Rhetorical Analysis Of Lyndon B Johnson's Inaugural Address

“I speak tonight for the dignity of man and destiny of Democracy.”
This was the initial declaration that included alliteration that Lyndon B. Johnson made while giving his influential civil rights speech on March 15, 1965. This very powerful movement was taking place in the southern states of America, by numerous African Americans obstructed from freedom and equality. His purpose was to bring about equality and end separation amongst races in America. In the speech, President Johnson made it abundantly clear of his intentions by seizing the spectators with well-known literary devices and persuasive techniques. His plentiful use of anaphora and pathos appeals attracted attention, and encouraged listeners to embrace social change. President Johnson was successful in his attempt to bring the congress to a decision that would help unite America.

In his speech, President Johnson used several emotion appeals.

In the opening of his speech he effectively placed grief in our hearts by stating that there was “long suffering men and women” that tried to calmly protest and “were brutally assaulted” and a preacher was even slain. When this was said, congress began to sympathize with him. He too used parallelism by linking “Lexington and Concord” with the events that transpired “last week in Selma, Alabama” referring to the violence that erupted that day and successfully changed the viewpoint of Congress. He also used the method of allusion by referencing the American Revolution. Additionally, he used diction repetitively throughout by choosing similar words to make it seem like everyone’s problem. For example he said “Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth” and by using phrases such as “we” and “our,” he addresses the concern as a collective issue. Similarly, by repeating “our” several times, he is using anaphora to emphasize his

point.
Further in the speech President Johnson uses a rhetorical question to shame the court by quoting “What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” He uses anaphora again to state that “There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern Problem…There is only an American problem” again to highlight his opinion. He again alludes to the Constitution’s Past by mentioning “All men are created equal, Government by the consent of the governed, Give me liberty or give me death.” President Johnson also uses an ethos appeal in saying that he has helped develop “three of them[laws] and can insure the right to vote when local officials are determined to deny it” making him seem like an experienced, credible, and genuine president.
In the middle of the speech, Johnson uses anaphora to accentuate his idea of equality. His point is proven energetically when he uses the phrase “And we shall overcome” quite a few times. He uses logical appeal by inserting the fact that “it was more than 100 years ago that Abraham Lincoln… signed the emancipation proclamation,” reiterating the fact that over a century has passed and still African Americans are being treated unfairly. He goes on to say but “equality was promised.” He then uses antithesis to bring all of our differences together, saying that the country can offer so many things to everyone, “all, black and white, North and South, sharecropper and city dweller.” He then uses diction once more in declaring that “Your President makes that request of every American,” and by using words like “your” and “every”, he is making a possessive statement saying that everyone needs to stand for him. He uses allusion over by referencing World War 2, the war that had “Men from every region” fighting “across the world 20 years ago” when stating the south fought just as hard and as “gallant”.
In the end of the Speech, President Johnson uses anaphora freshly in explaining that “we seek progress…we seek and pray for peace...we seek order, [and] we seek unity.” Johnson then goes on an emotion appeal, to make us feel saddened by the poor living conditions many people in the united states have to deal with daily, “never taught to read or write…stunted from hunger…sickness goes untended…life is spent in hopeless poverty,” saying that he wants to change this for everyone. He then uses an ethical appeal by referencing the time he saw this first hand, as a teacher, he remembers back and says “you never forget what poverty and hatred can do when you see its scars on the hopeful face of a young child.” Last, but not least, He uses allusion to tie his speech together, remarking “I came here tonight, not as President Roosevelt” or “President Truman” did, but to “ask you to share this task with me.”