The Great Society Speech Summary

“So in the next 40 years we must re-build the entire urban United States.” This shows that Johnson is using ethos to unite the citizens and have them realize the future of America. He wants them to know that the future of America is going to begin with a population growth and he has to unite the population to make them realize this. "Men come together in cities in order to live, but they remain together in order to live the good life." The future of America depends on people coming together and working together to build a good life which is what Johnson envisioned in his great society. He uses ethos to create unity between the citizens which is why his speech is

Racism has always been a major problem in America. However, it was known to be the most problematic in the late 1950s. On August 28 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his infamous speech “I Have a Dream” to America. His dream highlighted the injustices of segregation and discrimination of African Americans that took place in this nation every single day. Dr. King inspired thousands despite the color of their skin, to take a stance against racism, with his powerful way with words. In his speech MLK efficaciously uses, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos by using allusions, developing credibility, in his speech to persuade all Americans to be aware of the problems with racism.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American Leader During the Civil Rights Movement. Mr.King was also a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39. He had 4 kids and a wife named Coretta Scott King. King was most important during the Civil Rights Movement. He was a very effective Civil Rights leader. He has many many speeches during his lifetime. His last words in public were I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!"

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.

Being an American today can mean different things to different people but for me it means to have respect for religion and hope for better days through better ways.Thomas Paine and William Bradford give examples of how they modeled america to be the way it is today. The two passages I am going to be quoting are going to be “The Crisis” by Thomas Paine and “Of Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford.

During Thomas Paine speech, “The Crisis No. 1” colonists had to decide whether to live under the British rules or fight for their own freedom, what if the colonists thought about the idea about fighting back, but it was too late to make a decision and British has already taken over, Would America be different now? During this time period colonists were struggling throughout the Revolutionary War along with the Stamp Act, Tea Party, Lexington and concord until Thomas Paine released the Common Sense and the colonists left relieved. In “The Crisis No. 1” by Thomas Paine, he uses pathos to encourage parents and families to protect their young ones and hoped for them to fight in the war.

In “We Shall Overcome,” Johnson also employs pathos when he asserts “…we are met here tonight as Americans – not as Democrats or Republicans. We are met here as Americans to solve that problem.” By using restatement of the phrase “we are met here as Americans,” Johnson develops the literary device of pathos by eliciting feelings of patriotism within his audience. The feelings of patriotism in turn call for compassion based on equality from Johnson’s audience. In addition, by saying the term “American,” Johnson’s audience would be able to realize the nature of the treatment of fellow Americans (African Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr.) and possibly lead to change. Overall, the application of pathos by Douglass and Johnson sparks emotions that can lead to societal transformations.

Within the President’s message he also employs an additional rhetorical feature in regards to its deliberative genre. Johnson spends a great deal of the speech explaining political plans and goals for America’s future. He also clarifies that he will “continue the work of President Kennedy.” The significance of this is that he has revealed his future agenda as well. By vowing to carry out the agenda of the Kennedy administration he is making a case for his assumed role of responsibility to keep the country in a forward movement. The deliberative genre here benefits his situation because he is demonstrating his hands-on approach to the sudden presidency bestowed upon him. A second example of the use of deliberative genre is when Johnson takes a stance on how the country will access nations abroad. He declares that “Those who test our courage will find it strong, and those who seek our friendship will find it honorable.” Here President Johnson has taken a stance against any doubts that America would not be able to handle such a tragedy in a graceful manner. This handling of words cultivates a positive and preserving attitude about America as a leading nation and loyal government.

