Lyndon Johnson's Speech By Lyndon B. Johnson

In the 1965 speech, We Shall Overcome, Lyndon B. Johnson discusses the copious amounts of cruel racial discrimination occurring in America and his plan to eradicate it. This speech follows the recent events that occurred in Selma, Alabama when African Americans were attacked while preparing to march to Montgomery in protest of voting discrimination. Johnson asserts his stance on racial equality by using compelling anaphora, the specific use of pronouns, appeals to pathos through references to the bible, and appeals to logos through the use of historical evidence. Johnson successfully utilizes these rhetorical devices in order to communicate to Americans of all races, religions, and political parties, his plan to eliminate discrimination, as well as encourage every American to embrace diversity and equality and spread his idea of a “Great Society.” Although the idea of a President with allegiances to the white southern population taking initiative towards equality was a very controversial and unfamiliar concept, Johnson does an exceptional job of maintaining an authoritative, yet inspiring tone throughout his speech in order to persuade Americans that equality is the first step to a greater nation.

On November 27, 1963 Lyndon Baines Johnson delivered a speech. This was just five days after president John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. Johnson, being the new president of the United States, explained what a great loss fellow Americans had just encountered. His purpose of this speech was to inspire the nation and support them in a time of grief. He also wanted to give the nation hope, in that they would work to meet JFK’s visions.

Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, in Stonewall, Texas. Johnson was the 36th president of the United States following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Lyndon B. Johnson went on to change the United States of America by signing the civil rights bill. The civil rights bill demands equality and freedom regardless of race, color, religion or nationality. Lyndon B Johnson made a speech before signing the civil right bill where he states “ This Civil Rights Act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and our States, in our homes and in our hearts, to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved country.” Johnson wants to get past the negative aspects of our country and move into the right direction. Johnson didn’t favor a group of people nor did he ridicule people for being themselves, Johnson’s intentions were to end divisions amongst people and form unison amongst united state citizens. Prosperity in amalgamation rather than individualism leads to success and

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.

At 26, he was the youngest state director.” (President Lyndon B. Johnson's Biography.) In 1937 johnson then resigned as Texas director of the NYA to enter the special election for the 10th Congressional District called after the death of Representative James P. Buchanan. Johnson backed Roosevelt 100% and handily won the election on April 10.“In Congress, Johnson worked hard for rural electrification, public housing, and eliminating government waste. He was appointed to the House Committee on Naval Affairs at the request of President Roosevelt.” (President Lyndon B. Johnson's Biography.) Atfer, In 1938 He re-elcted to a full term in the 76th congress until 1948. In 1944 on March 19 Johnson had his first daughter, Lynda Bird and On july 2, 1947 he had his second daughter, Luci Baines. On January 2,1951 He was elected as Majority Whip of the United States Senate. In 1960, On November 8th John F. Kennedy was elected as the 35th president of united states , and lyndon was elected as the Vice president. In 1963 “On November 22, Lyndon Baines Johnson became the 36th President of the United States following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. He was sworn in aboard Air Force One at 2:38 p.m” (LBJ: His Life

I Lyndon B. Johnson, commonly known as LBJ, am a man who was a cause of much change and debate in the United States. I was born on August 27, 1908 in the great state of Texas; a state that helped shaped me into who I am. I became involved with politics early on in my life and it seemed to be a natural progression towards presidency. In the year 1960 I started to campaign for the democratic presidential nomination. After this nomination was given to John F. Kennedy I ran for Vice President on the democratic ticket, and was sworn in to be the vice president on January 20, 1960. It was a little over two years later, on the 22nd of November in the year 1963, when the unfortunate assignation of my dear friends and leader John F. Kennedy occurred. It was because of this tragedy that I succeeded John F. Kennedy and became the 36th president of the United States of America.

Speaker Lyndon B. Johnson in his speech, we shall overcome, emphasizes the Civil Rights Movement problem as not one group of people but America as a whole. Johnson’s purpose is to persuade America that this is the nation’s problem. He adopts a persuasive tone in order to support that there is a problem throughout the country. Johnson uses alliteration to prove what he is going to be speaking about and for what he is speaking saying, “I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.” This device is important in the fact that it draws in the audience by explaining what he is going to be speaking about.

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" is perhaps one of the most famous quotes of all time but it perfectly illustrates FDR's mindset. He believes that if the President, Congress, and the American people are too afraid to try anything new that could help fix the economy and move the country forward, then they will never make any progress. He then proceeds to mention some of the difficulties facing Americans during this time: increased taxes, farmers can no longer find markets for their produce, and the savings of many families are gone.

In his acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention on June 27, 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt mentioned many challenges and concerns facing the United States during that time period. In his speech the President used short-hand phrases, brief references, and pejorative naming to make his larger, political and ideological points. FDR used terms like ‘economic royalists’, along with phrases like ‘new despotism wrapped in the robes of legal sanctions’, to identify the large corporations, investors and employers, who according to him are trying to influence policies and control the government for their own personal benefits. The President also uses phrases like ‘Necessitous men are not free men’, to reiterate his concerns and to point out how the working people of America are being deprived from their rights by these very same privileged employers. FDR compares 1936 to 1776, referring to the American Revolution and its significance in putting the power back in the hands of the average Americans, and how it is necessary to check the power of the corporations in order to protect the interests of the American people and restore the power back in the hands of the people.

Johnson magnifies the need for enforcement of existing voting practices, new voting laws, and the importance of all citizens to recognize the unfair conditions African Americans were being subjected to. Change must happen, and it must be immediate. President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 five months later, which is fairly speedy considering the legislation process is traditionally slow. Mr. Robert Dallek says of Johnson’s address to Congress “if the goal of political speech is to move men to action, this was Johnson’s…finest hour. Slumped in their chairs or sitting on their hands, the Southern Segregationists knew they were done” (The Making Of LBJ’s Historic ‘We Shall Overcome’

President Lyndon B. Johnson conveyed to congress, I think, the most exhilarating and legendary dialogues in the history of America on March 15, 1965. The speech occurred after the passing of an African American demonstrator in Selma, Alabama (History Matters). Demonstrators were protesting for African Americans to have the right to vote. According to Professor Pauley, teacher of oratory at Calvin College, “the speech is considered a landmark of U.S. oratory” (Pauley 2007). The purpose of Johnson’s speech was to persuade Congress to permit a bill on reform for voting, that all of the citizens of the United States would have the opportunity to cast their vote. To make Johnson’s speech more effective he used the rhetorical strategies of pathos, logos and ethos.

The words he chose touched the hearts of many and opened their eyes to see how there wasn’t equality for African Americans. Because the speech was given a week prior to the event, African Americans felt fueled by Johnson’s words to get what they deserved. The right to vote

Johnson refers to a situation when she was attending an Olympic event and everyone was invited to join in for singing the National Anthem. Part of the National Anthem lyrics is; "bomb bursting in air" where she was singing it and replayed a bitter memory of her friend’s child, who was diagnosed with brain tumor and going through tough times. Her Johnson saying that “There was something strange, so they did more tests… a brain tumor. Now her parents were hurriedly learning a new vocabulary CAT scans, glioma, pediatric neurosurgery, and frontal lobe. A bomb had exploded in their midst, and, like troops under attack, they were rallying in response (Johnson 227). She refers to “bombs” figuratively, where everyday life is filled with joy and tragedies

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.