Compare And Contrast John F Kennedy And Jfk Speech

In the 1950s and 1960s civil rights in the United States was a long talked about topic from the everyday American to our Presidents. In the 1960s two of our Presidents, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B, Johnson, deliver speeches on civil rights. Both Kennedy and Johnson are effective in their speeches using their credibility as Presidents to back up the statistical and logical evidence they both use. But Kennedy is more effective in delivering his speech because he uses everyday situations to appeal to the audience’s emotion. He also shows his character by presenting himself as “one of the people” throughout his speech.
In Johnson’s speech he talks about how the African Americans were called upon to open the eyes of every fellow citizen in our …show more content…
While Kennedy also shows his character by presenting himself throughout his speech to show his character as well. Johnson shows his credibility through his position because by using his position as President it makes his statistics and logical reasoning more convincing and supportive to his cause. As a President, Johnson has to be informed about everything that occurs in our nation; so Johnson knows how much the African Americans suffer every day, including the racism they face, segregation and the protesting that is occurring in every state. As President, Johnson needs to know how to act with each problem, whereas Kennedy uses his position as President to back up his statistics, and shows his character as …show more content…
Johnson says that “to deny a man his hopes because of his color or race or his religion or the place of birth is not only to do injustice, its also to deny Americans and to dishonor the dead who gave their lives for American Freedom” (Johnson 2). Johnson is saying that to deny a man his basic rights as a human based on color, race or religion, is like denying the basic rights to someone who has fought for the freedom of our nation. So, to deny African Americans rights is disrespectful to all Americans. When we were fighting for our nation’s freedom during the 1700s, we asked for men of different color and race to fight for our independence. Yet their ancestors are being denied the right to basic human rights in a nation that they fought for those rights. They fought for a representative government, but we deny the right for African Americans to vote for the people that will be representing them. Johnson also says that the African Americans “actions and protest, his courage to risk safety, and even to risk his own life, has awakened the conscience of his nation. His demonstrations have been designed to call attention to injustice, designed to provoke change; designed to stir reform” (Johnson 4). Johnson is saying that the African Americans actions and protest are a way to make to make America better. They believe so greatly in their right to vote, that