An Exploration into the Rhetoric Surrounding the Vietnam Conflict
Conclusion
On just one January day, the role of the president has the potential to be redefined for an entire generation. From 1960 through 1974, that role was marked by American royalty, a tormented father figure, and a man of such complexity that he simply cannot be placed into a box. Each of those presidencies was shrined by either personal or national tragedy and each of their legacies were cut short by immeasurably different reasons. It was my goal to say by the end of this paper that one of the three presidents that had to directly address the American people and explain why he had to send their sons off to die did it better than another. Retrospectively a fruitless task. All that can be truly understood from their rhetoric was that each of these men, a veteran of the final global war, possessed a respect for the carnage that they simply could not escape. In regard to their rhetoric, each president possessed a trait unique to their own spoken word. Kennedy held a mastery of the English language unparalleled to either of his successors.
However, he did not have the southern grit that allowed him to navigate the tough questions. Johnson was not necessarily the public speaker that many Americans yearned for following the tragic and premature departure of his predecessor, but he had a compassion that transcended any stage fright that might have gotten in his way. Finally, much like JFK, Nixon possessed an understanding of syntax that propels the ideas of any public speaker. In contrast, Nixon used this talent not to charm but to inspire. Through his use of phrases like “the silent majority”. Nixon was able to provide acknowledgement to many of the Americans previously mentioned to be left behind due to the changes of the nation’s cultural revolution. Each president existed within the context of an incredibly different America; a country that changed so rapidly that any ability to weather that storm of transformation is truly commendably. Granted each of these men fell short in some regard, but their ability to communicate is what allowed the country to be what it is today; for better or for worse.
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