President Richard Nixon 's Speech

On June 26, 1963, the famous words “Ich bin ein Berliner” changed the world. These words, which in English mean “I am a Berliner,” were delivered by John F. Kennedy in West Berlin. His speech was viewed worldwide and brought national attention to the Berlin Crisis and the Cold War. Today, most people have heard about the speech, but may not know a whole lot about it. They may ask themselves the following questions:

President Richard M. Nixon’s administration had to face many international and domestic challenges in the United States between 1968 and 1974, some positive and some negative. His achievements in expanding peaceful relationships with both China and the Soviet Union are contrastingly different with his continuation of the Vietnam War. In the end, Nixon’s scandals and abuse of presidential power caught up to him, and his administration did much to corrode America’s faith in the government.

On March 30, 1981 Ronald Reagan is giving a speech at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. John Hinckley Jr. is waiting outside the hotel with the intent to impress the young actress Jodie Foster, who he had fallen in love with after watching the movie Taxi Driver His plan to impress her was to kill the president of the United States Ronald Reagan. As Reagan was leaving the hotel after his speech John Hinckley approaches Reagan pulling out a 22. Pistol Hinckley fires six shots hitting 4 men including Reagan, police officer Thomas K. Delahanty, press secretary James Brady, and secret servicemen Tim McCarthy. Hinckley is apprehended by authorities was found not guilty by reasons of insanity and was then placed in a mental hospital in Washington D.C.(O’Reily Dugard) This was one of many defining moments in Reagan’s life and all moments help him become the man he was. Ronald Wilson Reagan Was the most influential and charismatic presidents of the United States of America.

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.

January 1969, Richard Nixon entered the executive office picking up the pieces Lyndon Johnson who had left while the Vietnam War was still in effect. Many Americans had the expectation that Nixon would be the “peaceful president”, visualizing he would put an end to this war in Southeast Asian and bring back home our troops. A policy Nixon redefined was the American role in the world by suggesting to limit the U.S resources and commitments. Therefore, Nixon’s set his efforts to end the war since the withdrawal from Vietnam was not an immediate option. Also, Nixon had his radar on Moscow and China because according to George C. Herring, they felt that they must release the United States from the war in a way that would uphold United States credibility with their friends and foes alike. During Nixon’s term in office, he tries a number of different strategies in his effort to end the war, but to this day, one can see that Nixon only prolonged the war when it could have ended earlier.

Nixon used his power of executive agreements manipulatively in a strategy that he called, linkage politics; this is a term for strategically organizing the United States relationships with communist powers (Small 1999, 63). Nixon knew that he must settle the Vietnam War with honor because it was a stake in Southeast Asia. Using his theory of linkage politics he saw that the end of the Vietnam War would affect negotiations with China and Russia (Small, 1999 65). He first tried to make an executive agreement with Russia, by explaining to them his idea of “strategic parity. This was an idea that because both nations had enough weapons to completely demolishes the other, neither should start war, and peace would continue. Like Eisenhower’s attempts, Nixon was unable to make an agreement with the USSR and talks continued to be slow (PBS Nixon 2002, 2).

I decided to read the “Crisis of Confidence” speech by President Carter, as I was in high school during this period of history. As a young man, during this period of history, I along with my peers, was too busy with life (school, work, volunteering, sports, and girls) to really pay attention, or watch, read or listen to anything of a political nature. I recall the general mood of displeasure of the times, but have blocked much of it from my memory, choosing like most people, to only remember the good times.

Deploying a propaganda technique that would be honed to perfection during the Gulf War thirty years later, Nixon began to redefine the war. From the spring of 1969 on, the war was going to be first and foremost about the men who were being sent to fight it (and not, mind you, about the people who sent them there). In the first instance, this meant prisoners of war. The administration’s clever campaign to muster public opinion around the POW issue was launched on May 19 at a press conference held by Defense Secretary Melvin Laird. Enthusiastically promoted by the media, the POW issue soon dominate war news to such an extent that the writer Jonathan Schell observed that many people were persuaded that the United States was fighting in Vietnam in order to get its prisoners back.

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.

On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy gave what is arguably the most influential inaugural address in the history of the United States. With the shifting political and social dynamics in America during this time period, Kennedy knew that finding a common ground for everyone would be the best way to create peace and unity within the nation. He directly speaks to foreign countries and citizens of the United States while sending the same message: the world should be striving for peace, and the responsibly lies with individuals working together. By delivering this message of unity, Kennedy effectively persuade citizens to put aside any feelings of hostility they have and to come together as one.

On the other hand however, there is also evidence to suggest that public opinion had little real impact on the Vietnam War. Perhaps the most telling piece of evidence is that although there was some public unrest, Nixon would tread boldly and widen the conflict to Cambodia and Laos, and despite him doing this, he still went on to success at the 1972 presidential election. He remained ahead in the polls throughout the entire election and went on to be re-elected in one of the greatest landslide victories in US political history. He defeated his main rival George McGovern with an over 60% popular vote and carried 49 of the 50 states. Moreover, it was true that those on the left, the anti-war protesters, were merely a very vocal minority. A large part of ‘Middle America’,

Kennedy’s inaugural speech was remembered in the lines “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”. Kennedy’s speech resounded all over the United States inspiring the American nation to change, prosper and grow. He reassured the citizens of their nation’s strength and gave the people a sense of security. As the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy was known for many accomplishments such as the establishment of the Peace Corps, the commitment to land a man on the moon and the removal of missiles from Cuba. Despite his untimely death, he positively impacted the growth of the American nation socially, scientifically and politically.

Being the youngest president elected and inheriting a war amounted to a lot of pressure alone for John F. Kennedy. Many have questioned if John F. Kennedy was the man to lead the country. In order to answer that question he gave a memorable inaugural address to make his critiques rethink their doubts. Kennedy’s speech is known as one of the most powerful speeches because of his of rhetorical strategies.

Hundred years ago, President Lincoln freed the slaves. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. The issue of equality for all Americans has always been a heavy discussion. In this current day, African American are protesting against police brutality. While listening to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson speech their both are talking about something different. In John F. Kennedy speech, his speech was about the Civil Rights on how Negros was treated. Every African American has the rights to be treated as other in this union. John F. Kennedy stated “Today we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free. And it ought to be possible for Americans consumers of any color to

“The War in Vietnam, Potter argued that day, was a sign of the failure in Democracy. It represented not the will of the people but the interest of an interlocking financial, technocratic and military elite— “The System”. (Farber) Tensions were rising in Vietnam, the spread of communism In south east Asia had begun to heighten the level of uncertainty among the United States Government. “President Johnson told the American people that Vietnam was the newest front in global war against Communist aggression that Americans had been fighting since the defeat of Germany and Japan in World War II”. (Farber) President Johnson, selling that the United States is fighting for the freedom and Independence for the South Vietnamese people in his speech on Vietnam. Claiming that “Vietnam is also the scene of a powerful aggression that is spurred by an appetite for conquest.” (Johnson) But is that the reason why President Johnson wants to rally the American people to invest, and to stop the spread of Communism? For Johnson wanted to give the people of Vietnam the freedom and independence of what fellow American’s enjoyed daily. What freedom was he speaking of in America, as Martin Luther king states in his speech Beyond Vietnam “So we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and White boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to