd 1963. He formulated many policies including ‘The Great Society’. This was introduced in an aim to end poverty, improve education and rejuvenate cities for all Americans. Johnson also introduced Civil Rights. This act refers to the personal rights a citizen holds which are protected by the US government and prohibits; the discrimination of race, religion, age or gender. This was introduced to create equal opportunities for all. This essay will outline the key factors regarding whether or not Lyndon B Johnson

Lastly, additionally to using literary devices, diction, and sentence length, Lyndon B. Johnson uses pathos to impact his audience more prominently and emphasize his purpose in an emotional sense. Johnson frequently uses pathos in his speech, which all have the same effect, either for reflection, unity, attention, or connection. In Lines 6-7 (“So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma Alabama”), Johnson uses pathos for two reflection as to show how Selma, Alabama will influence U.S history as the other battles of the Revolutionary War and Civil War, respectively. This can also be seen in Lines 17-19 (“Our lives have been marked with debate about great issues -- issues of war and

Johnson ordered a Working group from the defence Department, the State Department, the CIA, and the JCS to study Vietnam and suggest policy options. The Working Group said that an independent and anti-Communist South Vietnam was vital to America. During the Cold War many of the foreign policy analysts subscribed to "The Domino Theory" — which contended that should one country come under communist rule, its neighbours were likely to follow suit. Johnson thought that America would have to take a stand and that if they didn’t, then the American prestige would be at stake. Johnson listened to the working group as they were considered “the best and the brightest” – there were very few voices against what they had to say.

President Obama’s victory speech and Martine Luther King’s speech are two of the most famous discourses that everybody is discussing today. The speeches are representation of racial progression, which starts from the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement to the election of the first black president in the American history. Both speeches are a symbol of hope and a new start of the upcoming changes. In fact, both speeches called for unity and inclusion to achieve the American dream. Furthermore, both occasions had loud voices echo not only in the United State, but also in the global level. Despite the similarity of Obama’s and King’s speeches in the persuasive and inspirational tones, their goals were for different purposes and audience, also the effects on the audience were different.

The fact that JFK just won the presidential election illustrates that this speech is a product of pathos, he won America over because they trust him. Pathos is a strong element of a writing piece because once the reader trusts the writer or speaker they are willing to listen to anything they have to offer.

In 1954, Northern and Southern Vietnam entered a war that led to the death of nearly 3 million people including civilians, Vietnamese troops, and ally soldiers. Though the number of lives lost during the war is atrocious, so are some of the other lasting effects of the “poor man’s fight”. Throughout this essay, I will explain my opinion regarding what I believe were the costs and the benefits of U.S interaction in the war in Vietnam.

This is the reason why the tenor of Kennedy’s speech is focused on world unity against tyranny while the speech of Obama is geared more on economic progress within the country.