RFK's speech on MLK Assassination
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Robert F. Kennedy's speech on Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Presented for Rhetoric of the 60's class. Speech analyzed using Neo-Aristotelian Theory and Situational Theory.
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RFK's speech on MLK Assassination
- 1. Brittany Archer Megan Getter RFK on MLK Assassination
- 3. Bobby Running for president Brother of JFK Served as attorney general under JFK
- 4. Major Events April 4, 1968 – MLK assassination Ghetto in Indianapolis Crowd of more than 1000
- 5. Audience Kennedy’s campaign rally All citizens of America People “who love peace all over the world”
- 6. Credibility Asks crowd to lower signs Pauses respectfully/waits for reactions Gives sad news
- 7. Situation Dr. King was assassinated Confrontations began to break out Segments of audience had heard
- 8. Main Purpose Relates to pain, grief, and anger Asks to be compassionate and loving Urges to push beyond current circumstances
- 9. Evidence Compassionate and loving Vast majority want to be in harmony Racial injustice is a difficult obstacle Time and cooperation to overcome
- 10. Main Points Sympathies with grief and anger Urges them to pull together Consequences Violence Segregation Polarization
- 11. Language Short sentences Conversational tone - “yeah, it’s true” Building trust
- 12. Figures of Speech Anaphora Epistrophe Symploce ScesisOnomaton
- 14. Audience Kennedy’s campaign rally All citizens of America People “who love peace all over the world”
- 15. Situation Short amount of time Inability to compose a refined speech Disagreement over whether to speak
- 16. Limitations Supposed to be a campaign rally Changed mood immediately Paid respect to King Addressed them best way he could
- 17. Closing Remarks “to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world”
Editor's Notes
- Racial slurs were yelled at White individuals in the crowd, bouts of panic erupted and a Black gang begun to incite the crowd towards violence. With the crowd in unrest, many local politicians decided to remain at the Indianapolis downtown headquarters; Kennedy, however, chose to go straight to the chaotic crowd, preparing a new speech in the car ride from the airport to the ghetto—this new speech comprised mainly of notes made on the back of a white envelope (Anatol & Bittner, 1968, pp. 31-32).
- *Racial issues, Kennedy was white, etc.
- “I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.”
- Compassionate and loving instead of bitter and spiteful
- Anaphora “to return home, to say a prayer for the family…to say a prayer for our own country” “It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness”“want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life” Epistrophe “We will have difficult times. We’ve had difficult times in the past…and we will have difficult times in the future” Symploce “what we need…is not.” “What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness” ScesisOnomaton. lawlessness, violence and disorder
- “We have to make an effort to…go beyond these rather difficult times”
- *only place in the country where riots were absent from