Martin King Beyond Vietnam Speech Analysis

On April 4th, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York, a speech was given and the silence was broken. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech was given to persuade everyone into believing that american involvement during the Vietnam War was wrong. Throughout Martin Luther King Jr’s speech he builds a very strong argument, against american involvement during the Vietnam War, by using different writing appeals and elements.

Martin Luther King starts by addressing the war that was happening in vietnam and he uses cause and effect of the war happening. One example he gave was the poverty program. A program that was meant to help the poor “both black and white”, he also went on to say “I knew that america would never invest the necessary funds or energy in rehabilitation of its poor so long as … vietnam continued”.

The American public knew about Martin Luther King long before they had ever heard about the war in Vietnam. King was associated with the war in Vietnam only after accomplishing his finest civil rights works, and after US involvement in Vietnam was already nine years old. They met in 1965, and battled each other until King's death in 1968. By 1965 King saw a federal voter rights bill passed for minorities, had national financial support, and even gained the backing of President Johnson himself. We all know Martin Luther King Jr. as the man who helped desegregate America, as a great civil rights leader. But seldom do we know King as the outspoken anti-war advocate that he was

Throughout Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech is an array of rhetoric’s. The three main ones that are highlighted more than the others are persuasion, power and community. Dr. King’s speech was intended to persuade the audience to give the African American community freedom from years of harsh slavery. An aspect that contributes to persuasion is the appeal of what is trying to be persuaded. The speaker wants to use emotion or personal appeals when persuading and that is what Dr. King truly succeeded in. He was affected by the mistreatment and cruelty by others which made the audience feel closer to him because they were also affected.

In the early 1960, the civil right movement reaches its peak. Dr. Martin Luther King, founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a civil right activist lead the great march on Washington, where he deliver his “I have a dream” in front of over 200,000 of people at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. The movement was to call for end of segregation and inequality and to give freedom and racial equality for all blacks in America. King aspired to move the hearts of the people and encourage then to believe that freedom and equality could exist even in the current circumstances.

On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King spoke publicly in New York, New York about USA's involvement in the Vietnam war. He strongly felt that the U.S. should stop immediately because it went against everything the U.S. is all about. The war in Vietnam was causing millions of innocent people to die, and Martin Luther King was fed up with the way we had intruded the basic human rights of the Vietnamese people. In Martin Luther King's "A Time to Break Silence" speech, Dr.King used refutations, reflections, and requests in order to effectively state why the war in Vietnam should come to a halt.

Anyone who listens to this speech must admit that Martin Luther King’s style is not only unique but also creatively allows him to deliver the message effectively. The choice of language by the speaker is exceptional, especially considering the colorful words he uses such as “I have a dream” and the vivid imagery. Furthermore, the speaker constantly repeats several phrases such as “I have a dream” and “let freedom reign” to emphasize the message (Gokadze, 2013). Luther King primarily repeats these phrases to accentuate and cement the significance of the message. Besides the repetition, the speaker also inflects his voice by changing the tone and making intermittent pauses to allow the message to resonate with the audience members.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. ” is said by a person who faced the darkness of the injustice, who knew its devastating effects for the world and who devoted his life to fight against it. “ Martin Luther King Jr. was the most influential and well-known of the leaders of the black civil rights movement … On August 28, 1963, the March on Washington attracted 200,000 participants. King made his most famous speech on that day… He convinced President Kennedy and later President Johnson to push for legislation to end discrimination…”

The speech “Beyond Vietnam- A time to break silence” by Martin Luther King Jr in New York City delivered in 1967. Martin Luther King Jr points out some very good points with inequality in America with civil rights in Vietnam. African- Americans are treated differently in America and don’t have that many rights, but in Vietnam they are treated equal. African- Americans don’t have equal rights but are expected to risk their live to fight in the war for something they don’t even have.

Today I am going to be telling you about the “ I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr. In this speech he talks about how everyone needs to be treated equally. Why this “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr to be most compelling, because he wants everyone to be treated not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. We all need to work for the future, so everyone can be treated equally, which I think is most important.

During the 1950s & 60s, Martin Luther King Jr. was a busy man by being a church minister and a leader for one of the biggest American Civil Rights movements to date. His past experience of being a minister allowed him to express his love for God and also made him into a great speaker for leading his movement. In many of his civil rights speeches, such as “I Have A Dream,” “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” and “Eulogy For The Victims Of The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing,” Martin Luther King Jr. uses Christian allusions to show his views as a minister and to instill the idea that God is on his side.

“Beyond Vietnam” is a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. in a meeting of religious leaders and laymen concerned about Vietnam. It is apparent that the executive committee shared the same sentiments Martin L. King Jr. that a time has come where silence will be viewed as betrayal. In my view even when pressed by the desires of inner truth, people tend to not easily accept the act of opposing their government policies. So this was a bold step that the Clergy and laymen took in opposing the government especially in times of war. This paper tends to discuss the Martin Luther King, Jr. speech analytically in a clear and outright way.

Throughout Martin Luther King Jr’s. speech, he uses violence as a form of getting his perspective and view across to his audience. King uses violence in order to persuade the audience for other reasons differing from Barack Obama’s view on violence. Martin Luther king brings to light the amount of damage that violence is causing in order to pursue the audience when saying “I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi, young people seeking to secure the right to vote were brutalized and murdered. And only yesterday more than 40 houses of worship in the State of Mississippi alone were bombed or burned because they offered a sanctuary to those who would not accept segregation.” (pg.1). Although this seems upsetting, King chooses to bring it to light in order to open societies eyes and convince them that violence is destroying the world day by day. King says in his speech “I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men.” (pg.2). When King says this, it automatically gives society a reason for automatically thinking that indeed we have violence in this world, and things should be changed immediately. King brings this to the attention of society that he believes that we as a community can change and turn into something better. King uses words like brutalized and murdered to convince and persuade the audience into having a different view on why violence isn’t okay while Obama uses his view on violence to persuade his audience in a different manner. Barack Obama brings up the fact that non-violence would not have put a stop to Hitler’s armies just like negotiation between the U.S. and al Qaeda’s leaders wouldn’t have made them put their arms down and act any differently (pg.6). Barack Obama is trying to open up societies eyes and give them a different viewpoint on his beliefs and how he thinks situations like the tragic experience that Jews had to face in Auschwitz should be handled. In addition to the previous statement, Barack Obama also talks about the fact that all nations must embrace the role that milliteries with a clear mandate, order of commision, can have in order

This is a significant speech given my Robert Kennedy; a speech that is kept in the American archives and stands out as it marks a historic moment when the country experienced the death of a very remarkable man who led the people in fighting against the racial prejudice. In the speech, Kennedy asked that both the black and white people of the country take the country forward by ensuring that there was peace just like Martin Luther King ensured peace. Robert Kennedy prepared his audience to create the awareness that Martin Luther King’s passing.

Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and King George VI’s wartime speech are equally well-written and spoken, while both having distinctive presentations, type of speech, and effect on society.