Lyndon B Johnson Speech Summary

In the essay “Let Justice Roll down”, Martin Luther King Jr wrote about the difficulties and social injustices faced by the negro population in America during the 1960’s. The main theme Dr. King was writing about in his yearly essay was the fight for civil justice and equality for all men and women. The essay chosen was written in 1965 and made very good points to the argument for equality made by Martin Luther King Jr. Three of these points included in the following paragraphs are the importance of Selma, AL to the rights movement, the importance of demonstrations, and a stronger focus on the Civil Rights Act.

On March 15, 1965, Lyndon Baines Johnson delivered “We Shall Overcome” in Washington, D.C. (Kreitner, Richard.). According to the words in the speech, in certain parts of the country African Americans did not have an equal right to vote. They would be informed that it was the incorrect day or ridiculed with impossible questions, solely because they were black. Johnson spoke this speech with integrity trying to conquer these racial discriminations and get the Voting Rights Act passed. He stressed that accomplishing equal citizenship takes more than just legal right. He wanted to ensure everyone that they were given an opportunity to escape poverty.

At the time of Lyndon B. Johnson’s speech in 1965, “The American Promise”, conflict over civil rights has been brewing for over a hundred years. A large group of people planned on marching from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, but fights broke out and it quickly escalated into violence. Given shortly after the happenings in Selma, President Johnson spoke before the Congress on the importance of passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As a man in a position of power, the desperation of the situation is prominent to him, yet he calmly presses the manner in order to persuade them of his view. President Johnson uses rhetorical devices, such as allusion and connotative diction, to create an ethical and emotional appeal toward his audience during that time of civil unrest.

In this book, King is clearly speaking to a contemporary and mostly white audience. And the bulk of the book is devoted to answering the titular question. Time and again he steps out of the narrative to rebut various criticisms from contemporaries who said that his movement was too militant, too extreme, too impractical, too disorganized, too out-of-touch with ordinary people, too disengaged from the political process. The year 1963 marked the 100-year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and Martin Luther King asks two questions: why should we wait for emancipation? And aware of what White Americans were doing to Black Americans, "What is the Negro doing for himself?  (King p. 8) Martin Luther King concludes by pointing out the importance of expanding on the current campaign, what his hopes are for the future, why he wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail, why the campaign was the right thing to do, why America was a better place in January of 1964 than it was in January of 1963, and why America can't wait any longer to be wholly free. King examines the history of the civil rights struggle, noting tasks

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. resolutely responds to eight clergymen who question his methods of protest against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Specifically, in paragraphs 12-14, Dr. King explains why his protests are indeed being done in a timely manner to obtain the “constitutional and God-given rights” (A Portable Anthology, page 207) that Africans have been restricted of for over 340 years. Dr. King’s argument, combined with his strategic use of rhetorical devices to enhance it, helps create a palpable feeling of understanding that captivates the audience into seeing America through his vision.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), was one of the most memorable as well as divided politicians in US history. With a humble past of teaching at segregated schools for 3 years, he had all the heart of someone to end slavery. But upon becoming a Senator, this seemed to change. During his Senate years, time and time again showed his dislike for Civil Rights. When President, he was a whirlwind of a worker to push this bill through. What changed, what didn’t, along with what drove him to do this.

In the general purposes of the three inaugural addresses of FDR, JFK and Barack Obama, they were focused on appreciating the constitutional process which involves the inauguration of the U.S president. For example, recently, President Obama stated in his speech that people gathers each year to observe the enduring strength of the U.S and the act of democracy. FDR also appreciated the need for the inauguration in upholding the constitutional values and cultures.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s response to a public statement of concern from multiple Southern white religious leaders entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is perhaps one of the most important and influential pieces dedicated to the fight for equality written in the last one hundred years. It is striking just how much of the content within this letter continues to ring true. Numerous arguments King makes are still extremely relevant today, and it is nearly impossible to engage with and reflect on this text without drawing parallels to the current political landscape. This paper will discuss exactly how particular points

On April 7, 1965 Lyndon B. Johnson had given a worldwide televised address from John Hopkins University in front of sixty million people. It was his very first major speech on the War that had occured in Vietnam. Johnson had ordered his staff to write an address because of the rising criticism and all the new problems coming along with the War. It was later billed as “Peace Without Conquest” and became one of the Johnson Administration’s most important foreign policy speeches. “Peace Without Conquest” was Johnson's explanation of the American involvement in the war as a means to bring harmony to the region while avoiding occupation.

