Speech Before The Reichstag, By Lyndon B. Johnson

Introduction: Martin Luther King, employ rhetorical appeals to convince the Clergymen and Birmingham City about the brutal treatment the African Americans were facing during the Civil Rights Movement were unjust.

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.

King’s speech; he puts himself in everyone else’s shoes by saying, “I am happy to join with you today.” By doing this, he captures their attention by telling them that “today will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.” Now that the audience is fully engaged, he moves towards the sole purpose of his speech. He does this by saying that after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, “100 years later the Negro still is not free.” He goes on to continue to list some of the issues which still occur today and ends his introduction with saying “now is the time” to start action. The body of his speech is primarily made up of the summarization of injustice that the African American people face. He brings up the fact that some people are unable to vote and the police brutality’s which of course support his argument. He makes it personal by giving his insight of his hopes and dreams for the future by stating that his kids will “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” The speech’s conclusion properly reviews Martin Luther King Jr.’s points and stimulates the emotions of the audience. He does this by using the repetition of the phrase “let freedom ring” to rejoin with the audience and really emphasizes his belief of the importance of freedom and injustice. Finally, the last line of his speech, “all of God 's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and

In his essay "Letter from Birmingham Jail", Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. disproves the assumptions of people that believe racism is acceptable when he compares the maltreatment of blacks to the inhumane treatment of the Jews by Hitler. King establishes a relationship with his audience by connecting on a level that is larger than the exploitation of African American's rights. He forces his readers to think about the execution of millions of Jews that was ordered by Hitler. He makes it logically apparent in his letter that just because segregation is a law, it does not mean that it is just. These strong words by King help establish a common ground between

Powerful movements require powerful leadership. During the 1960s a push for civil rights developed, and African Americans took various positions. Two strong leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X approached the Civil Rights Movement using different methods. Their speeches reflect the disposition of their tactics. In his speech, “I Have a Dream,” Martin Luther King, Jr. focuses on applying his non-violent philosophy. On the contrary, Malcolm X projects himself in an aggressive tone reflecting the attitudes of Black Nationalists in “Ballot or the Bullet.” These speakers demonstrate their objectives and tone through their use of diction and syntax.

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.

In 1963, minister and rights activist, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech in front of Lincoln memorial to bring awareness to the unfairness of injustice for black people. King's speech was an effort to try and mandate the coming together of the black and white race and finally have the equality between us all be put into force for a free nation. As the speech left King’s mouth and entered 250,000 citizens ears, it left them to think about what point he was trying to make because he uses pathos, logos, and ethos.

President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered on the most famous and fascinating speeches in American history on March 15 1965. The speech was inspired over the situation that occurred in Selma, Alabama one week earlier. African Americans were protesting over voting rights, as due to manipulation of the voting system by whites. The purpose of President Johnson’s speech was to convince Congress and Americans to pass his bill on voting reformation. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s speech is rhetorically effective, by using strategies such as kairos, pathos, logos and ethos.

Persuasive writing is most effective when all three rhetorical appeals, Logos, Pathos, and Ethos, come together to form an indisputable argument. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X are two of the most influential figures of the past few decades; similarly, their work is summarized as some of the most persuasive and controversial of all time. The audience of both of their pieces, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “The Ballot or the Bullet” include oppressed African Americans and the white oppressors themselves. Each man takes full advantage of the three rhetorical appeals to influence their audiences to support their radical theories about racial inequality in the 1960’s. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is the most effective because of its hopeful emotions, irrefutable facts and, of course, the respected author.

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.

The primary purpose of Dr. King’s eloquent and dramatically delivered speech is that of persuasion. King’s claim is the Negro people are still not free one hundred years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. This warrant is supported by King’s effective emotional appeal to his African American audience. He supports this with the following: "but one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” This is emotional because after one hundred years of oppression, the African American community has still not achieved their cultural and economic potential according to King. He is endeavoring to persuade his audience, fellow minorities and

Both Paul Rusesabagina’s An Ordinary Man and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail use appeals to pathos and ethos to instill their ideas of racial equality. Rusesabagina and King strengthen their works through use of emotion and integrity as a means of literary persuasion. “The central concern of rhetoric has always been method and manner: how to discover the most effective way to express a thought in a given situation, and how to alter its expression to suit different situations.” (McQuarrie and Mick 424) King’s letter discusses his approach in dealing with the racial segregation experienced by African Americans in the United States. Misplaced hatred and prejudice fuel King’s desire to rationally present his personal experiences, religious service, and logic arguments for desegregation. In contrast, Rusesabagina focuses on simplifying and clarifying his involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Past experiences, desires to protect human lives, and ethics drove Rusesabagina to tell his account of the genocide. King and Rusesabagina’s choice to confront racial adversary through their words and actions undoubtedly introduced change to the lives of many oppressed people.

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.

President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks to Congress in regards to the protests over American rights in Selema, Alabama, with a speech titled “The American Promise”. Lyndon B. Johnson’s speech to Congress did not offer much in conversational style, but his use in categories within vocalics and physical manipulation made up for this lack. Overall, President Johnson’s speech was highly effective within these categories because it inspired change to happen with civil rights. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s conversational style was quite limited due to the severity of his topic. In order for President Johnson to convey the heavy meaning of his speech, he had to be limited in terms of it sounded natural and flowing.

Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer all delivered powerful, persuasive speeches that will go down in history. The use of these creative individuals’ language and persuasion played a pivotal role within the civil rights movement. We can observe this in the speakers’ rhetoric devices like ethos, logos and pathos.