The Silent Majority Speech Analysis

Richard Milhous Nixon in his campaign before he became a president promised that he had a plan to end the war in Vietnam. He promised that he would end the war in a peaceful way, if he were to be elected. He managed to win the hearts of US citizens and became the 37th president of America. When he was inaugurated on January 20th, the war had been going on for four years. The number of casualties on the American side has reached thirty one thousand. A lot of citizens wanted the war to come to an end and commence a demonstration. There are confusions because president Nixon could just have ended the war by withdrawing all US armies from Vietnam. President Nixon’s decision to deliver the speech on November 3th, 1969 was correct. A lot of people

However, it contradicts his own promise during the campaign. He promised that he wanted to end the war peacefully. As a result, his credibility in the future can be questioned because President Nixon did not keep his own promise. Moreover, in his speech he stated that it could be disastrous to draw the American forces from Vietnam. This also shows that he is not a consistent person and change his views easily. Citizens are mad because he does not fulfill his promises and decided to

First, he started the speech with several questions, such as how and why Americans are involved with Vietnam and the choices he have in hand. He then gave background information about how American troops ended in Vietnam in the first place. Then, Nixon appealed to the majority of the audience, who he called “the silent majority”. His tone, volume, and pace is exquisite. When I first saw the recordings of the speech, I can easily follow along the speech because of how he constructs his argument really well. It is a shame that Nixon’s speech does not get the reaction he wanted because of his inconsistencies. Although President Nixon is great in delivering speech, people who are disappointed because he denied his own promise, will not be drawn into the speech that easily. Moreover, one of human’s natural behavior, which is being cynical, will always point out his past mistakes, which will make President Nixon’s position hard to persuade other people. People will not easily believe him anymore because he is inconsistent when talking and taking an