In some of the darker times in American not all people were equal which was going against the document that held this country together, The Constitution. During the year of 1852 Frederick Douglass gave a speech titled “The Hypocrisy of American Slavery” in which he exposes the fact that slaves are no different than man and should have the same liberties especially freedom. Almost a century later, former President Lyndon B. Johnson makes his famous speech “We Shall Overcome” in attempts to persuade Congress into passing laws that prevented discrimination against colored people voting in our nation. Both Douglass and Johnson use similar techniques, such as anaphoras, rhetorical questions, and repetition to further persuade the Americans that change needs to come around in order for a better future.

Jordan utilized an allusion to 1832 when “during that time it would have been most unusual for any national political party to ask a Barbara Jordan to deliver a keynote address ( Jordan).” A ‘Barbara Jordan’ would be considered any woman or African American. In 1832, slavery was a tremendous debate and most African Americans during this time period were slaves. While during the time of Barbara Jordan’s Keynote Address, the Equal Rights Amendment was just passed, and the American Dream establishes a new found respect for African Americans. As Jordan uses optimistic allusions to historical events, she validates to the audience that she is well informed and well educated in the subject of segregation. Barbara Jordan alludes to past events in relation to the ongoing changes reassuring the audience change is happening and will continue to happen. This argument is significant because African American rights are finally starting to become equal after having prejudice treatment only because of their skin color. Furthermore, Jordan’s speech opens the eyes of today’s society of the struggles African Americans went through and still face today only because of their skin color. Therefore, we should care about this argument because Barbara Johnson uses her optimistic allusions to inform her audience if we do not

August 28, 1963 (Eidenmuller) marked a very important day in history that had an impact not only on America, but the whole world. On this day, Martin Luther King Jr. presented his well known I Have a Dream speech that aimed to eliminate racism, inequality and discrimination. He strongly believed that one day people would put their differences aside and come together. So, what happened to that dream? Along with other equality initiative ideas, they rarely make it past the idea stages or end in the actual eradication result. It is clear to us that even after 51 years, our societies still struggle with accepting full equality. Within those 51 years we have made a mass amount of progress but, a common thought would be that after this long the issue should have been eradicated. Two essays that can be used as an example of proof that racial inequality still exists in our society are, Black Men in Public Spaces by Brent Staples and Who Shot Johnny? by Debra Dickerson. In these essays, both provide solid evidence to support their main goal with the use of different writing styles, tone, and rhetorical devices to display how African Americans are perceived and treated by society.

Whether it is persuading a nation to commit racial genocide, or persuading them to end racial prejudices, powerful speeches use specific rhetorical devices and appealing diction to achieve their desired effect. In Adolf Hitler’s “Speech before the Reichstag,” January 30, 1937, (two years before the beginning of WWII) Adolf Hitler called for a “radical extermination” of the “cause of this critical situation” referring to what he considered racial impurity. His spell of Stoicism cast upon the ethically diverse culture lead to them being brought in camps by the trainload and killed off quickly, leaving behind the dark shadow of the bloodiest event in human history. Twenty-eight years later, in the cool month of march, Lyndon B. Johnson gave his “We shall Overcome” speech. This speech was in response to the events that had occurred in Selma, Alabama earlier that week. The nation watched armed police-forces prevent peaceful protests and the African American children from entering white schools, despite the Civil Rights Act signed after the “Brown v.s. Board of Education” by President Johnson one year prior. He urged the public to end their pre-dispositioned prejudices for African American people. Both speeches guided a nation, one towards justice and the other towards injustice.

Following the 1964 Civil Rights Act, president Lyndon Johnson put in place important steps in Affirmative Action policies on June 4, 1965. When speaking about Affirmative Action president Johnson said... “you do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and say, you are free to compete with the others, and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.” Implying that the act of not taking action would only freeze the brutality that has been aimed at blacks for years. This metaphor was one of many thoughts original to the late, great Martin Luther King Jr. King thought the best response to stop discrimination, would be

On June 6, 1966, Robert F. Kennedy was invited to be a keynote speaker at University of Cape Town, on South Africa’s annual Day of Affirmation. Gave the speech to National Union of South African Students members before he was presidential campaign. According to this speech, Kennedy expressed about individual liberty that is the freedom of speech; the system of being separated with white and black, and Civil rights needed in United States while American Civil Rights movement was still in progress.