In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt is taking the office from Herbert Hoover the president when The Great Depression began its destruction on America. Herbert Hoover was often thought of as one of the main reason for the Depression for he saw it as “a passing incident in our national lives” (New Deal). He did very little to help the people and believed that the situation “wasn’t the federal government's job to try and resolve.” A majority of American workforce is now unemployed when President Franklin D. Roosevelt takes office. President Roosevelt's inaugural speech is his way of expressing his goals as the new leader to the American people. Roosevelt is stuck in a situation where many of the American people already feel neglected because of Hoover’s lack of leadership. In Roosevelt’s speech he uses many techniques to make his claim. His claim being that the American people can trust that he is going to better their situations and America altogether.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C on August 28, 1963. The speech is one in which has gained much recognition over the years and virtually won Dr. King the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent approach towards racism. Mahatma Gandhi was one of King’s prominent inspirations for his nonviolent movement. Gandhi, decades before Dr. King, practiced non-violence acts and civil disobedience. The will and strength that Gandhi possessed while advocating for peace and non-violence during the terrible events that had taken place in India moved Dr. King to find the path he had to take during his own strides to create a better America, primarily for African Americans. Although

Johnson using the Constitution as a source of reliability for his cause, he also used rhetorical devices to further advance himself. Rhetorical devices are used to persuade the audience while evoking emotion among the audience. Johnson used triads, groups of three, multiple times. He said, and I quote, “…, we seek and pray for peace. We seek order. We seek unity” (Johnson 5). Mr. Johnson said this because he knew how agonizing racial feelings were because he was from the South, where he had witnessed Mexican-Americans deal with hardships and prejudice. Mr. Johnson used contrast, or where two objects or ideas are put in opposition to one another to show or emphasize the differences between them, when he declared that, “our lives have been marked with debate about great issue -- issues of war and peace, issues of prosperity and depression” (Johnson 1). Parallelism was used by Mr. Johnson when he said, “His (American Negroes) demonstrations have been designed to call attention to injustice, designed to provoke change, designed to stir reform” (Johnson 4). This sentence would also be a triad, but it expresses related ideas that are equal in importance, which is parallelism. By using these rhetorical devices in his speech, Lyndon B. Johnson further persuaded Congress to give African Americans the right to vote, and he also convinced the rest of his audience that the African Americans deserved to

In class we were shown a recording of the speech, “A call to men”. The first thing I noticed was the title, which made me immediately assume it was going to be a female speaker that was going to speak about feminism; or something along those lines. To see a man giving the speech grabbed my attention instantly. The man giving the speech was Tony Porter, and his audience was mostly women, who made me think, “Is this guy going to be giving a speech about feminism?” While listening to his speech I felt guilty for being quick to judge, because his speech was actually about growing up as a male, and being masculine is today’s society. While Tony Porter was giving his speech, he brought up stories that without a doubt every guy in our class could relate to that left many of us saying, “Wow”.

In the speech “Addressing the Graduating Class”, William Faulkner uses connotative language, persuasion, and ethical appeals to persuade and inspire the graduating class of 1951 to make the world a place with less fear, and more compassion. The speaker uses connotative language to add to the depth and meaning of his message. Through his use of words such as “change”, “injustice”, “courage”, and “fear”, William Faulkner is able to strike emotion and motivation into those listening. Connotative language is a very useful device in this speech because it allows the graduates to understand how much power they have to overcome global challenges while they’re still young.

Freedom is the power to express, speak, and act as a form of human nature. No one should be restricted and obligated to act a certain way just because the society embraces the common codes of conduct for all. Ever since, the drastically decline of births in our Republic of Gilead, we the handmaids are considered natural resources, instead of being identified as human beings. We are typically compared to containers because it is only the inside of our bodies that is consider important. Every one of us has a tattoo on the ankle with digits, an eye, and a passport in reverse as an agreement that we will never fade away because we are too scarce for the remaining of our society.

August 28th, 1963, 250,000 marchers stood in front of the Washington Monument to hear a message. A message from the leader of the civil rights leader whom many of the marchers have come to respect and follow. Marchers from all different backgrounds all supporting the civil rights and jobs for the African American community. Martin Luther King Jr. took the podium in front of these marchers and spoke a message that would inspire not just those present, but all of America to have a dream just like his. A dream in a country that has been stacking the cards against them for a couple hundred years. King took the podium and spoke of his dream, “… a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”” (King npg.). King’s speech resonated with thousands of African Americans and inspired them to dream his dream and start a movement that would lead them their civil rights.